Gerbeaud!

A Christmas Tree of macarons because why not

Unfinished Budapest business got finished with a trip to Gerbeaud.

Gerbeaud is one of the world's great coffeeshops.  World.  As in the whole Big Blue Marble.  It is listed in my book "1000 Places to Visit Before You Die" or some other such melodramatic title.  I didn't make it either of my first two trips to Budapest.  One time it had just closed when I got there.

It all started as a confectionary shop back in 1858.  Now, it is the beautiful, ornate, huge structure on Vörösmarty tér in Budapest Centrum.  Let's have a look at the display counters.

And one more look at that Christmas Tree of macarons:

It is multiple rooms of chandeliers and draperies and decadent capitalist luxury that somehow survived the communist era.

It serves meals too, in addition to cakes and confectionaries.  I had the turkey cordon bleu with grilled mixed vegetables (or mixed grill vegetables, I can't remember which):

My reaction was "where have you been all of my life?"  I am sorry that the internet is not scratch-and-sniff because the aroma was incredible.  And the vegetables were awesome, perfectly salted and seasoned.  I even ate the cauliflower and I do not eat cauliflower ever.  The cherry tomatoes tasted like cherries, with a hint of tomato.  And the cordon bleu?  It tasted as good as it smelled.

Of course I left room for dessert.

This is the "salty peanut apricot slice."  It was not too sweet,  Cheap desserts are loaded with sugar and sweetness.  This was nicely sweetened.  The description was peanut butter cream, hazelnut praline, apricot, on a thin layer of chocolate sponge cake.  Here, read it from the menu:

I ordered it because my first choice, the cream cake, was sold out for the night.

This probably means it was awesome.  (The menu had some interesting other choices, such as the Mojito sundae, with rum, lemon ice cream, lime juice, mint leaves and sparkling water that sounded like the perfect summertime dessert.  This was not summertime however, so the Mojito sundae was left unordered.)

Back to my "salty peanut apricot slice."  I wasn't sure if that flavor combination would work.  It could be a symphony or a cacophony.  I trusted.  And my trust was rewarded.  The hazelnut was the dominant taste.  The peanut butter was the dominant after taste.  Hints of apricot came through on occasion,  It all worked.  Weirdly enough, the chocolate cake was over-powered and not really noticeable.

I ordered a cappuccino to go with it.  This is a coffeehouse after all.

It was closing time when I finished, so the place was emptied out.

It was all awesome.  Beautiful space.  Delicious food.  Excellent dessert.  A very merry Christmas from inside Gerbeaud.  And, when I walked out, I walked into the Budapest Christmas market,

Maybe it's the Christmas lights, but all Christmas markets seem to look better and more festive after dark.

This particular food booth smelled awesome.

Again, apologies for the lack of "scratch and sniff" technology here on the interwebs.

And with that it is time to bring the Budapest portion of this trip to its conclusion.  My observation from this third trip to here is that I still love this city.  It's still my favorite.  It's changed a bit.  Nothing stays the same in this world no matter how much I want it to, dammit.  (The expletive added, of course, to avoid ending that sentence on a preposition.)  Most noticeably, food and restaurant prices are now at "European" levels, instead of being a great travel bargain, even though Hungary does not use the euro.  Construction cranes are everywhere, so perhaps it will change some more.

But for now, other than it being pricier, it's still a great place.  My stress left my body just being here for a few days.  My three nights here translated into just two days, as the first day was "jet lag recovery day."  Tomorrow I will take the train to my next destination,