Smack in the middle of one of Budapest’s most beautiful districts, Babel is its befitting gourmand hidden behind a dressed-up entrance caught in a flurry of nightly celeb sightings and VIP elbowing. Inside, a dark and sophisticated design palette enwraps the one room eatery in walls of exposed glass wine shelving, ebonized floors and dark wood tabletops adorned with linen runners. An exposed kitchen winks to Japanese design amongst cubist lighting fixtures and white glove service details that rarely misses the mark.
The Food
A lunch and dinner menu dabbles in experimental and traditional Hungarian dishes heavy on the plate-side artistry. Appetizers like eggplant crème brulee with tomato jelly, artichoke cream soup with pumpkin goat cheese and stuffed gnocchi are hearty in size as they are in flavor. Lighter eaters should gravitate towards the trio of fish tartares or seasonal goat cheese salad to follow. More traditional flavors like pigeon with beetroot jelly, trout with squash puree and apricot duck foie gras merit the numerous accolades the chef, Istvan Pesti, has racked up.
Last Word
Artistic dishes with rare flavors at this tough-to-book eatery enliven local Budapest dining scene.
