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Centrál Café and Restaurant
City: BudapestAddress: H-1053 Budapest, Károlyi Mihály utca 9.
Tel.: +36 1 266 2110
Tradition and modernity
Tradition and modernity. Respect for traditions, openness to new ideas.
That is how Central Café could be described. We are proud of our forefathers an we are aware of the challenges of our age. We do not intend to evoke the past, but we intend to revive the kind of intellectuality that used to make this place one of the most popular intellectual centres of the capital. We intend to do so, with your help.
We cannot do more than to provide the "scenery" - the atmospheric environment, good food, seductive sweets and refreshing drinks - the good spirits must be brought along by you. By all those who stop by for a cup of coffee in the morning, for lunch at noon, for a glass of wine on the way to the theatre or a light dinner after the theatre and who take part in one of our programmes as members of a creative audience.
Mission
The historic past and the historic intellectuality impose obligations on us, the descendants, too. We profess that we have to think and work in a way so that the reconstructed Central Café and Restaurant opened again in 2000 could be the worthy successor of the historic Central. In times past, the newspapers and periodicals edited in the Central, the discussions and the social life conducted here were not only outstanding accomplishments of the Hungarian artistic and scientific life but also formed the way of thinking of the Hungarian society to a large extent and had a positive effect on the social and intellectual development of society.
We, working in the café, try to do our best in order to make the Central the number one and most successful coffee-house in Budapest. We are proud to say that the arts are welcomed guests at our place too. We would like our visitors to come back to us happily once and again. We feel it is our responsibility to gain acknowledgement for our work and to renew our profession.
Central: past values for future success.
With the restarting of Central, we would like to witness the birth of a social location, where talking, listening and understanding each other turn into cultural experiences and where we can set a good example for public life. We believe that step by step, Central will have an increasingly inspiring effect on Hungarian public life. We consider it something especially important to face that the café and the restaurant can only fulfil their mission if we closely work together with our guests and we mutually help the development of each other's way of thinking and taste. We believe that the Central is more than just an intimate coffee-house, a quality restaurant and a fine confectionery. But it cannot be more, without the constructive cooperation of our guests.
History and legend
The Central Café, the construction of which was arranged by Erényi Ullmann Lajos and was designed by Quittner Zsigmond, opened its doors in 1887. The café in fact had a central location, in the vicinity of cultural institutions, editorial offices, printing offices but it also had a central location in the heart of the people coming by. It was predestined to become the centre of intellectual life in Budapest. The interior design of the old Central Café in the first decades of the century was characterised by historicism and eclecticism. In the course of furnishing, thonet chairs, marble tables standing on cast-iron legs, plush arm-chairs placed on Persian rugs, English club leather suites surrounded by a couple of palm-trees, on the walls photos of the city, drawings and mirrors, on the tables fine pottery played the main role.
One of the most important traditions of the old Central Café, apart from the widely celebrated hospitality, was the intellectual character of the café, the bustling, intellectual coffee-house life, since it used to be open and visited 24 hours a day by painters, architects, sculptors, journalists, theatre people, photographers, musicians, art historians, doctors and university teachers, because this was their second home, their regular haunt. To use a present-day expression, we could say the Central was the knowledge and information centre of its time.
In 1905, Mészáros Gyõzõ became the head of the café. He attached great importance to the intellectual life of the place. At the table of scientists, among others, Gombócz Zoltán linguist, Eckhardt Sándor art historian, Szekfû Gyula and Hóman Bálint historians debated matters. At the renowned Round Table of the Central Café, Kiss József edited the newspaper called Week and that is where the periodical named West was started. Editors of the periodical moved back here from the New York Café in 1920.
Ady, Karinthy, Móricz, Babits, Osvát, Kosztolányi, Krúdy, Ignotus, Szabó Lõrincz, Tóth Árpád, Kaffka Margit and later on Illyés Gyula, Tamási Áron, Veres Péter , to mention only a few of the most important intellectual characters of the time, were all regular customers of the café. Between 1940 and 1944, a literary and sociological circle of friends, organised by the Bólyai Academy, also operated in the Central with the participation of Püski Sándor and Féja Géza.
After World War II., the first literary review, the New Moon, was edited in the Central. That is how Nemes Nagy Ágnes, Pilinszky, Szabó Magda, Mándy Iván, Örkény, Ottlik, Hubay, Devecseri Gábor and Somlyó György became regular customers of the café.
On 2nd of July, in 1949, in the year of the nationalization, the Central was closed for once and for all, and an unmerited period of vicissitudes started. After the golden days, the place was first turned into an eatery for construction workers of the underground and later on became the Eötvös Club of the Eötvös Lóránd University. In the 1990's it was operated as an amusement arcade with the commission of waste.
Finally, after more than 50 years and thanks to Dr. Somody Imre, once again this place having such a unique atmosphere is shining in its old splendour.
Location
The Central, in conformity with its name, can be found in a central location. It is on the corner of Károlyi Mihály street and Irányi street, which is about one minute from the Ferenciek square.
It is an excellent meeting point in the neighbourhood of theatres, museums, art galleries and the distinguished shops of Váci street and Petõfi Sándor street. This peaceful island in the middle of the commotion of a bustling city is expecting its guest from 8 a.m. till midnight.
Access:
Underground: Line 3, Station: Ferenciek tere
Bus: No. 5, 7, 7A, 8, 15, 78, 78É, 112, 173, 907, 908, 911, 921, CITY BUS
Parking: fee to be paid on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. 240 Ft/hour
Parking garage: Realtanoda street (100 m)
