A narrative about Sirály:
It's a good old casual place like colorful USA coffeehouses of yore, before they all got put out of business by Starbucks. Here you find good coffee, interesting people and a tenuous wi-fi connection (don't expect a lengthy Skype chat here). There's seating on the street level, an upper floor, plus cubbyholes on the spiral staircase where, whether you be scum or cream, you can find your own level.
There are more than a few fashionably scruffy places like Sirály in this town that know the long-term value in keeping it real. These establishments are not as fly-by-night funky as they want to appear to be - they're usually startups run by entrepreneurs loaded with either pounds or euros. But as young Budapesti continue to fill the tables at these places, I predict there will be more cool places like these built with Magyar money in the coming years.
Interesting people in the Sirály, I said. Yah. The last time I was here there was some artsy looking guy who sat in the center table on the main floor and wore one of the café's ashtrays on his head the whole afternoon.
One thing about the Sirály is that it sometimes seems everybody who walks in here works here. Today I think I've seen a dozen people stomp right on in, walk behind the bar and help themselves to the lot.
I love eavesdropping on Sirály conversations. Sitting next to me at this moment is a German gal, about 28, chatting over some 3-handed bridge with an UK couple the same age. German gal is saying that some 85-year old Hungarian guy she knows is a "sexy modderfucker". Her pals answer: "Brilliant! Does he play Scrabble?"
Source: SFinBudapest.