Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Really good pastry shop in Budapest?

This is pretty much my specialty-pastries. If you were staying at the most excellent Budapest Marriott, I would tell you to go to their daily pastry bar that they set up in the lobby-that's right, a pastry bar with 6 or 7 fresh cakes, tortes, and two bowls of fresh whipped cream-one mulberry flavored, and the other plain. You can go as many times as you want, and with an excellent glass of Hungarian Tokai, sitting there in their interesting lounge area, indulging in first a lemon cake, and then some other tort-trying each of the whipped creams-now, this is living!

That aside, I'm afraid I can't recommend Gerbeaud's-it's quite touristy, when I went in, I was instantly turned off by the smoke (there is a no-smoking room-primarily for the tourists), and really, there were very few pastry selections when I was there; they seemed to have been finished off. Go in and see for yourself-it's right there on the vaci utca, but there are FAR better venues, I think:

After the Marriott, I will submit that the best pastry shop is as Judy says, RUSZWURM-it's probably considered the best in Budapest, and certainly the oldest, it's been around since the early 1800's-and it is EXCELLENT-only pastries are served here, and their very dense chocolate cake is the specialty. Yum! I'd like a piece right now!

Another one, which you definitely must visit is ANGELIKA'S-housed in an historic building next to St. Anne's church, just down from Fisherman's Bastion. You can usually see the sign for Angelika's on the outside of this building as you are walking around the area below the Bastion. It has an outdoor terrace, 3 levels, but inside, there are heavy red velvet drapes, and beautiful stained glass windows. The terrace has a wonderful view of the Parliament building and of Pest across Chain Bridge. As if that weren't enough, it has an excellent selection of pastries, coffees and teas-a wonderful place to go for a break after you've finished exploring Gellert Hill, but a bit expensive.

My favorite "Kaffehaz" in Budapest is CENTRAL, in Pest. This is one of the most famous in Budapest, and well worth a trip to be with the locals, not only excellent pastries, but full dinners, not too expensive-and atmosphere galore. I went here a couple of times, precisely because of its Old World feel-almost like a diner, but with that Central European flair.

You'll have a great time exploring the pastry circuit of Budapest-one of the best cities in Europe for pastries, without a doubt.

And if you are looking for a really excellent and quite special restaurant in Budapest, with Russian ambience and direction, but totally Hungarian nonetheless- I would recommend my very favorite ARANY KAVIAR-just down from the Hilton in Buda, past the Vienna Gate-this is a wonderful, romantic restaurant, and if you like caviar, you can indulge to the hilt here, with the expensive pricing to boot-they have all the best Russian and Iranian varieties. This is where the diplomats go for a special evening out in Budapest, and it specializes in seafood, vodkas- ice-cold, served in a block of ice, in fact, and caviar. The dining rooms are very elegantly decorated, with thick tapestries on the walls and dining tables, and soft electric candlelight scones on the wall. I had a wonderful meal here of fresh Lake Balaton fish, with a Hungarian pickled cabbage salad, (I love pickled cabbage-and specifically requested it, even though it wasn't on the menu) vodka, and a couple of other courses - with a strawberry glace for dessert-love this place. Although I've recommended this place before, I noticed recently that Frommer's had listed this restaurant, maybe for the first time, giving it two out of three stars-it IS a lovely dining experience.