Red light district bar brightens up Budapest

Csiga Café

A new venue for Budapest's turtleneck sweater crew

A FourBees review

The Csiga Café is situated in a flesh-coloured corner building on Vásár utca which runs east along the northern side of Rákóczi tér market in District VIII.
If you come during the day it’s most convenient as you can pop into the market and stock up on veggies before retiring to the Csiga for a restorative cup of herbal tea or a refreshing korsó. Rákóczi tér has a reputation as the centre of the district’s red light zone and as darkness falls ladies of the night still gather in their white spandex leggings.
It is not the most salubrious part of town, but on a spring morning the sunshine was streaming in through the large shop front windows and it all seemed very innocuous and friendly.
Csiga translates into English as ‘snail’ but I could not see any references to the slimy kitchen garden pests.
The café occupies two big rooms in a ground floor corner building that, from signs still clinging on outside, was once a cake shop.
There are lots of windows and a high ceiling so the effect is light and airy, although I imagine that it gets packed with student-types in the evenings and the atmosphere becomes distinctly more smoky.
A tape of alternative guitar-based rock music played at a discreet volume and people were dotted all around the large reception room, many sitting quietly on their own reading, some drinking beer and others - who appeared to be locals - were perched on high stools at the bar chatting with the waitress.
The welcoming ambience was noticeable as soon as I stepped over the threshold.
A middle-aged lady rushed up smiling and asked what I would like to drink.
Now, that doesn't happen too often in Hungary.
I examined the list on the blackboard behind the bar and chose a peach juice (Ft70 a decilitre). The Csiga Café has a relaxed feel about it.
Many patterned carpets hang on the walls, there are posters, paintings and photographs in frames dotted around.
A huge archway with frames painted orange divides the two rooms.
The main one is packed with old wooden tables and chairs possibly collected from markets around town.
These ancient and often wobbly tables look like they come from kitchens and are expansive and thus excellent to sit around and chew the fat or contemplate.
No two chairs or tables are the same. Above the bar they have dangled orange plastic cones serving as wacky lampshades and in the main room there are white plastic upside-down cones and some other unusual artistically molded shapes.
I believe the Csiga Café was created by the crew behind the Sixtus kápolna, the hallmark of cool in Budapest café culture, in District VII’s Nagydiófa utca, but this place has more room to spread out.
It has a Picasso Point-style alternative/student atmosphere and I’ll wager it is heaving in the evenings. Food is available and there is a selection of vegetarian dishes, with nothing costing more than Ft1,000.
The walls are painted in plum colours up to chest height, then a smooth creamy custard shade leads up to the ceiling, making me think of school dinner puddings.
In the room with the bar they have painted geometric shapes, mostly triangular, onto the walls in navy blue, black and a lot of bright cheerful orange.
The well-stocked bar also has a selection of herbal teas, a sight which warmed the cockles of my sickly heart.
Huge pot plants, well bushes really, stand in every corner and the unvarnished wooden floorboards reminded me for some reason of a Scandinavian country dacha.
The Csiga Café is so relaxed and friendly you can sit on your own and not feel like an awkward society reject.
On a weekday morning it was an ideal place to sit and read the newspaper or stare out the window at the stray dogs sniffing about Rákóczi tér and ponder on the ever-embryonic novella. What a shame I forgot to put on my black turtleneck sweater.

Csiga Café
Budapest - District VII
Vásár utca 2
Getting there: Tram 4, 6 to Rákóczi tér
No phone
Open Mon-Sat 11am-1am

THE STING
Décor 6/10
Cuisine 6/10
Service 7/10
Wine List 5/10
Buzz 8/10
The Bees' Knees 7/10