Food: modern
Address:  Csalogány utca 26, 1015 Budapest, Hungary
Phone Number: +36 1 201 78 92
Website: www.csalogany26.hu
Website: Bib Gourmand
What I paid: 22000 Ft (nine course tasting menu together with wine pairing)
Visited: July 26, 2014

Restaurant Csalogány 26 is named after its address (i.e. street name and number) which is situated on the Buda side of Budapest, not far from the Castle Hill.

It is considered one of the very best restaurants in Budapest by both the local and international crowd.

Csalogány 26 serves mostly modern international dishes, but has started to include more and more Hungarian food traditions in their menus. Their wine list represents many Hungarian producers (and not only sweet Tokaji wines).

The Bib Gourmand “label” secures for both good and at the same time inexpensive food. I am very seldom dissatisfied with the price/performance ratio in Bib Gourmand restaurants and not this time either!

There are two tasting menus to choose from, named Menu I and Menu II respectively. For each menu, you can opt for four- or eight courses. Also, all menu alternatives have accompanying wine pairings (all wines in the wine menus are from Hungary). I chose to go with Menu I, eight courses and wine pairing. My two friends joining me this dinner had the Menu II and one of those persons do not eat meat so to summarize, all three had different menus but this was not a problem (usually all at the table are “forced” to go with the same tasting menu). That said, this is what I had:

Amuse-Bouche:

Amuse-Bouche

Presskopf with homemade pickled cucumber:

Presskopf with homemade pickled cucumber

Marinated scallops with dill pattypan squash:

Marinated scallops with dill pattypan squash

Mackerel with chard:

Mackerel with chard

Panko crusted rabbit leg with corn:

Panko crusted rabbit leg with corn

Magyar Tarka beef shoulder blade:

Magyar Tarka beef shoulder blade

Sorbet:

Sorbet

Cheese with “Tokaji Máslás”:

Cheese with “Tokaji Máslás”

Mango caramel parfait:

Mango caramel parfait

Petit four:

Petit four

Summary: you get a lot for your money in this restaurant and if you are in Budapest I can really recommend to visit Csalogány 26 (reservation highly recommended). I also found it very interesting and fun that all wines served in regards to the wine paring were from Hungary (both red, white and of course sweet Tokaji wines were served).