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

Zizi

In that out of the way spot, behind the Museum of Transport, a little café hides in a corner of an enchanted, empty, dilapidated building. It the tiny interior a crimson-cheeked little lady relaxes in the company of limpid vodkas. Behind her, in keeping with her colour scheme, a pale green counter with dark green five-pointed stars. The bespectacled, venturesome waiter pensively distributes bottles of Kőbányai beer to the mechanics clustered around the tables. Above the counter, letters wrapped in tin foil. The place is subdued, with a spongecake rather than snack-bar atmosphere. The blind screen of the East German television placed high on the wall for better viewing reminds one of the strength of COMECON object culture. The Zizi is a soft sigh, the whistle of an engine dying away in the distance. Close to the Zugló embankment, it awaits a dire future with its head up and chin raised.

51 HERMINA ÚT, XIV.

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