Budapest Great Market Hall Chef‑Led Private Tasting Tour

Great Tour and Great Market

This was a terrific tour and Andrew was the perfect guide. He was engaging, informative and had so many great stories about the market, the food and Hungary's food legacy. He knew wonderful merchants and we stopped to chat with many. Frankly, we'd have missed so many if we hadn't had Andrew's help. I still miss the incredible pickled food from the woman on downstairs level. Wow! Andrew also was a great communicator prior to the tour while we set up meeting details and confirmed our interests. He seemed genuinely interested in making our visit the best it could be. And it was! I'll be recommending Andrew's tour to some friend who are visiting the end of this year.

via Tripadvisor

A must when in Budapest.

Andrew was very approachable, easy to converse with and made the whole experience fun and enjoyable. We enjoyed experiencing the different types of Hungarian food, and learning about the process, origin, the quality and history of the food. It was also great learning about the history of the market, and the building, as an outstanding piece of architectural iron structured . We enjoyed spending time within the non food market stores, learning about the different types of stitching styles and how to pick out the hand made linen. Overall it was a very entertaining and insightful time spent with Andrew, who was very accommodating to our requirements. Thank you again Andrew for a great morning, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and would highly recommend doing the tour.

Response from the operator: Anne, The linen - I love that you included that. That's the part of the market most people walk straight past, and understanding how to read handmade work versus machine stitching is the kind of thing you carry with you long after the food is gone. That's what I want the tour to be. Not just what to eat, but how to see. Really glad we could make the morning work for what you needed, and that the food, the history and the building all had a chance to land properly. The Great Market Hall as a piece of architecture alone deserves more attention than it gets. Thank you for writing this up so thoughtfully, Anne. It means a lot. If you're reading this and wondering whether there's enough here beyond the food - Anne just answered that for you.

via Viator

Fun Food Memories

We are so glad we booked this tour and can't stop talking about it with friends and family. Andrew is an excellent guide. Everything he had us try was memorable and interesting. This market would have been overwhelming for us to do on our own and we certainly wouldn't not have gotten the detail and history of the market and Hungarian food without him!

Response from the operator: Dear Ann, Still talking about it with friends and family - honestly that's one of the best thing I could read. That's the whole point. The Great Market Hall has so many layers to it and most of them are invisible if you don't know where to look. I'm really glad we got to peel a few of those back together. Thank you for writing this up. For a small owner-operated tour, a review like this carries more weight than you might realize. If you're reading this and on the fence - Ann and her husband came in not knowing what to expect. They left with stories. That's pretty much how it goes.

via Tripadvisor

A Food Tour with Wonderful Historical Context

Andrew is a passionate about the quality and integrity of your food tour as he is about food. We had been in Budapest for a few days prior to out tour with him and tried a couple of the traditional foods that are a part of his tour. He accommodated this by quickly pivoting to a modified agenda for the tour. He has a wonderful repertoire of historical knowledge to share that puts the Hungarian food into context so it is more easily understood. This is one of those tours where you can get more out of it by working with him to share what information you would like more or less of. That said, if you are on vacation and just want to relax and enjoy the tour in it’s standard format you will still have a wonderfully rewarding experience.

Response from the operator: Dear Kevin, What you wrote here is more useful to the next person reading this than anything I could put in a tour description. You named something most people feel on the tour but don't have the words for afterward. That means something. The pivot that morning was one of my favorite moments from that tour. You came in having already done some of the work, and instead of that being a problem it opened up a different conversation entirely. That's exactly what the private format is built for, and you used it exactly right. What you may not know is that the conversation didn't end at the market. We continued it over email afterward, going into things there wasn't time to cover on the walk. That's available to everyone who comes through. You put it better than I could at the end there. You can show up, follow along, eat well, and leave happy. That's a complete experience. And if you come in with questions, opinions, or a willingness to push back a little, there's a different version of this tour waiting for you. Same market, same food. Different conversation. Thank you for taking the time to write this the way you did. Safe travels.

via Viator

Great market tour

Andrew was excellent! For a group of Americans the market can be overwhelming and I knew that on our own we would breeze by many items without knowing what they were or trying them. He explained the food and culture and had a great array of items to try. Andrew definitely enjoys his job and ensured that we all had a great experience. Highly recommend!

Response from the operator: Dear Erica, "Enjoys his job" - I'll take that one. Honestly that line means a lot more than most would think. Walking a group through the Great Market Hall for the first time and watching it go from overwhelming to exciting is genuinely one of the best parts of what I do. You came in ready to experience it, and that made all the difference. Thank you for taking the time to write this up. A review this thoughtful means a lot to a small owner-operated tour. If you're reading this and feeling like the Great Market Hall might be a lot to take on alone - that's exactly the right instinct. That's what this is for.

via Viator