Arriving at the Ritz Carlton in Budapest, Hunary after a long day of roaming around northern Romania, we were hungry and ready to eat! Uber doesn’t operate in Hungary so we called a cab and gave him the name of the restaurant. He got lost and attempted to deliver us to a closed store. Bob googled the restaurant and gave the driver his phone and off we raced hoping to be on time for our reservation. He drove like a crazy man as he apologized over and over. He even stopped the meter due to the mistep.
Arriving at Coste Downtown, it was quiet at 6pm, which we are always grateful for the earlier dinners. This tasting menu was a 10-course endeavor with all of the dishes turning out excellent. I did the wine pairing while Bob selected the non-alcoholic cocktail pairing. We found that many of the fine dining restaurants were offering non-alcoholic cocktail pairings and so I too switched to that and found most of them to be excellently matched with our dishes. They earned their Michelin * with creative and excellent food.
Our menu for the night
- RAMSON, CUCUMBER, DILL, IKURA
- RHUBARB, TOMATO ESSENCE, MACKEREL, STRAWBERRY
- PISTACHIO, PINK GRAPEFRUIT, TARRAGON, PUMPKIN SEED
- SMOKED SCALLOPS, BLACK HABANERO CEVICHE, TOSAZU
- “DÖDÖLLE”, GOCHUJANG, KOJI, LOBSTER
- MANITOBA CIABATTA, SMOKED & BLACK NORI BUTTER
- MERLUZA, WHITE ASPARAGUS, PUMPERNICKEL, GREEN PEAS
- AGED BEEF, SESAME JUS, TOKAJI-PONZU OR AGED PIGEON, MISO-FOIE GRAS, JUNIPER BERRY
- BEETROOT PINA COLADA, RED SHISO
- STRAWBERRY, BLACKBERRY, BLUEBERRY
It was an amazing meal. We loved the plating and the overall creativity. It started our stay in Hungary off on the right foot with more wonderful restaurants on the itinerary.