New York Cafe

The New York Cafe opened in 1894 on the ground floor of an insurance palace by Alajos Hauszmann, and it was built without restraint: twisted marble columns, bronze and gilt, frescoed ceilings and chandeliers, in an Italian Renaissance manner applied at full volume. For decades it was the literary café of the city, where the writers of the Nyugat circle worked at the tables and editors held office hours, and the story goes that the key was thrown into the Danube on opening night so it would never close. It fell into other uses under socialism, was restored in 2006 and now runs as the café of a hotel, with a piano, a queue at the door and prices that reflect its status as a sight.

History

The building opened on 23 October 1894 as the Budapest office of the New York Life Insurance Company, designed by Alajos Hauszmann with Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl, and the New York Café on its ground floor became a long-time centre of Hungarian literature. The café was renamed the Hungaria in 1954 and later regained its old name; in 2001 the building was sold to the Italian Boscolo chain, which reopened it after full renovation on 5 May 2006 as a hotel with the restored café, and it took its present name on 24 November 2021 (Wikipedia, Anantara New York Palace Budapest Hotel).

What to look for

• Gilt columns and frescoed ceilings - the 1894 interior at full volume.
• The writers' café history - the Nyugat circle at these tables.
• The lower gallery - the sunken level where the regulars sat.
• Live piano through the day - the music the room is run around.

When to go

Year round. One to two hours. Queues form through the middle of the day; early morning or late evening are calmer. Booking is possible and worth it.

Things to know

It is expensive for what arrives, and the food is ordinary hotel fare at sight prices. The queue can run an hour without a booking. It is a tourist destination now rather than a working café, and the atmosphere reflects that.

Nearby

The Great Boulevard runs past the door; the Jewish quarter is a short walk.

Key facts