7 of My Favorite Breakfast Places In Budapest

By Tas TóbiásLast updated: Aug. 16, 2025

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In recent years, Budapest's city center has been flooded with breakfast restaurants that are mainly geared to tourists. Most of these are solid, perfectly fine places to satiate a hunger for a plate of omelet or a bowl of granola. Fewer are the establishments, however, that feel more deeply rooted in the fabric of the city. They might not all serve a mean avocado toast, but I think well-worth a visit nonetheless.

#1 Jedermann Café

Over the years, I have spent many a Saturday morning at Jedermann: relaxing, reading, absorbing the atmosphere. This all-inviting cafe along Ráday utca in District 9 was launched in 2010 by the legendary restaurateur, Hans van Vliet, a Dutchman who had made Budapest his home. On any day, the small tables might be filled with senior citizens fiercely debating Hungarian politics, students gossiping over a cup of coffee, and a theater director mapping out projects with the staff.

Jazz is the central theme: jazz posters drape the walls, jazz is playing in the background, and jazz is performed live on Friday and Saturday evenings (booking via email: [email protected]; the place fills up quickly). The dishes, vaguely Hungarian, are solid and well-priced and served from morning until midnight, seven days a week. A true-to-Budapest experience, this one!

#2 Kaptafa

When I go out for breakfast, I usually avoid the Jewish Quarter because it gets too crowded with people, especially its breakfast restaurants. If I stay in the area nonetheless, I usually opt for Kaptafa in Akácfa utca, a hip breakfast-all-day restaurant that used to be a shoe repair shop, hence "kaptafa," which means shoe tree in Hungarian. Yes, one could take issue with the cliched design elements – chipped walls and Edison bulbs – but not so much with the delicious and inventive breakfast dishes.

I usually start with the breaded fried pickles, followed by the "defibrillator/CPR," a savory French toast layered with bacon and oozing melted cheese (the name alludes to its hangover-curing powers). Also good is the Mrs. Molnár, a playful riff on the croque madame, made with a local roll named molnárka and swapping the ham for crisped-up bacon.

#3 Robert Capa Cafe

The Robert Capa Center houses the largest permanent collection of photography by the famous Hungarian-born photographer and this cafe occupies the ground floor of this wonderful Art Nouveau building. So it is appropriate that a small photography exhibition space shares the premises with the scent of freshly ground coffee, which is strictly dark roasted because that is what the perennially cheerful owner, Zsóka, is partial to (I told Zsóka that her logic defies the rules of the marketplace but she doesn't seem to mind).

Also here: excellent morning pastries and sandwiches. The crowd is refreshingly diverse, with many young musicians from the conservatoire across the street and the nearby Liszt Academy (they enjoy discounts that us ordinaries do not). Open every day of the week!

#4 Bambi Eszpresszó

When I meet people for coffee or a drink, I often find myself at Bambi Eszpresszó on the Buda side. It would be a misnomer to call Bambi “legendary” because Bambi defies these kinds of categorizations – Bambi is a given, a fixture, a native element in the life of the city, kind of like the Danube River which drift by a stone’s throw away from Bambi’s spacious terrace.

Not much has changed here since the 1961 opening. The socialist modern furnishings are still in place: the small metal tables; the stools; the long banquette upholstered with red faux-leather; the “ceramic city” decoration on the wall.

My standard order is an omelet, a toasted sandwich, perhaps an isler cake, and surely a milk coffee (tejeskávé), the latter served in a child-friendly white mug emblazoned with red dots. The waiters are known to be practical with an emphatic “the customer is not always right” approach.

A glance at the nearby tables reveals that the Unicum-and-beer combo is also favored around here, especially among older customers. Not that they are the majority. Plenty of Millennials and Gen Z-ers frequent Bambi for a travel back in time without the artifice that often plagues intentionally retro establishments (the no-wifi policy feels deeply authentic).

Fans of architecture should take note of the seven-story building whose ground floor Bambi occupies. Designed in 1957 by a woman architect, Olga Mináry, its modernist facade features spacious Danube-facing loggias.

Despite its popularity, Bambi has remained affordable and – on its own terms – welcoming. On warm days, I like to linger on the terrace as the sun makes its way across the river and a comforting background noise fills the air. One more tejeskávé, please.

#5 Villa Bagatelle

One will need to venture out to the hilly District 12, on the Buda side, in order to experience this upscale, see-and-be-seen breakfast restaurant where the city's moneyed elites wind down. Located inside a wonderfully refurbished residential palace, Villa Bagatelle serves delicious egg-based dishes, frankfurters, breakfast pastries, with a separate to-go bakery on its ground floor. The place is reachable in fifteen minutes by public transport from downtown Pest; beware, you might be the sole guest arriving by bus judging by the line-up in the parking lot. Try to book in advance (by phone: +36 30 359 6295), opting for the outdoor terrace in the warmer months.

#6 Déryné Bistro

Curious where the wealthiest Buda residents hang out? Wonder no more. Déryné's owner was ahead of the curve in 2007 when he opened this chic restaurant featuring a Balthazar-like interior as if straight out of the Keith McNally-playbook. Back then, few places in Budapest offered this kind of casually cool Parisian bistro vibes. Déryné has managed to remain popular through these years, even as comparable restaurants have sprouted on the other side of the Danube with lower price points.

The lunch and dinner menus skew French, with pricey bistro staples, dry-aged steak, and a few Hungarian favorites. Eggs benedict, shakshuka, and avocado toast comprise the exhaustive breakfast lineup along with excellent breads and pastries. A note of caution: Déryné's service staff can be uncomfortably eager to upsell the most expensive dishes to customers.

#7 Centrál Cafe

Centrál is one of the few remaining coffeehouses dating back to Budapest’s golden era before WWI. At the time, the city was swarming with elegant cafés such as Centrál where people spent endless caffeine-fueled hours working and socializing under the sky-high ceilings (today, one of Central's walls is blanketed in framed photos of writers, poets, and editors who were once regulars).

Centrál didn't escape Budapest’s tragic post-war history – nationalization, decay, closure; although the new venue played an important role in the dissemination of rock and roll music in 1960s Communist Hungary. In 2000, Centrál was restored to its former glory. The place wears many hats these days, but it is best known for its grand interior, breakfast all-day offerings, and delicious homemade pastries (Esterházy! Dobos! Pistachio cake!).

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