One of our most memorable lunches in Budapest was an unplanned adventure of having Chinese food in Hange, located inside a commercial building in a random area we reached by tram.
Initially, the plan was to eat Indonesian food and expand my list of Indonesian dishes enjoyed abroad. However, things didn’t go as expected. We arrived at a location where we couldn’t find the Indonesian restaurant we had in mind. When I called the number listed on Google, an Indonesian man answered and explained that they were undergoing renovations. He suggested another Indonesian restaurant under the same management, so we took a taxi to the second location—only to be greeted by a locked door.
By this point, I felt a bit tricked but was still determined to eat Indonesian food. So I turned to Google again and found another nearby Indonesian café that, according to the listing, was open. But when we got there, we were once again met with disappointment: a closed sign on the door.
I even checked if it was a public holiday in Budapest or Indonesia—nope. “Where are all the Indonesian restauranteurs?” I thought while sulking in front of the shuttered café.
That’s when Fafa, ever resourceful, came to the rescue. He suggested we find an alternative, which is how we ended up at an empty Chinese restaurant, Hange, where the server looked genuinely surprised to see two brown people walk in.
Hange.Hu Chinese Restaurant in Budapest
Hange’s menu, however, was reassuring. We ordered the classic Chongqing chicken and, as a treat-yourself holiday indulgence, I got the tentacles—a dish neither of us had tried before. We asked for both dishes to be made extra spicy.
The food arrived quickly, and it was a solid 10/10. Absolutely delicious! I didn’t expect the tentacles to be a cold dish, but even so, they were mind-blowingly good.
I admit there’s a chance the food seemed extra amazing because I’d had a lousy breakfast, spent the entire day soaked, and faced three failed attempts to find Indonesian restaurants. But Fafa can back me up on this—the food was genuinely incredible.
Even if those other factors played a role, so be it. I’m 100% coming back to Hange the next time I’m in Budapest.
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Oh no doubt the food was absolutely delicious