The top five restaurants to visit in Budapest

As always, food played a big part in our holiday in Budapest. It's actually quite a hipster city filled with little bakeries, vegan and vegetarian options and trendy brunch places. Ice cream is also huge so make sure you hunt out the shops for a few scoops of the good stuff - especially if you need to cool down. Here are my top five restaurants I would wholeheartedly recommend because life's too short to have a bad meal right?

Karavan

Nowadays I prefer going to a street food feast than a sit down restaurant. We are so spoilt by the street food scene in London. There's something about the sheer amount of choice and the greedy little piglet in me likes the fact you can eat more than one thing. We stumbled across this courtyard filled with various street food vendors next to the ruin pub Szimpla Kert and it was buzzing. We took it as a good sign and decided to try it out. I went for a cottage cheese and ham burrito which was nice but didn't blow me away. But the cheese and chicken nachos did. Oh my gosh, they were insanely good. My friends went for the burgers and said they reminded them of Five Guys. It's a great place to go if you're on a budget or planning a night out. It seemed most British people were drawn to it too as it seemed every single person had a familiar accent - guess us Brits do love our street food!

Da Mario
Usually when I'm away I like to stick to the local food but sometimes you just fancy some pizza. Who am I kidding? I always fancy pizza but my boyfriend isn't keen so I don't have it that often. So when he suggests it I have to take advantage. We had organised a trip to see the Hungarian Parliament and a walk along the Danube and after spotting this place in my Lonely planet guide book, I decided it had to be worth a shot. I opted for a gooey cheese based pizza topped with parma harm, cherry tomatoes and a mountain of rocket. It was absolutely delicious. The chewy sourdough base was cooked to perfection, the toppings were generous and the thin base soaked up the stringy cheese. For four pizzas and eight cokes, the bill came to about £50. Service was friendly and attentive and it has a lovely outside terrace to watch the world go by.

Menza
A little bit of a higher price point, this slightly swish restaurant offers a modern twist on Hungarian classics. While the price is more expensive than other eateries offering local food, the portions are huge. Certainly no need for starters if you're looking to save money! It's located on a great strip full of buzzing restaurant and bars. The Hungarain beef stew with homemade noodles was a delight. Full of tender cube of beefs in a spicy tomato sauce, the dish was delicious and a great introduction to the local cuisine.

Stika
Brunch is such a massive deal in London that I feel we are kinda spoilt. Therefore I find some cities don't quite live up to the expectations. After a little research I came across this all day breakfast place in the Jewish Quarter. It's a little off the beaten track and in what seems like a very local area but it's worth the hunt. We pumped for the Hungarian breakfast with crispy streaky bacon, perfectly poached eggs, a addictive wholegrain mustard sauce, spicy Hungarian sausages, crusty slices of bread and a bundle of salad leaves. I'm still dreaming about those sausages. Similar tasting to chorizo, they had such a delicious kick to them.

Cirkusz
Beware to wait a while if you visit here - it gets very busy! Once again located in the Jewish Quarter, this colourful little restaurant does a brilliant brunch. The lunch menu looked pretty darn good too. The flaky, warm croissant was the best I've ever tasted! We were all nursing a little hangover so went for the recovery breakfast. A giant concoction with crispy bacon, creamy scrambled egg, cherry tomatoes, spicy sausages, green salad leaves and a croissant served with fresh orange juice. It's not a budget option but is still very good value for money compared to home!