The fastest, cheapest, frequently best food on Budapest's streets.
Vendors, food trucks and stalls: the cheapest, fastest, frequently best food in Budapest.
Karavan on Kazinczy next to Szimpla Kert is Hungary's first food-truck court, a Jewish Quarter open-air strip with langos, burgers, gyros and kurtoskalacs counters, Budapest.
Try: Lángos, burgers, gyros, kürtőskalács
Order: The full-size langos with sour cream and grated cheese.
Tip: Late-night until 01:00 Thu to Sat; the langos and kurtoskalacs lines are the longest.
Belvarosi Disznotoros on Karolyi Mihaly is downtown Budapest's standing-counter sausage shop, with paprika and blood sausage, wild boar stew and breaded pork at the counter.
Try: Hungarian sausages, schnitzel, blood sausage
Order: A plate of mixed Hungarian sausage with rye bread, mustard and pickled peppers.
Tip: No seating, only high tops; the queue moves fast, take a tray and pay at the till.
Bors GasztroBar on Kazinczy serves a daily-changing menu of three soups and a dozen stuffed baguettes, a Jewish Quarter standing counter with five tables in Budapest.
Try: Soups and stuffed baguettes
Order: The daily soup plus a stuffed baguette from the chalk board.
Tip: Closed Sundays; the menu rotates weekly, follow the Facebook for the day's soup.
Retesbar on Suto utca near Deak ter is a takeaway strudel counter in downtown Budapest with apple, cherry, poppy seed and cottage-cheese fillings made each morning.
Try: Hungarian strudel (rétes)
Order: The poppy seed (mákos) retes with a small Hungarian coffee.
Tip: Open daily 10:00 to 22:00; ask for a piece warmed in the oven if there is a slow moment.
Retro Langos on Bajcsy-Zsilinszky across from the Arany Janos utca metro fries 30-plus varieties of langos to order, the canonical sour-cream-and-cheese fried dough in Budapest.
Try: Lángos with sour cream and cheese
Order: A langos with sour cream, grated cheese and a clove of raw garlic rubbed on top.
Tip: Cash and card; queue runs 15 minutes deep at lunch, the standing-room counter turns over fast.
Drum Cafe on Dob utca near Deak ter is a standing-counter Jewish Quarter spot for langos and gulyas, a frequent Budapest dinner stop after the ruin-bar crawl.
Try: Lángos, gulyás and Hungarian street food
Order: A garlic-and-cheese langos with a bowl of beef gulyas.
Tip: Open daily into the late evening; cash and card, no reservations.
Kolbice by Kobe at the Hold utca Belvarosi market puts six grilled mini sausages in a whole-wheat bread cone with mustard and ketchup, an inventive Budapest sausage stop.
Try: Sausage in a bread cone (kolbice)
Order: The signature kolbice cone with Hungarian mustard, ketchup and mayonnaise.
Tip: Inside the Hold utca market hall; standing-only, eat at the high tops by the entrance.
The upper-floor langos counters inside the Central Market Hall on Vamhaz korut are the iconic Budapest spot for a sour-cream-and-cheese langos before the train home.
Try: Lángos at the upper-floor stalls
Order: The classic langos with sour cream, garlic and grated cheese.
Tip: Cash only most stalls; head upstairs to the gallery once you have crossed Vamhaz krt.
Peak food season in Budapest is year-round.
Local dining hours: lunch around 12:30, dinner from 19:30.
service is typically included; small extra is welcome but not expected.
Ask the next local you meet what they would order. Budapest rewards trust.