espite having 4 metropolitan lines, the most important public transport vehicle of Budapest might be two tram lines: the iconic 4 and 6. They are following the Grand Boulevard all along, drawing a half circle, crossing the Danube two times, connecting Pest with Buda and they are operating 0-24 in at least every 10 minutes. They are simply to admire, aren't they? 

No wonder that many pubs are to be found along the line of 4-6. Most of them in District Seven, at the range of the Party Quarter of Budapest. There is also a pub chain called the 4es6os. You can spot them at several stops. One of the oldest is at the Wesselényi street stop.

4es6os Wesselényi - If trams could open pubs...

To name something after the determinate phenomenon of an area is always a wise decision. Of course it better shouldn’t be something as obvious as a name of a street or a house number - it must be something that only winks at you: like the numbers 4 and 6 do on the Grand Boulevard. Somebody once had to name at least one bar after this duo. The “legjobbkocsma.hu” (means bestpub.hu) barchain did even more, they gave this name as a trademark to more pubs which are exactly at the stops of the trams.

Now we have 6 ones of 4es6os pubs in Budapest. (2 in the same station) Its huge shopping windows make it easy to notice from the street, even in the wide pub supply of the Grand Boulevard. After entering you find yourself in a grand two level area. In the middle of the room a comfortably wide and spectacular spiral staircase is leading up to the second floor.

The thick columns divide the hall-like space into smaller parts even without walls. Mostly there are long tables for bigger companies with lot of sofa benches around. They are kinda worn out but in return comfy enough for sitting on them even for hours. The sofa covers looking like newspaper articles are usual decoration elements of the legjobbkocsma.hu bars.  

This pub has sharply distinct daily and night life impressions. You can witness a lot of interesting daylight scenes here with many kind of people. The reason behind this might be that they have defined their prices on a famously friendly level compatible with students and the ones who don't afford much on alcohol. But they still aren't risking to being a dive bar. During the day may see an old fashion boss dictating something from paper documents to her secretary who brought her notebook along while sitting together at one of the big window tables. Surprisingly you find also families with children having pizza and juices, or middle age couples curing their relationship issues with the cheapest shots. And these all on the same square meters where in few hours only young companies will gather celebrating something special or celebrating simply the night or the life.

Why else can it be still popular in the eyes of the young people beside the prices, the long opening hours and the easy access to public transport? If this all wouldn’t be enough they have lot of the popular table soccer so despite the crowd you always have the chance to find one free. Furthermore they provide a decent number of pinballs - this still popular feature is harder to find in Budapest as you would think. They also keep a boxing and a quiz machine.

About the design: It doesn't have to much to do with the 4 and 6 or public transport thematic, only from the outside. Most of the wall surfaces are covered with some retro posters and even more with commercials from the available drinks.

About the pub food: Lately they made allies with an artisanal pizza team, the Pupetto Pizza and now they provide their products which was a big jump. I have tried the bolognese sauce filled pizza rolls (it exists with various stuffings) with garlic sour cream - great combo.

The main attractions are the traditional pizzas (32 cm) in 19 different versions but you can order from the menu diverse sandwiches, pastas, salads too. 

Mostly recommended for: Quite economical drinks, pub food and wide selection of drinks together, many pub sports and game machines, always open

Not recommended for: Furniture aren't in the best condition anymore, at early spring it was too cold after sitting there for few hours, strictly a "keep away" place for smugs

And when you feel like to have more type of beers you just have to cross the Wesselényi street and enter the next door.

Beer point - 200 beers of the world with a pub food treasury

Beer Point was established in December 2016 when two major phenomenons which already have spread like an epidemic in Budapest finally met in realization: the row of bars on the Grand Boulevard and the rising wave of craft beer bars. But nobody thought on mixing them before the team behind the Kakas (=Rooster) bar chain finally did.

With years of experience they have opened at one the most centralized pub spot of Budapest’s night life a real beer lover magnet: with ca. 200 Hungarian and international beers:  16 beer taps for the start (nowadays 21) with always changing variety and the returning events of the popular tap takeovers.

