Budapest: Manga Cowboy

We are on Raday street, in Budapest, famous restaurant-pub-entertainment street in the heart of the city, close to universities and major attractions. There are restaurants right next to each other, also Budapet’s very first Michelin star restaurant-“Costes”. Also there are places in all kinds of price range, also providing daily lunch offers. With a friend of mine we picked Manga Cowboy (Raday street 33), to be honest only because of the name, i was wondering how they manage to infuse these 2 completely different kind of style and culture.

To be honest, the eastern part of the deal only appears in the name, and maybe in the wasabi-mayo, also the items listed on the menu, have “funny” and “cute” japanese names. Pretty much thats it. The decoration inside also reminds us the western world. On their website I find out, they would like to infuse hungarian-asian-american influencial cuisine. That sound interesting, also very dangerous. Because in this case they not only have to master 1 but 3 completely different and unique kitchens. And yes, many things can go wrong. Their menu is more or less american, with its cesar salad, burgers, and big sandwiches. Me, I dont mind burgers, if they are good, not necessarily thinking about fast food chain products. The burger itself can be hard to master, if we dont want to serv something dry and over-cooked for our costumers. And the creativity comes with the filling which can be anything from tomato to peanut-butter.

Also good to know about Manga Cowboy, they have all day breakfast, they have bagel which is very rare in this city. Also they have stand-up comedy night, also sometimes english stand-up as well.  They do lunch time offers, 5 days a week, and we can pay with ticket restaurant vouchers as well!

Our lunch:

Well the place started with some hickups, while i was waiting for my friend, i didnt even had a chance to look at a menu or a drink-list, for about 10 minutes nobody really cared if im ordering or not. In this heath i could have really used a bottle of water to be honest. Thankfully things speed up after my friend arrives. She is having a lunch deal, im having a burger. The lunch time offers are actually pretty good, the costumers can either choose from a soup-main or main-dessert variation, from 2 different mains a day. The price-range is very friendly as well, around 800Ft-s with a drink, which is about 3 euros.  There are also more asian and hungarian dishes on the menu, everything from the very traditional to the more creative.

The soup she is having (spring vegetable) is pretty nice, she gets it withing 3 minutes. The main “tokfozelek”-(fozelek is a traditional hungarian dish, made out of vegetables it can be anything from cabbage, potatoe, or in this case pumpkin. Its hard to find an english example for it, the best i can come up with is stew, but still, its nothing like a stew). Anyway, the tokfozelek, is a pretty nice portion with 2 meatloafs, very tasty as well. My burger comes with chips and coleslaw salad. It looks like a decent burger, nothing extra nothing new, with tomato-onion-gherkin-cheese filling. The loaf is a bit raw inside, but still edible. Costs 1800Ft-6,50 euros. Its nice and filling, theres not much more i can say about a simple burger to be honest. Our waitress is nice, so i dont really have problens with the service.

Manga Cowboy could develop a bit more, but if they serve decent good priced food im very sure will survive on the market. If im in the area, will very sure use it for lunch..or maybe stand up comedy?

Budapest, Raday utca, ettermek erik egymast mindections. n meteren. Mi, egy baratnommel a Manga Cowboyt valasztottuk. Igazabol tetszett a neve es kivancsi voltam, hogy ezt a ket egeszen eltero stilust, hogyan tudjak osszehozni.

A keleti oldala a dolognak, igazabol csak minimalisan jelenik meg az etelek kozott, esetleg leves vagy wasabi-majonez formajaban. Ilettve a legtobb etelnek “vicces” japan neve van. Ennyi. Belul a dekoracio is, a tehenmintas falakkal inkabb emlekeztetik a vadnyugatot. Honlapjukon megtudom, hogy az azsiai, amerikai, es magyar konyhat szeretnek otvozni. Ez szerintem eleg veszelyes probalkozas, mert mar rogton 3 teljesen eltero kulturat kell igen makas fokon uzni, illetve a vendegeknek talalni. Az etlapjuk tulnyomo reszt amerikai, szendvicses-burgeres-salatas. Igaz, en nagy kedveloje vagyok a hamburgereknek, is ilyenkor nem feltetlenul kell a gyorsettermi-lancok termekeire gondolni. A huspogacsa elkeszitese amugy igen nehez dolog, foleg azert, hogy ne egy szaraz, odaegett husdarabot adjunk a vendeg ele. A toltelek pedig a paradicsomtol a hummus-ig barmi lehet, szoval gondoltam ezt ki is probalom.

Tudni kell meg a Manga Cowboyrol, hogy egesz napos reggelit kinal, ami kozott szerepel a bagel-is. Ez mar kis hazankban eleg ritka, tobb ceg probalkozott mar a bagel-ek arusitasaval, de valahogy senkinek se jott ossze. Elo angol vagy magyar stand-up comedy esteket tartanak, illetve ebedkor menujuk is van (inkabb ezekben jelenik meg jobban a magyaros, es az azsiai vonal), illetve ebedjegyeket is elfogadnak fizetes gyanant.

Az ebedunk:

Nem egy jo pontal inditott szamomra a hely. Mig a baratnomre vartam, nem lattam se etlapot vagy itallapot, senki nem kerdezte meg,, hogy szeretnek e valamit. Igazabol ha nem lett volna ilyen meleg, vagy nem lettem volna ennyire szomjas talan meg nem zavart volna. A pincerek picit elfoglaltak, de igazabol korulottem mar mindenki megkapta az ebedjet, es nem mondanam, hogy nagy tomeget kellett volna kiszolgalniuk. Addig a menu ajanlatot bongeszem. Egesz korrekt, naponta valtozo, arban teljesen megfelelo. A leves-foetel-desszert triot lehet parisotani, napi ket fajta foetel kozul. Amin a palacsinta, vagy brownie, vagy a fozelek, es a brassoi ugyanugy helyet kap a Tom Yum leves mellett.

Miutan mar ketten vagyunk szerencsere felgyorsulnak az esemenyek, baratnom menut valaszt, a levest szinte azonnal megkapja. Szeretnem hozza tenni, hogyha kint foglalunk helyet, az asztalok nem a legidealisabbak a designos tanyerhoz es konnyen az olunkbe borulhat az egesz. A leves amugy finom. En hamburgert valasztottam, ami 1700 Ft, sultkrumpli es coleslaw salata jar hozza. Igazabol, semmi kulonos, de finom. Szerencsere sok zoldseg van benne, amugy a pogacsa, kivulrol picit egett, belulrol egy picit rozsaszin, de meg az “eheto-nyers” kategoriaba tartozik. A tokfozelek, egesz nagy adag, es az is es a hozza jaro 2 fasirt is nagyon finom! A menu araban szerepel meg egy pohar udito vagy kave, amit en egesz korrekt ajanlatnak tartok, keves helyen kinalnak ilyet. A pincernonk, aranyos, kedves, a kezdeti nehezsegek ellenere, kellemeset csalodtam a kiszolgalasban

A manga Cowboy jol vizsgazott, bar van min fejlodniuk, de igazabol az alacsony araik mellett nem nagyon szamitottam masra. Ha ismetelten a Raday utcaban jarok, valoszinu, hogy oket fogom valasztani ebedre!