Reviews | Martin O Regan

35 Café

Posted on July 30, 2014 by martinoregan • 0 Comments

Bike themed and youthful the problem with this place is that it doesn’t take itself seriously enough as a business. My entering was greeted by surprise and my order was misheard.
Maybe I’m In a mood and maybe it is functional in a way that would usually serve but today that’s not enough.
After sitting stewing I decided to repeat my request and sure enough the girl had been allowing me the pick of the ziros kenyérs. I shot before asking questions: a trait I hate in others and which I’ve indulged myself just now to hypocritical proportions.
Now hunger tantrums aside let me take another look around. It is a basic spot complete with broken toilet (ladies) at the moment but with booth style seats it surely can be of use. Still in a district with so many alternatives being caught downstairs in the gloom at lunchtime is low on the list. Come nighttime, come difference perhaps but for now best take my word for it, unless like me your curiosity is greater than some random stranger’s opinion.
“Texas and whiskey… funerals”

https://www.facebook.com/35CafeSzerviz

©TheHairyTeacher2014

Hecc

Posted on July 29, 2014 by martinoregan • 0 Comments

Whether this place turns out to be a joke remains to be seen but for the time being on a grey February morn*, just shy of my next class, it offers respite from all the timetabling and rushing. Whew!
It’s modern enough in feel but cosy enough to be homely. It’s not all sharp edges and minamilism.
Located just across from Erzsebet square with the pending Akvarium reopening promising an exciting and vibrant summer ahead, it could all come down to location location location.
A badly printed flyer brought me here: that and my inability to read. It said 50% off…but on second glance I realise it’s only for alcohol, and while that may be good tidings usually, there is another sting in the tail. All alcohol excluding beer and wine!!! As if there was any other types of alcohol!!! Whiskey, vodka, pálinka…they’re not alcohol. They’re death wishes in a bottle, unless you drink in moderation, but a place like this doesn’t promote a thing like that.
Now if they had 50% off their merely average coffee I’d be much happier. Grey mornings lean on grey moods perhaps. Bahhhh!

*A review late coming. Nevertheless on recently passing by the place remains the same, and empty. The newly opened Akvárium and surrounds have stolen any chance at thunder here methinks!!!

https://www.facebook.com/Hecc.Cafe

©TheHairyTeacher2014

Calgary…a review

Posted on July 1, 2014 by martinoregan • 0 Comments

Calgary…this is not my first time.
Herein seduced by the piano
Now all atumble with bits and bobs
But isn’t this whole place?
And so-
I wonder-
If maybe at a twirl, speakeasily,
Everything may be different.
From out of the radio the music spells freedom:
Hungarian, gypsy? –
Inflected with a francophilia.
It sways into a kind of opulence
Before surrendering to the density of the heart
Only to be released by the furious incline
Of a violin, a fiddle,
Turned demented – Chagallian –
Dancing o’er the notions of a childish nightmare.
And then a kind of swing kicks in –
In defiance of work, or the mundane,
And yet in celebration of life, of love.
And then the beer protests
“No words are more important”
As the hands and mind become distracted.
Again the calls repeat more loudly,
More vociferously
“No words were ever so important”
But the pen moves on
The gas keeps rising
And so the battle has begun
Between the poet and (the) drink
Sober and drunk
And somewhere amidst this selfish incline-
A battle suffused on the shores of otherness –
A hint, a notion, of other things.
A charge, a brigade
In the light they falter fall, but forever rise again.
For unlike men this is family,
For unlike duty this is love,
But for unlike freedom,
This is responsibility.
The thing that tears at each rebel’s heart.

“They would topple a government and so too a family in favour of a freedom that can never be won – a dream, however, that is the fuel of life.”

©TheHairyTeacher2014

Ankerd (Anker revisited)

Posted on August 28, 2013 by martinoregan • 0 Comments

Now there is a fine line between impatience and over-tolerance and whereas I’m prone to the latter my decision to walk out 25 mins after ordering a bundáskenyér/french toast was certainly not, as far as I was concerned, an undue criticism of Anker (Anker köz ).
The problem with student staffed places is that the attitude can align itself with the service while professionalism falls by the wayside. It takes a good manager to strike the right balance but Anker is just not up to scratch.
Walking out took effort as I was hungry and, mid-morning, running between classes. On an empty stomach I alighted onto the street and while I could have dwelled on my misfortune I chose to steal a silver lining: at least I’d be early for my lesson- no rushing necessary. That I popped into Tesco for a sausage roll and subsequently food poisoning may be utterly unrelated but I smell voodoo, the karma of non- pacificists!

