Bodor Ferenc: Coffee-Houses - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1992)

Gyopár (edelweiss)

The old Gourmand in Engels (Erzsébet) tér has irretrievably lost its savour. After its recent reconstruction, what has come into being in the heart of the city is a combination of a radiologic laboratory, an insect collection in a natural science museum—bathed in fluorescent light—and a castle restored by a Transdanubian workers’ cooperative, tending towards a quick-lunch bar, proof that the latter is a determinant and democratic symptom of our age. The unwieldy crystal-gazer’s lamps cannot efface the physical perfection of the waitresses, enhanced by the uniform that sheathes like silk. The dessi- cated remains of a mixed salad accompanied by a couple of half-eaten rolls could repose before the double mirror; instead there is drooping greenery thirsting for metropolitan chlorophyll. The photographs of the boulevard (Múzeum kör- út-Tanács körút-Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út) under glass on the walls recall Saturday afternoons in the Nemzeti Szalon (a former exhibition hall) that once faced the Gyopár but has since been demolished. The round fake marble tables and grey chairs invite unreserved small talk within respectable PLC (Public Limited Company) range. The menu-card is defaced with bars that remind one of a visitors’ room in a Stalinist prison. There is a large selection of mercilessly high-priced items, mashed into a gooey mess by the distasteful music coming from the direction of the copper-studded counter.

1 ERZSÉBET TÉR, V.

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