Kocsis Irma: A tour of our Locals. (A very quick one) - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1993)

Department. Pensioned craftsmen and tradesmen sit in this Havas utca wine-cellar, which has a genuine wine- cellar atmosphere, is a little cold and words uttered even a little distance away tend to echo hollowly. These days, it is always being altered and rebuilt, there was even a second-hand clothes-shop in the room behind the counter for a while. The descending stairs, the wrought-iron vine-leaves, the ceramic mosaic depicting Badacsony and the tiles on the floor, all date back to the sixties. Once I almost had the lavatory door dropped on me. The boss commissioned a drunk to fix it; he lifted it off its hinges but, not reckoning on the weight he, staggering under it, cursing frightfully, lurched towards me like a sailor tossed by the storm, then simply let it go. The door missed me by inches at the last minute.

Carmen Grill

VI. Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 15

A place where you are sure to run into a couple of second-hand booksellers from the neighbourhood. It is always crowded. The premises, which are not over large, are partitioned, allegedly to ensure that those wishing to eat may do so in peace. But you really can eat here: there is bean soup ä la Seville, Don José’s favourite, bean soup matador. Even better, there is a little terrace where you can sip your beer and take your food outside. The exhaust fumes are a bit overpowering, but at least there’s sunshine.

t Bor-Sör (Rizlingborozó)

Wine-Beer (Riesling Wine-Tavern)

VI. Lázár utca 21A

A stand-up pub, the size of what is called in Hungarian a “half room”, on the back street side of the Kisdóm Eszpresszó. At the time A Quick One was written, this was the only place in Budapest where the bartender offered us a wine-and-soda on the house.

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