(See previous review: http://thehairyteacher.com/to-pin-it-down/ )

©TheHairyTeacher2013

No breakfast at Tiffany’s

Posted on August 17, 2013 by martinoregan • 0 Comments

Below you will find a link to a review on Tiffany’s cafe which was located in the Batthyány tér market hall on the first floor. Be warned: the place no longer exists!!! This oft times can be the trouble with an ever-changing city. Consistency can suffer and while people may argue that the best will survive, in a town, like many others, where money matters, it’s not always a guarantee.

Still with the constant growth comes a re-energising, a certain state of vibrancy which allows a once well-travelled teacher to find a journey on the interior…

http://thehairyteacher.com/breakfast-or-not/

©TheHairyTeacher2013

Ah shur, tis Grand (The Grand Hostel)

Posted on July 29, 2013 by martinoregan • 0 Comments

Out of town but not out of town this private hostel sits on 2 major transport lines, the 61 tram, and the 29 bus. A ten minute walk, if you’re taking it easy, either side of these and you’ve got the 129 bus or the 5 bus. Apart from the 29 which takes you North to Óbuda and towards the Roman settlements, all others take you East or South towards the river, the castle, and the city centre.
A night bus passes by every hour and is accessible from a myriad of points throughout the city.
Beds are provided in dorms or private at prices which imply hostel, not gap year-Daddy’s wallet.
If on a brief visit then the city is your calling but if allowed a night or two to recuperate the hostel also provides its own entertainment with locals dropping in, and Peti the Proprietor is always willing to bang out a tune. Be warned: Peti’s got a good and varied taste in music which he may employ to keep you from your Zzzs. Your choice!;)

©TheHairyTeacher2013

http://www.grandhostel.hu/

Back for Seconds (Cafe 5 revisited)

Posted on July 18, 2013 by martinoregan • 0 Comments

Cafe Five, Kolossy tér, lunchtime.
A busy affair.
They mean business.
And these days even early evenings have their appeal.
Landing this side of town it’s definitely a recommendation.
Friendly staff, who speak English, and a bevy of buses, a tram line running by the window, and the urban railway (HÉV) a two minute walk away, makes this is not only comfortable but convenient.

(As for starters: http://thehairyteacher.com/cafe5/ )

A Sporting Chance (Sports Bisztro)

Posted on July 17, 2013 by martinoregan • 0 Comments

If it’s sports you’re after then the Sports Bisztro on Pasaréti utca has something to offer, even if it’s just for the electronic darts or pool. On big game nights table booking is essential, a concept still alien to me when the onus is on me to make arrangements, but something most welcome on entering a crowded pub and having friends ask for the table which they’ve reserved. Moses couldn’t do any better!
A nice spot for social gatherings with seating both in and out and in case I’ve not mentioned it enough there’s also a screen outside to catch all the action as televised.
On a cold winter’s eve it’s a hideaway for a ‘warmer’ on the way home; in the summer it’s a place to sit outside and cool down over a fröccs. Other than that…
friendly staff who quickly adapt to your needs,
a selection of Belgian beers,
melegszendvics-es and other such snacking oddities, make up the change,
and whether it’s coming or going you are, transport is just around the corner.
I could mention the hospital’s proximity but this is not that type of place;)

All About Atmosphere (The Budapest Jazz Club)

Posted on July 16, 2013 by martinoregan • 0 Comments

When I first arrived in Budapest the Budapest Jazz Club was situated on Múzeum utca in the popular university area which spans the 5th, 8th, maybe even 9th districts of the city. It was near that area where an Irish pub consisted of putting the word Irish before it and the streets had yet to be pedestrianised. Now that the area is looking good the Budapest Jazz Club has upped pegs and shifted residence to the 13th. It’s still up and coming Hollán Ernő street style but somehow this district, this part at least, and my favourite, is more becoming of Jazz Club mystic post smoking ban.
In the place where once the Odeon, an arthouse cinema stood, it has changed little albeit better music emanates from the speakers mid morning.
It still retains the arthouse feel and along with the other arthouse cinemas that have fallen foul of progress, or other conspiracy theories, imagination has been employed in order to maintain quality, at least the quality of difference.
With regular concerts and an early morning, 10am, opening this serves to be as much a library as a theatre. It’s a cool place to hang out, literally during the almost unbearable summer’s days and it serves to enhance the spirit for those more musically curious.
And for those who’ve just popped in for a coffee you are in a good neighbourhood for some good quick eats if things turn peckish.
Disfruta la!

A Stout Performance

Posted on July 14, 2013 by martinoregan • 0 Comments

If in Cork and in need of a dose of craft beers then why not try the PorterHouse, Sheare’s Street. Set in the Mardyke complex a little off dead centre it’s still on the run in from UCC and other noteworthy sights to see. A selection of food bits plus more a hungry soul will not find oneself abandoned, and for all those of the thirst quenching persuasion, even if craft isn’t your style, this is still a pub with all and sundry behind the bar.

For further details: http://www.porterhousebrewco.com/bars-cork-sheares.php

Category Archives: Reviews