iTee Café

1114 Budapest, Villányi út 12.
Facebook / Foursquare
Open: Mon-Fri 13-23h; Sat-Sun 15-23h
Phone: +36 1 279 1133

First of all, sorry for being a bit late with this post, and having no photo of the entrance of this place to top. I am sick, and when I was at iTee, I had other things to pay attention to than to take a picture of the entrance.

You might assume that iTee is a café - because, well, it's called one -, but it really isn't. It's a mixture of a romantic café and a ridiculously comfortable teahouse. It's a perfect date spot or just a place to meet up with friends and chat over a tea (or coffee, or whatever you may crave).

After entering, you will have to go down a few steps of stairs. Then, you will find yourself in the main section of the place, decorated with small, separately lit pictures and fishes. Yes, fishes. I embedded the fish-photos further down in the post, but not because they are not important! There's a smaller fish tank by the staircase and a small pond in the middle of the main space. You may poke your finger at the water if you want the biggest goldfish to try and take a bite of your hand - it's adorable! Almost all the visitors have a bit of fun with them.

All in all, there isn't much decoration at iTee. A few pictures on the wall, and a big banner reading "iTEE_café" are the most I could talk about if we don't count the counter's impressiveness. The counter is on the right side as we enter, but you'll only have to go there when you want to pay.

The "main space" includes two further sections: the gallery and the slightly lowered space under the gallery. If you plan a date here, make sure you book a table in the first one, since it's a nice place to hide at and have your private time; unless there are others on the gallery, too, of course. (At least I think so.)

On the side of the counter, there's another somewhat separated space with bean bags and smaller tables. Unfortunately, I didn't take a good look at this section.

The menu is practically three laminated two-sided pages. There's a wide selection of tea, all costing 650 forints (except for those on sale, being 450 forints). Next to the main categories, preparation time is also shown. You can choose from black, yellow, white, green, mate, herb, fruit, wellness, Ayurvedic, and cocoa teas. As for sweeteners, we can choose from rock candy, honey, cane sugar, cream, honey, and lemon (from 70 to 180 forints with the exception of lemon juice, which is free!).

Since iTee is a café, there's a selection of coffee and coffee cocktails, too. Simple coffee prices range from 390 to 720 forints, while cocktails all cost 690 forints. Hot chocolate costs 680 forints and comes in several flavors, as well as chocolate fondue, which costs 1450 forints. Apart from these, you can also get milk cocktails (630 forints), fruit or milk shakes (750 forints), and soft drinks (ranging from 180 to 420 forints).

There are a few alcoholic drinks to choose from, too: nine kinds of wine, from which four are white, another four are red, and the remaining rosé(, costing from 2150 to 3200 forints); six kinds of beer, all costing 520 forints; four kinds of whiskey at the price of 1450 forints per 4 centiliters (pricey!); and three kinds of pálinka, from which two are honeyed, for 720 forints per centiliter.

As forfood, we can choose to eat wieners (500 forints with baguett, ketchup and mustard), crostinis (390 and 450 forints), marlenka (550 forints), four kinds of sandwiches (all 690 forints), cookies (310 forints), or túró rudi, a Hungarian sweet you'll have to try (150 forints).

Service is rather slow; I got my tea in about 15, 20 minutes. The set the tea is served in is super cute: the teapot and the cup are both a bit cubical and small. However, I didn't get a napkin. The beverage itself was good and the amount of tea served was enough for three or four cups.

Overall, I was very satisfied with this teahouse/café, and will probably visit it more in the future.