Gerbeaud Café, Vörösmarty Square

Café Gerbeaud traces its origins to 1858, when confectioner Henrik Kugler opened a shop that, in 1870, relocated to its present location on what's now Vörösmarty Square, on the ground floor of the Hungarian Commercial Bank of Pest's head office. In 1884, Kugler brought in Swiss confectioner Emil Gerbeaud as a partner, and Gerbeaud's name — along with his refined, French-and-Swiss-influenced approach to pastry — eventually replaced Kugler's on the shopfront, defining the café's identity for the century and a half since.

Its grand chandeliered rooms and exotic wood panelling made it the fashionable meeting point for Budapest's upper-middle class and aristocracy through the late Habsburg era, and Empress Elisabeth ("Sisi") — the same beloved figure honoured by Elisabeth Bridge — was reportedly a regular visitor whenever she stayed in Budapest, a detail the café still trades on today.