Non touristy restaurants in Budapest and prague
 

We are planning to spend a few days in Prague and Budapest this July. Many posts suggest restaurants but indicate eating where the locals eat is less expensive than the tourist places. We want safe and clean restaurants and within walking from main hotels--Old Town Hilton in Prague and Inter Continental in Budapest. Suggestions would be helpful. Thank you.

Isn't the IC on the river near the Chain Bridge? If so, the streets near St. Iztvan's and near the Parliament should have some offerings that aren't expensive. We had a great lunch close to the Imre Nagy memorial but I'll be danged if I could tell you where.

Compared to Western Europe, Prague and Budapest are not expensive. Czech cuisine isn't being assiduously copied by gourmands of other nations, so "eating where the locals eat" may not be that attractive. Hungarian food is better. Ultimately, (1) check timeout.com; (2) check inyourpocket.com; (3) don't eat at the Pest-side, Danube-facing restaurants if you're looking for budget meals in Budapest; (4) don't eat at restos facing Old Town Square in Prague.

Liszt Ter is a dining/nightlife area a couple of metro stops from the river in Pest. Mala Strana, Kampa Island and most of Josefov will be in decent proximity to you in Prague.

Thank you for the info. I will check the websites you suggested.

In Budapest, there are a string of restaurants on Poszonyi street... They will suit a range of tastes and are well priced. This is a nice and central neighborhood.

Hungarians, as a whole, do not eat out much (or live in downtown budapest). So as long as you are not right on a tourist spot, do not worry. Be more careful in Prague than Budapest.

In any country, the tourists places may not serve authentic local food. I'd stop at a café and ask them here to have their meal.

In Prague most of the resturants within walking distance of the Hilton will be tourist orientated as it is near the heart of the Old Town. If you want non tourist places then you might have to get on a tram a couple of stops.You could take the 5,9 or 26 tram from nearby Nemesti Republicky go 2 stops to the Viktoria Zizkov football ground and the restaurant Sklep which is pretty good, not fancy dining but good traditional food and serves great beer.There are quite a few other places in the streets around that area.
if you go further out you may have difficulty getting an English menu but I have always found the staff are pretty helpful in most places with the menus.
If you look for some of my trip reports on this forum you will get an idea of quite a few non touristy places but again most are not within walking distance of your hotel.

Chances are there will be on-one else speaking English here ---> http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...l_Hungary.html

Pjk

I was in Budapest for 5 days in 2012... ate VERY well, lots of good restaurants and I thought the prices were very reasonable (Except for lunch at the New York Cafe!!)... no recommendations for names of restaurants, but I will tell you a tip I read here before I went... if you like lemonade, try some in Budapest... every restaurant and cafe seems to have their own... I tried about 12 and they were all VERY good and different!! And cheap :)