"Instant" Set to be An Instant Success

It would seem like the reason to write "death of the romkert scene" pieces is simply to guarantee that some good new places will open up. Following our favorite new find from this summer Dürer Kert and the return of Mummus shortly thereafter, things suddenly were looking up again. And then this past weekend, going on a friend's suggestion, I ventured over to Instant, opened on September 19th, and instantly found myself a new favorite place.

There is little to distinguish Instant from the outside in Nagymező utca, aside from a small sign in the wall and a handful of bouncers standing on the sidewalk. And while the bouncers look fairly intimidating, they were all actually polite, and the barstaff is among the friendliest I or my friends have encountered.

Despite it being packed on a Saturday night, service upstairs was quick and friendly, and when I went back on a Tuesday, the bartender didn't even slightly flinch when my friend asked for an espresso instead of an easy to pour beer. The friendly service was a welcome contrast to the woman at Szimpla Kert who wears a headscarf and applies her eyebrows.

The decoration is eclectic, being a combination of what was still in the building, what was found, and what they painted onto the walls. In fact, Instant is an entire formerly abandoned building, with some of the rooms converted more, while others, such as the former dentist's office, left pretty much as they were found. One of the highlights is the room next to the upstairs bar (there are two bars on the ground floor and one upstairs) where the furniture hangs from the ceiling.

Another room features a pink theme which is evident from the color of the walls, tables, light switches and radiator pipes. One of the bottom floor rooms has something of a penguin theme, so if you've got a thing for either or both, you have two rooms to choose from that will make you happy. You'll also find disco balls, although the place is not so much a hangout for dancing.

The central courtyard, where one of the walls is still covered in ivy currently has a temporary roof on it with outdoor heaters scattered around. Expect more of those to appear with the colder weather.

In many ways, Instant is what Szimpla Kert used to be. If I had to liken it to another romkocsma, it would definitely be Szimpla, minus the tourists. While Saturday night the place was heaving, on Tuesday it was busy, but not packed, and finding a table was easy.

In fact, the similarities between the two are so many that rumors were that this was simply a new extension of the Szimpla brand. When I asked the bartender Saturday night, she said that Instant was not affiliated with Szimpla and was under different ownership, but that they would collaborate with Szimpla on some cultural events in the future.

In terms of beer prices, a korsó of Staropramen cost Ft 520 (€2.10) and a korsó of Borsodi ran Ft 380 (€1.60), with a korsó of Beck's being somewhere in between. Furthermore, despite the place being positively packed on Saturday night, the beers still came in glasses and not those flimsy plastic cups that spill half their contents when you grip them too tightly.

In fact, there were only two things about Instant that I felt could be improved. The upstairs part of the building can become quite smoky to the point where it was bothersome. When we had a window open for some air, one of the bouncers politely asked us to close it, ostensibly to avoid noise complaints. The second and easier thing to fix is that the lighting in some of the rooms is just a bit too bright.

But otherwise, Instant looks to be the best new thing in Budapest in terms of winter locations for the bohemian crowd, and while developers might be winning some battles, Budapest's bohos have just shown they're capable of striking back.