Bars & Clubs

Lánchíd Söröző is one of my favorite bars in Budapest. It's a great little spot on the Buda side just off the Széchenyi lánchíd (Chain Bridge). A little red and green neon sign marks the spot; even if you are roaring by in your car trying to make the bridge at rush hour you have to file it in your memory for later, this tiny bar at the foot of Buda Castle Hill.

Run by a jovial fellow named Nágy Robert, the Lánchíd Söröző is lined with black & white photos, instruments, old movie posters and various knick knacks. It has a late-50s or -60s feel to it, like a post-rebellion place to hit after seeing Koncz Zsuzsa and Metró at a student's club.



They have a 3-tap draw behind a bar that looks like a bar you would see in a married guy's "dude lair" basement - just enough room to stand behind, the intimate setting encouraging conversation with the barkeep. No sitting at the bar, though; you have to choose from about 5 booths and a half-dozen tables. Absolutely no place to stand so if you get there at a busy hour you're out of luck.

But "busy" isn't a condition you seek out at the Lánchíd Söröző. It's a place to have a quiet one after work or maybe stake out a table in mid-afternoon then hold court all night with friends who drift in and out until closing.

I love to get there by walking across the Chain Bridge and back again; grooving to the floodlights on the lions' heads above the pedestrian walkway.