Five Cabin Checks: Dinners on "Restaurant Row" in Budapest

Hi guys!

I have had some FANTASTIC dinners here in Budapest with my crew the past couple nights, and I just have to share them with you! The food has been excellent, the service is very polite which easily creates a relaxing atmosphere, and I've had priceless quality time with my other crew members to get to know them better and hear about what fun layovers they've all had!

As I mentioned before, Vennie and I ventured out for our late lunch on Monday and found Cafe Vian. It was so good and we were so impressed that we decided to go back for dinner on Wednesday night!

Restaurant Row at night is SO cute. They have cafe tables set up outside, and everyone wants to sit at them. When it gets chilly (which this night, it was about 45-50 degrees?), they turn on the tall silver heaters to keep the entire overhang warm, and each seat at the table has a red fleece blanket waiting to wrap up in or just keep on your waist to drape over your legs. I, personally LOVED that idea... I ALWAYS prefer to eat outside on patios if I can, and this made it so comfortable!

To drink, I stuck with my favorite... red wine! Cheers to Cafe Vian!

And for my main course, I ordered the '2 cheese sauce' pasta which was a mix of creamy blue cheese and a hint of goat cheese! Those are my two absolute FAVORITE cheeses in the world... It was so yummy and I know my Mama would have LOVED it. :-) (You really would have Mama! Hahaha!) Of course they serve it with their signature leaf of basil on top, and it actually gave it a nice flavor. I also had a cup of Hungarian mushroom soup which was a vegetarian creamy tomato with HUGE sliced mushrooms in it! I honestly could have just had that for dinner and been satisfied! But I loved my pasta...

After dinner we wanted to go down to the hotel bar and have another drink. This is the bartender, Gergehy, who we met the day before and he asked us to come back! Why not? He is so cute- he lived in London for 4 years so his english is very good... He's really smart and has so many stories to tell! Not to mention... he makes the BEST mojito I have ever tasted in my life! ;-)

This is the "cigar room" that leads into the fabulous hotel bar. It is SO upscale and fancy, yet still not intimidating. People sat down here every night and read books and had drinks. We met so many people at this bar- my favorite was Daniel, a 32 year old film writer from Los Angeles that is here until March working on Nicolas Cage's new movie. He's staying in an apartment behind the hotel (thats actually still part of the Corinthia). He was such a great guy to get to know- he really fit in with our crew so well, I felt like he WAS one of us!

The girls sitting around the table on the right are Vennie, Jill, and Marla. Jill ordered a 'grey goose' martini straight up, and GUESS how much it cost. $40!!!!!!!! Hahahaha- we just had to laugh... her husband actually looked at her bank account the next day and was like, "What is this $40 bar bill!?" She said he would have KILLED her if he found out that that was only for 1 DRINK!!! Hahaha- Its our little secret! I stuck with my red wine at about $5 a glass. Not too bad! And plus, the bartender liked me so I always got an extra swig 'on the house'... :-)

On our second to last night here in Budapest, we all decided to go out for a nice dinner as a crew on Restaurant Row. We chose this place Thursday to switch it up from Cafe Vian... It was called Buena Vista.

This was AFTER our big meal... We were all full, happy, and COZY! We stuck around the lobby for a little while and just hung out and chatted more... we really do love taking our time around here!

I didn't take a picture of my food this night and I wish I would have, but I'll describe what I had. To drink, I had a tall Hungarian wheat beer that was DELICIOUS and a nice change of pace from my standard red house wine. I'm also on a soup kick since I've been here, so I ordered the chicken and asparagus soup to start. Again, it was hot, FULL of veggies AND chicken, and it was so creamy. Also served with bread... I was almost full AGAIN by the time I was done with it. YUM. For my main dish I got a bacon-wrapped chicken salad that had a ton of veggies on it as well... and the bacon-wrapped chicken breast was to die for. SO good. And get this... my meal was only $19. I can't believe I got all that plus tip for $19! Maybe thats why people go out to eat here every night? That would almost be cheaper than if I went to the grocery store and get all the ingredients! Hahaha!
Here is our group + a couple extra flight attendants from other crews that joined us. From left, they are (clockwise from left) Kim, Vennie, Patrick, Elizabeth, Amanda, Andrea, Me, and Shelley.