This iconic restaurant in Budapest brings not only food but also poetry to your table – PHOTOS
Centrál Café, which opened in 1887, reopened on 14 April as the Centrál Grand Café & Bar. The interior has been revamped, and the food and drink menu has been completely renewed. What is more, not only food and drink but also poetry is served in this special place.
As we can read in the article of szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu, initially, the café/restaurant will only be open four days a week, from Thursday to Sunday. However, the long-term goal is to be open seven days a week.
A little history
Centrál Café opened in 1887 in the house of Lajos Ullmann Erényi. The architectural plans were made by Zsigmond Quittner. The café was located on the ground floor of the house and consisted of eight rooms, two games rooms, a coffee room, and a cloakroom. Its founder was the café-owner Seemann, who had the café furnished for his son-in-law Frankl.
According to szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu, one of the most important traditions of the old Centrál Café was the intellectual character of the place, the lively intellectual life. It was once the favoured café of painters, architects, sculptors, journalists, theatre people, photographers, musicians, art historians, doctors, and university professors, in addition to being open day and night. In today’s terms, Centrál was the knowledge and information centre of its time.
Founded in 1887, the place has seen many changes. The penultimate major transformation was a reopening in 2000, after a refurbishment. The café closed for 18 months in 2020 due to the coronavirus epidemic. During this time, negotiations began with the new, current operator, Eventrend Group.
The menu
The menu is light bistro cuisine typical of the large cafés of Paris and Budapest. The breakfast and brunch menus are prominent, but there is also a wide variety of dishes for lunch and dinner, as well as a huge pastry counter and amazing coffee.
There are lots of different kinds of food and lots of different flavours, tailored to everyone’s taste. You can find meat dishes and vegan dishes alike.
Poetry served
“If a nice gentleman or lady walks up to your table and offers to recite a poem for you, don’t decline!”
writes szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu.
As the so-called Literature Menu says:
“Please choose an iconic poem, and the literary overlord will perform it at your table!”
The list contains well-known poems by Hungarian poets like Endre Ady, Dezső Kosztolányi, János Pilinszky, etc. However, there are also songs on the Literature Menu! We could ask for a Ferenc Demjén or an Ákos song – what is more, even a song by Bon Jovi or Nirvana is on the menu.
On the Literature Menu are:
- Kosztolányi Dezső: Szeptemberi áhítat
- Ady Endre: Őrizem a szemed
- Juhász Gyula: Szavak
- Babits Mihály: A lirikus epilógja
- József Attila: Mikor az uccán átment a kedves
- Simon Márton: Kínai
- Zorán: Vasárnap délután
- Rapülők: Szívzuhogás
- Pilvaker: Szeptember végén
- Demjén Ferenc: Elment a vándor
- Ákos: Virrasztó
- Annie Lennox: No more I love you’s
- Queen: The show must go on
- Nirvana: The man who sold the world
- Dire Straits: Brothers in arms
- Depeche Mode: Enjoy the silence
- Bon Jovi: Keep the faith
- Robbie Williams: Angels
- Whitney Houston: The greatest love of all
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Source: szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu, mfor.hu