Budapest’s iconic historic café

 Ferenc Molnár and That Certain Key, or the Legendary Story of the New York Café

Then he pauses for a moment. He looks up at the frescoes, his gaze sweeping over the marble columns, the chandeliers and the gilded details, and realises he is no longer simply standing in a café, but in one of Budapest’s iconic historic spaces.

This moment happens again and again.

The visuals are accompanied by sound: at the New York Café, live piano music forms part of the atmosphere throughout the day, whilst one of the guests’ favourite experiences is the Roma music show, which brings a real café-like energy to this historic venue. The music is not merely background noise, but an integral part of the New York experience: elegant, lively and memorable. 

At seven o’clock in the morning, the door opens and the guests arrive one after the other. Some have been planning this visit for months. Some return because of an old memory. Some pop in just for a coffee, only to stay longer than they intended. And there are those who open their laptops at the table and start working just as writers once did – only now with a screen instead of ink and a quill.

The literary and artistic spirit of the New York Café has not faded even today. Year after year, the New York Művész Páholy series evokes the café’s cultural role within these walls, whilst the White Salon Restaurant on the first floor combines a contemporary Hungarian gastronomic experience with the palace’s historic setting.

The history of New York, however, began long before the first guests took their seats at the marble tables. It began with the journey of a young schoolteacher, continued with an insurance company’s palace in Budapest, and was then written by generations of writers, poets, painters, journalists, actors, musicians, filmmakers and guests.

Here’s the story of how the New York Café became one of Budapest’s iconic, must-visit venues.