enza offers so much more than the double treat of coffee and sunbath on the terrace from early spring to late autumn: we are passionate about serving delicious food all through the year. Although the name of the restaurant refers to canteens of the Socialist era, its interior design and cuisine provides a more sophisticated take on the past that is fine tuned to match contemporary sensibilities. Merging the savoir vivre of modern downtown restaurants with the relaxed atmosphere Budapest’s 1960s coffe bars, Menza is all about enjoying life. The canteen is refurbished here with a sense of style, proudly decorated with wallpaper from Kesztölc sourced from the deadstock of Jószerencset Co-operative that fortunately survived three decades. We keep the tradition of communal catering alive, our daily lunch offers are to delight the hard working man and women taking a break from their office routines. Our regular visitors know that Menza attracts a colourful clientele ranging from jovial pensioners and popular actors to distinguishing gentlewomen and exhausted tourists. The reason is probably the versatility of our menu: from syrup to white beer, from Hungarian veal stew to red tuna salad, it is designed to please suits as much as skirts and jeans. They organise seating, watch out for orders, keep in touch with the kitchen, and manage the waiting staff. They see through chaos and set things right, recognise casual guests and take care of new visitors… they lend Menza its character.
“When we opened, I had little confidence in whether we could utilise the ten tables we had on the terrace that still looked like a construction site. Today we have thirty-six tables outside, and even inside its advisable to book in advance. Menza had a different life-cycle than most restaurants nowadays: whereas usually new places lose popularity after little more than eighteen months, Menza is constantly attracting more and more customers. Its location, menu, affordable prices and attentive staff all pay a role in this success. Not long ago two girls dropped in with their trolley bags straight from the airport after a London trip. After they took a seat they were quick to order: “Could we get two traditional Hungarian poppy-seed “ (Arpád Laurenczy – General Manager)
“We were commissioned to evoke a retro mood by László Vidák. We had already worked with him on the interior design of his Tisza shoe stores. We had a few rolls of Kesztölc wallpaper and the discarded sound absorbing panels of an old sound studio at our disposal to accomplish this mission. We have accentuated the style of the era by laying the wooden floor following a fishbone pattern, installing the copper decorative plates that had once decorated the bar of the holiday resort of the state owned Hungarian Foreign Trade Company, and using oak furniture that had been in vogue in those decades. The time travel experience was further enhanced by custom tailored sofas, Italian design chairs, roughly woven textiles, brown-orange colours and the tiny gerberas sticking out of the vases.” ( Anett Ficzere and István Muzsai – Thycom Stúdió )
www.menzaetterem.hu
