Bodor Ferenc: Coffee-Houses - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1992)
Szamovár At the beginning of Pozsonyi út in Üj-Lipótváros, on the corner of a building erected in the thirties, the neon coffee-cup is once more lit up. Unfortunately, the reconstruction of a couple of years ago has transformed the lobby into something resembling a South-Bácska wayside bistro. The counter no longer follows the beautiful arch of the boarded ceiling; the neon lemonade glass with its neon bubbles and neon straw has gone. Rap blaring from the radio, clacking from the slot- machines, and live music stealing up from down below stuns you as you walk in. The desert of the Camel poster is a current issue, the flickering points of light on the screen of the slot machine give a martial effect. The waitress —graceful and skittish as a gazelle—stares at her reflection in the pane of glass that covers the price list—this, too, is a rare motif. In the long, corridor-like basement couples sit facing each other, lulled by the music that evokes balmy nights on Lake Balaton. In the windows, sawed-off passers-by and puffing trolley-buses appear and disappear from sight. 3 POZSONYI ÚT, XIII. SZAMOVÁR— with a coffee-cup 56
