Tamás Grünberger: chandeliers

VI. Nagymezo utca 21.

They seem to have been around for a hundred years, even during the Communist years. the present owner a the third generation one, with a primadonna wife from the Opera House, with quite an active social life. This is the right place to order replacement or all the chandeliers for the biggest synagogue in Europe.

Tamás T. Nagy: Cheese

V. Gerlóczy utca 3.

This man is a real educator of the Hungarian palate. His small shop is in a tucked away street in classic inner city. The owner once said that "cheese is nothing else than some milk, some time and some poetry mixed." he has commissioned artists to design posters for him. He has developed his business into a chain by now. Affordable French cheese to all Hungarians! That could be his slogan.

V & R Címfesto

VI. Oktogon 4.

This is an amazing cellar, with access from the street, you are likely to mistake it for a public lavatory. It is here that you can order old-fashioned hand-painted street signs, and all kinds of indoors and outdoor signs.

György Gallwitz: Pipes

(V. Párisi utca 7. Ist floor No. 6.)

One of the most secret of the secret places in Budapest. They are the oldest pipe sellers and pipe menders in Budapest, operating since 1880. Mr. Gallwitz seems to be a person from the old times, as if he has not realized that liberty and free business is back. He goes on doing business in his private apartment, on the first floor. He also has a side activity: stringing necklaces.

Unger Brush Products

VII. Dob utca 52.

This is an amazing institution that offers an incredible selection of brushes, from very small to very large, even the type that was used to clean the barrels of the Unicum Liqueur Factory a hundred years ago. Explanation an expert advice is free. They even have a catalogue if you cannot decide on the spot.

Csizmadia Car Electrics

VI. Podmaniczky utca 75. A tall, bespectacled, good-humoured man, Master Csizmadia is always surrounded by four or five busy assistants. He is the guardian angel of taxi drivers and will always help immediately if he can. He also gives an immediate and accurate diagnosis, free of charge. The workshop is partly equipped with fifty- or sixty-year-old tools and, at the back, he also has a classic American rolltop desk, always full of piles of paper.

Fleisher Shirts The corner of VI. Paulay Ede utca and VI. Nagymezo utca. There are very few people who still buy their shirts bespoke. This shop has remained here, almost unchanged, from the 1920's. Between the shopwindow and the shop itself the partition is made from the traditional, vertically striped engraved glass.

László Klem, Furrier

XIII. Tátra utca 18. The small shop was modernized in the early 1960's and it still has the curved plastic letters. The sign advertising 'Latest Models' must have been there since that time. At the entrance to the right a puppet dressed in a tailcoat offers notepaper and the card of the shop.

Lajos Libál, Optician

V. Veres PálnÉ utca 7. Some of the shopfittings might well be a hundred years old ó the small drawers for example. Contact lenses are now increasingly common. Several new shops have computers to examine their customers' eyes. They also have lengthy queues.

Mr Libál is not around any more. The senior, respactable lady, who is referred to as "Aunt Libál"in the neighbourhood, is called Brassai Józsefné.

The Velvárt Bicycle Repair Workshop

VII. WesselÉnyi utca 56. Nándor Velvárt was a champion cyclist in the 1920's, and won several big international races. Until recently there were old photos, drawings and newspaper clippings in the shopwindow. Since Mr. Velvárt has moved to the Eterenal Racecourse, the poetic disorder is less poetic, the more recent brands also appeared.

A fine, professional shop on the corner of Almássy tér (See "Best of Budapest" by György Tibor Szántó, p. .)

Lajos Zsurek, Cabinet Makers

V. Irányi utca 9. You can peep into the workshop through the door and the window. 'Contemporary' furniture is made here. There are torsos, unfinished pieces in the gallery. The light is always on until late at night.

Ági Gyümölcs Greengrocers