Budapest's 4 Kosher Restaurants and Pastry Shop

By Tas TobiasLast updated: Jul. 18, 2022

While Budapest still has a sizable Jewish community, there exist only a few kosher restaurants in the city. They're within the old Jewish Quarter, near the Kazinczy Street Orthodox Synagogue. Carmel and Hanna are meat, Kosher Deli and Tel Aviv Café dairy restaurants. If you don't keep strictly kosher, you could also try these Jewish-style, but non-kosher places.

#1 Hanna Orthodox Restaurant

Hanna is a glatt kosher meat restaurant in Budapest's old Jewish Quarter operated by the Hungarian Autonomous Orthodox Jewish Community. Since the restaurant is buried within the fortress-like edifice of the congregation, most locals have never encountered Hanna, even though the surrounding area is currently the center of Budapest's nightlife, teeming with cafés, bars, and restaurants.

#2 Carmel Restaurant

Managed by the Hungarian Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic community, Carmel is one of Budapest’s few glatt kosher meat restaurants. During the meal a mashgiach — an official supervising rabbi — is present at all times to ensure that Carmel adheres to kashrut, the Jewish dietary laws. As is the case with Hanna, the other meat restaurant around the corner from here, Carmel gets liveliest for the Shabbat meals, that is, Friday's dinner and Saturday's lunch. Here too, guests must prepay the meals, which costs €35 per person.

#3 Kosher Deli Budapest

Unfortunately, Budapest’s kosher restaurants aren’t known for serving delicious or nuanced dishes but most people who frequent them, of course, have no other choice. Kosher Deli Restaurant, which opened in 2019, has quickly established itself as the better of Budapest’s only two dairy restaurants (the other is Tel Aviv Café around the corner). Unlike the other kosher restaurants in Budapest operated by either of the two local orthodox communities, Kosher Deli belongs to MAZSIHISZ, the main faction of Budapest's Jews and the proprietor of the nearby Dohány Street Synagogue.

#4 Tel Aviv Café

Located in the old Jewish Quarter near the main orthodox synagogue, Tel Aviv Café is one of the only two kosher dairy restaurants in Budapest (so don't go searching for meat dishes here). Instead of typical Ashkenazi dairy classics such as matzo brei, blintz, and latkes, the menu comprises Middle Eastern classics here, including couscous, shakshuka, and hummus, as well as vegetarian pizzas and pastas.

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