The Gay Hussar

Bored with the norm around soho, we felt this homely restaurant could offer some authentic Hungarian comfort food and thus a visit last Friday. The restaurant was rather small and even though I'm a size zero, it was difficult to squeeze through the table. Nonetheless the atmosphere was good although serving by an Indian waitor was a bit bizzare.

The goulash soup was much better than the fish dumplings. Duck liver was average, veal goulash pancake was good, particularly the tomato sauce with a hint of yoghurt. The highlight was the traditional dessert wine. The apricot one was the winner of the night.

Comic sketches on the wall were interesting.

It's worth a try although I doubt I'll be back for a second time.
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bunni - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

I visited this place twice in two weeks, trying to introduce my friends to Hungarian cuisine. the place is not terrible, but probably too expensive for its quality. staff was nice and friendly. food - ok, but nothing spectacular.

i had my favorite - duck, which was quite good. my friends quite enjoyed their chicken in paprika, veal, and fish. desserts were quite good - pancakes with walnut and chocolate sause was awesome. somloi galuska - ok. i loved the Tokai wine.

the restaurant has a good choice of Hungarian wines, but i find them overpriced. for a bottle of Bikaver that you can get in Budapest for 500 Ft, here you pay 16 pounds.
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Yevgeniy
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Ok, I NEVER review restaurants. Who can usually be bothered? But I've got to speak out this time, for no other reason that to save a single night of your life. You'll thank me for it!

It's not that TGH is awful - the staff are okay, comprising a ludicrously smiley young man and a dour sour-faced woman. The decor is amusing if you like chowing down on goulash soup surrounded by the exagerated faces of the political great and good (although there was something a touch fake about that, seeing as all the drawings seemed to be done in the same year).

But the food is deeply, deeply average. Borderline poor. My hors d'oeuvres starter ranged from the bland (salami, pate) to the disgusting (salted herring), and for main my Weiner schnitzel was more breadcrumb than anything else. My brother's veal goulash was quite tasty, but comprised of 5 tiny pieces of meat and 2/3rds of a plate of chewy gnocchi

This would not be a problem if this was a *just* a normal restaurant, but it's not. It's an institution. A place that i've been planning to go to since I moved to London.

I could count the better meals i've had in London on a couple of thousand fingers.

You have been warned!
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Rupert M
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Friday, October 31, 2008

I went to the Gay Hussar with my partner. I was born in Hungary, and was expecting to find authentic Hungarian food.

I greeted the waitress in Hungarian - this proved to be a mistake. She was very rude, especially after I told her about being a vegetarian. There was only one vegetarian meal on the menu - and when I asked her if it was possible to bring out the food of my choice without meat, she said "that`s impossible".

We were the last ones to be served, and the food was neither "Hungarian" nor "authentic".

Definitely a "No" for vegetarians. Inflexible, rude staff.

I won`t go there again, and advised all my friends not to go there either.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Monday, October 27, 2008

These guys are serving some sort of cultural crossroads food, halfway between Lapland and Budapest. It was definitely not Hungarian food by any means.

The four of us went there and I sampled every single item served. The traditional Hungarian spices were nowhere present, the house wine was some sort of cheap sugary water from Sicily and the desert was a mysterious, sticky substance, coloured pink.

The whole dinner reminded me of the food served on the second class trains, going from Budapest to Debrecen in Eastern Hungary in the 1970’s.

The people who frequent this place are surely not going there for the food, unless they are all masochists. God, please save me from one more experience like this one. Amen.
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Istvan Tamasi
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, September 18, 2008

Four of us went to the Gay Hussar yesterday evening just as they were opening at 6pm. The boss made a small amount of fuss when we said we hadn't booked but found us a table as long as we left by 8pm. Not a good start but we had two hours. The Beef Goulash starters was a bit thin but very tasty. The Venison Goulash main course was even better but in all honesty, something I could have cooked equally as well at home. We bought a couple of carafes of red and a couple of white and the wine was pretty good. Unfortunately no cheese board. The bill came to about £130 and we were surpised to find that the service charge had already been added. The numerous framed charicatures of politicians were interesting and the place seemed popular. I'm not sure I'd return though. There are better restaurants.
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Paul Narramore - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Saturday, July 26, 2008

My second visit to The Gay Hussar and I enjoyed myself once again. It's an unusual, interesting venue which offers something a little different from other restaurants in the area. The food is good, solid fare, which I found to be quite representative of the food I ate while travelling Eastern Europe last year. My starter of fish dumplings with a mushroom and dill sauce was notable, as well as the walnut pancakes for pudding. More vegetarian choice would be desirable, though.

Service was friendly and efficient and I like the restaurant's décor and ambience. Overall, I enjoyed my meal and wouldn't hesitate to return to The Gay Hussar - particularly with the 50% discount offered, which gave us excellent value.
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dawnage - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Friday, July 25, 2008

I visited the Gay Hussar with a group of friends on Thursday night and it was truly the most revolting meal i have ever had the misfortune to eat. My starter of mushrooms with tartare sauce was okay but it was very "mum's been to Iceland", but the main course of crispy duck was horrific. The duck was dry and stringy, the potatoes were boiled down to a thick yellow glutinous mush and the 'red' cabbage was actually grey and greasy. We decided to skip pudding and go straight for coffee. That was a waste of time too, our 'decaff' coffee was instant and the cups were so dirty we had to ask them to be changed. To be honest, i'm still reeling from the shock - i can't believe this place manages to fill the tables. Avoid, avoid, avoid.
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Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Friday, July 11, 2008

My girlfriend ( hungarian ) and i went to gay hussar last night. I had the liver and she had another dish. This food was seriously disgusting, not bland, disgusting. the only thing good in this restaurant was the wine and my dessert. the service was alright but without conviction, no smile, nothing special, no atmosphere at all and its really a shame to be served by indian people in an hungarian restaurant.
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caroline
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Friday, May 16, 2008

I tend to agree with the review below. Really bland food. All I could think about when eating their house speciality of crispy duck was how much better it would taste if there were some pancakes, spring onions and plum sauce to go with it rather than some rather boring potatoes and some good, but not excellent, red cabbage. Perhaps I just ordered badly but no one else seemed to be that impressed with their choices either.

The service was quite jolly, especially from the rather humorous and monotoned waiter/manager but otherwise the atmosphere was dead. It may have just been because it was a Monday night but I doubt it.

Perhaps I was missing the point of this place, but overall I was not impressed and would not go back.
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Rick Brown
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, April 01, 2008