Budapest, Hungary
Jeff Manners ’74
Jeff Manners ’74 lives in Brussels but works in Budapest, where he is the CEO of MAI-CEE Insurance Brokers. Manners has worked as an insurance professional in the Central and Eastern Europe region since 1982, first with AIG and later with Marsh. He met his wife, Lili, a native of Ljubljana, Slovenia, while attending Colgate’s 1972 Yugoslav Study Program. Here are his tips for where to go if you’re hungry in Hungary.
Lado Café is a cozy little Central European–style café with tasty Hungarian cuisine and live jazz concerts every evening at 8 p.m.
Jeffrey Manners (third from left) at Lado Cafe with the owner and the Tamara Mozes Jazz Bank performers.
Kehli Vendeglo also has traditional cuisine, but this restaurant is in a setting on the Buda side (west of the Danube River) and the building appears to be a country inn. Guests have been known to join in and sing along with the traditional Hungarian gypsy “house” band.
Tanti Restaurant opened in 2014 and is the fourth Budapest restaurant to have received a Michelin star. Although tanti means old aunt, its cuisine is light, modern, and elegantly presented.
Delightful delicacies. The Hungarians are famous for goose liver, so you must try a dish with it, either as a starter or a main dish. Palinka is the Hungarian word for brandy; the best known and most tasty is apricot, or barack (pronounced baratsk). Dobos (pronounced dobosh) is a sponge cake you must try at the café Gerbeaud.
If you can catch a Myrtill Micheller concert, your visit to Budapest is well timed. I discovered Myrtill performing every second Tuesday at Lado Café with her group Swinguistique. She sings in French, English, and occasionally Hungarian. She is always accompanied by the guitarist Tibor Pinter, who evokes the style of Django Reinhardt. But don’t try to find her at Lado Café nowadays. Since she has become a success, you will have to look for her at the Budapest Jazz Club and other venues.
