Budapest: The time I was almost punched in the face at the Hummus Bar
Right up the street from Budapest’s Great Synagogue is the Hummus Bar. We had just ordered – the Shawarma plate for me, the Complete Hummus plate for Lissette – when an older man and his son sat down at the table next to us. The man must have been in his early 70’s, the son in his early 30’s. The older man was a bit of a fiddler; moving his chair around, readjusting the table, his head bobbing between the menu on the wall and the menu in front of him. His son was the impatient type, texting on the phone, then getting up and going outside to make a call.
It was at about that point that our food came to the table. I could feel the older man eyeing my food.
Older man: ‘Excuse me, what is that?’
Me: ‘This is the Shawarma plate’.
The older man is definitely interested, I can see he really likes the look of my food.
Older man: ‘Does it come with all that?’
Me: ‘They give you a choice of two accompaniments with your meat. I chose the lettuce and the hummus’.
He thanked me and went back to looking at his menu. Just then his son came back to the table. They started talking and pointing at items on the menu. The younger man didn’t seem to have any patience for his father. The older man turned back to me, menu in hand.
Older man: ‘I’m sorry, can you show me what you ordered?’
I looked at the menu. He had the Hungarian version on his hand. But I saw the word ‘Shawarma’ there.
Me, pointing on menu: ‘Right there, Shawarma’. And I repeated the accompaniments I had with the meat.
Lissette to the older man: ‘Or you can tell the waiter that you want exactly what he’s got’ pointing at me.
The older man thanked us, apologizing for having taken our time.
.
Lissette and I were eating and talking when the food arrived at the table next to us. Father and son were quiet, then suddenly talking with voices raised as they studied their plates. The older man turned to me.
Older man: ‘My plate doesn’t look the same as yours’. He pointed at what looked like a stuffed pita.
I looked at his plate, looked at the menu. ‘Yes, it is not the same. Maybe they made a mistake?’
Son and older man talk more, voices rising.
The son now spoke to us for the first time.
Son, pointing at me. ‘You told my father Shawarma. You pointed at this’, poking his finger at the menu. He angrily flipped it over ‘This is what you have. You have the Shawarma plate, he ordered the shawarma pita!’
Me, a bit taken aback ‘Yes, well, I mentioned Shawarma’.
Son: ‘But it is your fault, you pointed at this’ (jabbing his finger at the menu again) ‘when you should have pointed at this’ (angrily stabbing the menu).
There wasn’t much I could say. Except ‘the out’ that you always have as a foreigner.
Me: ‘Well, sorry, I don’t read Hungarian’.
The son murmured under his breath. An uneasy silence hung over everything.
We went back to eating but the mood was now uncomfortable. I asked for the bill. Getting up from the table we looked over at the son and older man and politely wished them a good night.
We walked away, Lissette turning to me: ‘I think the son wanted to get up and punch you in the face. Why do you always get yourself in these situations?’
Other than the unpleasant experience, the food at the Hummus Bar is excellent. The Shawarma plate, the Complete Hummus Plate, and two bottles of mineral water came out to 3660 Forint (before tip). That’s about $17 CAD ($13 USD). We will be back.
If you see us at the Hummus Bar please don’t come and ask me what I’m eating.
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You seem to attract odd people. How hard is it to say ‘I would like the same thing as them and point? Even pointing would be enough.
I know! And they were Hungarians! So how hard would it have been to ask the waiter for the same thing?
Wow! They sure take their food very seriously. I can relate to being hangry and disappointed when I don’t get what I want but I don’t think I would harass poor unsuspecting travelers that don’t speak Hungarian. Now I have come close to stabbing Dale with my fork when he sneaks bites off my plate. But I only abuse the ones I love, not total strangers. Never stand between a woman and her food! 🙂
Ha! I can relate with Lissette.
I think it was just a misunderstanding and the guy was a dick and/or was in a bad mood. He didn’t seem very patient with his dad. Yeah, he was a dick actually now that I think of the way he acted.
Overall though, we’ve really liked the Hungarians and they’ve been very welcoming. Very nice people.
There are rude people everywhere. All they had to do was say, “I’ll have what he’s having.” But, the food looks great! It looks like you got lots of yummy food for the money!
Agreed Dee! That’s exactly what Lissette had said. Like she said, men never listen 😉
Wow! That’s a shame. Sounds as if the son didn’t want to be there in the first place.
That funny Patti. Yes, he was probably upset that his father was making a fuss — and interrupting everything that he had going on on that phone.
Of course the idiot son could have just asked to switch to the plate, and they would have obliged easily enough l am sure :-). You and Fede sound so much alike, and l sound like Lissette as l would have said the same thing. He is getting better though at calming down..his first words to the guy would have been ‘step outside’ when l get met years ago. You handled it well..and the food sounds so good!!!!
Yeah, you would think they could have switched the plates huh?
Lissette always tells me I’ve got one of those faces people just want to punch. Even when I’m trying to be nice. Oh well.
Fede sounds like Jason Stratham 🙂 No, I rarely lose my cool, Lissette usually gets more upset about stuff then I do. But on the rare times I lose it I really lose it.