Review of Mushroom Pattie Hamburger at EPOCH Vegan Burger by travellingweasels
Don't be put off by Istvanffi's unnecessarily complicated menu (basically, all of the options are the same, just some come with an extra burger or gherkins or onions). I was really pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food here, it may try and dress up like a vegan junk food restaurant, but I'm not fooled! The food is too good to be classed as junk food, in my opinion (okay, maybe the sugar, oil & salt content...) Anyway, the burgers are really tasty, as are the fries and the grapefruit juice was freshly squeezed with no sugar! The cups came in non-plastic cups too which was really cool to see, the only downside I could find about Istvanffi's was that their sauces (ketchup, almond mayo, etc.) come in plastic pots. Normally this wouldn't be that big of a deal, but they gave me high expectations with the non-plastic cups... oh and another thing - why aren't they called Mockdonalds? All jokes aside, this place is really cool and I love it. Perfect for when you want that 'junk-food vegan' kick.
We're currently stuck in Hungary (coronavirus situation), hence a short comment from my Hungarian bf Tamás: here are some things that we are defo gonna write to (+poke) them about: we wonder whether they are a co-op? Unfortunately, co-ops are not very popular in Hungary bc when the Soviets overtook the country, they forcibly nationalized all land and forced all agricultural workers into faux-democtratic and heavily corrupt co-ops... time to establish some real (that is, not top-down, but bottom-up) co-ops in this country! (like Gólya presszó in Bp: http://golyapresszo.hu/golya/tortenet/) Second question: do they have any organic plant-based meals? We think there would be a market niche for that... like basically anywhere (the legal differentiation of "non-organic" and "organic" produce is basically an euphemism for "poisonous" and "a bit less poisonous"... which is an outrage! All fruit & veg (+any plant-based food) should be organic, everywhere, not just the privilege of wealthy citizens who can afford to buy the more expensive, healthier stuff). BTW: We've recently learnt from a friend that most fruit & veg in Hungary is GMO-free (unless it comes from the US), so yay for that! Last, but not least: were the agricultural workers paid well, in a fair trade fashion? (probs not, most field workers come from the biggest ethnic minority in the country, the Romani people, who are subject to day-to-day (institutionalised) racism If you liked my review, you can follow me on @veganvstravel on Instagram or Facebook. I wrote a whole blogpost about vegan restaurants and eating out in Budapest here: https://www.veganvstravel.com/2017/10/best-places-to-eat-out-in-budapest.html
and here:
https://www.veganvstravel.com/2018/10/vegan-budapest.html
Go vegan!! :)