This alone would be enough for the success, but they didn’t stop at this point. They are also providing pub food on a decent way and a second level for bar sports: snooker, darts and football soccer. I guess with this concept the look could be the crappiest of all and still would attract people, but there’s nothing wrong with the appearance. Although it is a bit of cliche: the chairs and the tables are the overused type in the genre, the metro tiles as well but who cares after 200 different beers? The beer thematic posters make you feel attached to beer scene.

Fortunately the newer design elements back at and in the toiletes and upstairs around the snooker tables represent a bigger rarity: have a look at them, I don’t tell you all.

Lets focus on the food menu for a while: It is important because during the day you really see people come in mostly for the food. Even elderly ladys with the bag from the fruit market asking for a hot-dog and a fruit beer or a middle aged one doing the crosswords by waiting for the piadina and surprisingly picking the most fancy and expensive beer specialty from the list.

The menu consists of different gourmet burgers, hot-dogs with real frankfurter, piadina, fries and onion rings, home made pizzas with strictly Italian ingredients, fried sausage and salads. 

Friendly prices - for example a basic burger costs 1590 HUF which counts a good deal in today’s Budapest.

They offer either a large assortment of spirits and liquors, for example 12 different palinkas. And also these drinks have decent prices. Beer point uses only 0,03L portion. The commercial Hungarian spirit trademark (Fütyülős = Whistler) is only 490. HUF.- The additional unique drink that they are mostly proud for is the Hibiki Japanese whiskey for 1990 HUF.-/0,03 cl

Beer Point is a rare mix and match in Hungarian pub scene in several ways. It is really an odd feature to have large scale and craft beer at the same time, especially parallel with wide pub food selection. 

Mostly recommended for: appealing selection of pub food and beers at the same time. 200 beers at the line of 4-6 tram. 3 pub sports and many beers - also together.

Not recommended for: cocktails, shot cocktalis, happy hours

Végállomás - They will rock you

For the following pub you have to enter the Wesselényi street. On the side of the Beer Point, a cellar pub is to be found.

Don't be fooled by the running laser lights: Fox Pub - it is a heritage from the predecessor. The management is about to update this to the current name but bottom line is: this is the one! It's dedicated to be a rock pub. And you can literally find several poprock references on the walls. Many pop-cultural icons are looking down at you from posters, pictures in frame, flags or T-shirts: Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Beatles but also less known and less stereotypical ones with a more sub-cultural fandom.

All the sacred objects hanging down have their own background story - got here by a frequenter or Norbi, one of the co-owners bought it on a concert from the a band. Also the pub services are matching the rocker pub rules: table soccer and of course strictly rock music from the speakers.

Norbi had an own favorite hideout to frequent back than in Esztergom where he studied, the first stamping ground in his life. After moving to Budapest he had the chance to open an own pub and in order to pay tribute to his old university town pub he named it Végállomás - means the final destination.

At the back room there are concerts time to time. Everything from the fundamental rock bands up to the punk rock genre. They want to provide the best to their guests. On the evenings without live music you can ask for your song at the bar - you can figure out the general rule: only rock what else?

About the not so ROCKing features: There are two rooms with different size of tables, also for 8 people. The sofas are comfy. Despite the Beer Point is the next neighbor you don’t have to run to them for a good beer because beyond their full large scale Dreher sortiment Végállomás has also a nicely packed craft beer refrigerator. Norbi, personally a big craft beer fan picks the new beers after tasting and after reading the beer blog reviews. About the rest of drink menu they have nothing to be ashamed of. It is not something special but the standard all stars are on it and rather on spare price. They also have daily discounts or happy hours: stay tuned!

Besides the usual Hungarian pub snacks their signature pub food is the fatty bread from wild boar grease. They provide to the guest cards to play and also a chessboard.

Mostly recommended for rock lovers, craft beer loving occasional rock lovers, when you don't hunt wild boar yourself

Not recommended for: to just dance for Lady Gaga, or to be chained to the rythym of Katy Perry