You can get hopelessly messed up looking for the right kind of café in a strange city. Budapest isn’t all that strange, but the Hungarian language is, and I wish I’d had this list with me when I went there. Instead, I wasted far too much time traipsing from one place to another, trying to gauge, from a glimpse through door or window, whether or not the coffee was great, the food good and the prices reasonable. As a matter of fact, I never did find exactly what I was looking for. I was alone and feeling particularly undaring at the time; don’t ask me why, but these things happen when you’re travelling. And it’s a great shame, as Budapest is crawling with cafes. Really, really good ones. New and old.
Photo by Sjors Provoost
This is probably because it inherited a wonderfully indulgent coffee-and-cake culture from the Viennese, who certainly know a thing or two about both. Many of the old cafés are famous; the clientele probably aren’t worrying too much about the cost, unlike most travellers of my ilk. But it’d be good to treat yourself to an outing to at least one of them, if you’re in Budapest with a companion. My problem was, I wasn’t. And I was broke. And I don’t speak a word of Hungarian. 
Well, maybe one. No, make that two – but don’t, under any circumstances ask me to spell them.
Photo by perhapstoopink
Anyway, thanks to the link above, I am now better informed. When I go back, there’ll be no shortage of places to try. Here’s another site that’s pretty useful too. Take it from me: it’s good to have the gen on these places before you go. It’ll save you a heap of time that could otherwise be spent exploring a fantastically beautiful old city.
And now, it's time to say viszontlátásra…(yes, yes, I had to look that up; it wasn’t in my two-word Hungarian repertoire).