Budapest's Chinese restaurants offer more than meets the eye. While the inner city is teeming with low-priced takeouts that adjust flavors to local Hungarian tastes, there's a nondescript Chinatown (Monori Center) a bit outside the city center where you can sample everything from Sichuan food to northern noodle soups, hot pot, dumplings, seafood, and Chinese barbecue. Note that Chinese people eat dinner on the earlier side, around 6 p.m., so plan accordingly if you prefer a lively ambiance to empty tables around you.
Be it New York, Shanghai, or Budapest, Sichuan food is all the rage these days. The dishes are best known for their prodigious use of chilis and tongue-numbing Sichuan peppercorns, but don't despair, not everything will set your mouth on fire at Yu Man Tang, a recently opened restaurant in Budapest’s Chinatown. Try to come here for a group dinner and share plates to best experience the culinary repertoire of head chef Hong Yu Liang, who had been a cook in Chengdu, Sichuan’s capital city.