Celsius Budapest Review: Asian-Hungarian Fusion Small Plates in an Old Chocolate Factory (2026)

📋 Celsius Budapest at a Glance

Best For	Food adventurers, date nights, group dining
Cost	7,000-15,000 HUF per person for a full meal, plus a 15% service fee
Hours	Daily 12:00-23:00
Getting There	M3/M4 Kálvin tér, 5-minute walk into Palotanegyed
Skip If	You want traditional Hungarian food, a quiet table, or a single plated entrée

Celsius is a sharing-plate restaurant at Szentkirályi utca 8 that pairs Hungarian ingredients with Far Eastern technique inside a converted early-1900s chocolate factory. It opened in December 2025 and it is open daily from noon to 23:00. Small plates run 1,790-4,290 HUF; order three or four per person and a full meal lands roughly 7,000-15,000 HUF a head. Budget for the 15% service fee on top, because it goes on every bill and it is printed on the menu rather than sprung on you at the end.

Sharing-style Asian-fusion small plates, the format Celsius builds its menu around (not an actual Celsius spread). Photo by Nadin Sh, free to use via Pexels.

The Building Did the Heavy Lifting First

The Stühmer factory produced Hungarian chocolate and pralines for decades before it closed. A French hotel group bought the shell and converted it into a boutique hotel, but the restaurant runs independently with its own street entrance on Szentkirályi utca, in the Palotanegyed (PAH-loh-tah-negged, “Palace District”) pocket of District VIII, five minutes on foot from the M3/M4 junction at Kálvin tér. You don’t need to be a hotel guest, and you don’t walk through a lobby to get a table.

High ceilings, exposed structural elements, big communal tables alongside smaller two-tops. The French ownership optimized for people staying longer, not for maximum table turns.

What to Order

The fusion here isn’t random ingredients thrown together. Paprika-seed oil shows up next to gochujang; Mangalica pork gets paired with fermented vegetables. Head chef Ádám Tóth, previously at Michelin-recommended Füge in Biatorbágy, runs a kitchen built around Nordic-leaning technique and a real sourcing standard, not garnish.

The menu turns over with the season, so treat any dish list, this one included, as a snapshot. What is on it now:

• The two signatures. Asian beef tartare with french toast and aged cheese, and a katsu sando with gochujang mayo and cabbage. If you order nothing else, order these.
• Hortobágyi-style bao, sun-dried tomatoes and roasted kápia pepper. The clearest statement of what the kitchen is doing: a Hungarian pancake filling in a Chinese bun, and it works.
• Beef cheek in goulash jus with a vegetable crisp, which is the plate that will convince anyone at the table who came reluctantly.
• Unagi Mangalica skewers with spring onion and cilantro, and summer rolls with smoked trout and satay peanut sauce.
• Caesar salad rebuilt on buckwheat and katsuobushi, chicken or prawns.
• For the table’s vegetarians: truffled sweet potato with garlic and lime, goat cheese with pineapple-yuzu ketchup, burnt parsnip with fennel, coffee and figs, melon salad with cucumber and sea buckthorn, and house kimchi.
• Two desserts only: a cheesecake with miso caramel and gooseberries, and a cottage cheese pie with apricot and calamansi.

Budgeting the Meal

Plates run 1,790 HUF at the cheap end to 4,290 HUF at the top, and the arithmetic works out like this:

• Light meal, two or three plates: 6,000-10,000 HUF
• Full experience, four or five plates plus drinks: 15,000-22,000 HUF
• Coffee from 990 HUF, beer 1,590-2,190 HUF, wine by the glass from 1,490 HUF
• Signature cocktails 4,990 HUF, gin and tonics and spritzers 4,490 HUF, mocktails 3,790 HUF

Then add 15% service to whatever that comes to. Two people ordering seven plates and a cocktail each are looking at something close to 40,000 HUF, which is worth knowing before the bill lands rather than after.

The Drinks

Bar manager László Héjja built cocktails around Asian botanicals rather than trying to force an Asian theme onto a standard bar list. The gin and tonic bar runs seven builds, each pairing a specific gin with its own garnish. The reds are Bordeaux from the ownership’s family estates; the whites are Hungarian apart from one alcohol-free import. The non-alcoholic program is a real one rather than an apology: a matcha and apple cooler, a tonka bean and green apple mock gin and tonic, alcohol-free spritzes that taste like something instead of sugar water with herbs.

The Courtyard

From spring through autumn, Celsius opens an inner courtyard garden. It’s the best reason to book ahead: ask for courtyard seating specifically, since the space transforms once it’s open and city noise from Józsefváros disappears entirely.

Who Should Book, Who Should Skip

Book it for a date night, a group dinner where everyone wants to try different things, or a break from heavy Hungarian classics. It’s a strong pairing with a stop at the nearby Hungarian National Museum. Skip it if you want a traditional plated Hungarian dinner, dead quiet, or a fixed single entrée; that’s not the format. If you’re chasing Asian food specifically rather than fusion, our new ramen spot Hachi-Ko or the wider Chinese restaurant guide covers more traditional ground.

📍 Celsius Budapest – Essential Info

• Address: Szentkirályi utca 8, 1088 Budapest (District VIII)
• Hours: Daily 12:00-23:00
• Price Range: 7,000-15,000 HUF per person, plus 15% service
• Getting There: M3/M4 Kálvin tér, 5-minute walk
• Reservations: Recommended, especially weekend dinners; walk-ins accepted
• Instagram: @celsiusbudapest

FAQ

Do I need a reservation at Celsius? Walk-ins are accepted, but weekend dinners fill up. Reserve ahead if you want a guaranteed table, especially for groups of four or more.

Is Celsius connected to the hotel above it? Same building, fully separate entrance. You don’t need to be a YOU Hotel guest to eat there.

Is there outdoor seating? Yes, an inner courtyard garden that opens spring through autumn.

Are there vegetarian and vegan options? Yes, and more than a token one. The current menu carries truffled sweet potato, burnt parsnip with fennel and figs, a melon and cucumber salad, house kimchi and a goat cheese plate.

What time does Celsius close? The kitchen and bar run daily from 12:00 to 23:00. Reserve for weekend dinners; walk-ins are fine midweek.