The pub life of Pécs, the fifth largest city of Hungary #2 – Korhely and Lompos Uszkár

This is how I kept continue my pub discovery in Pécs after Nappali and István Pince. Here comes the story of Korhely Pub and Restaurant and Lompos Uszkár, a summer party place in a museum garden.
Right after I finished my classic dinner-lunch in the traditional István Pince, I got a phone call from a friend-girl Barbi who comes originally from Pécs. She, her boyfriend and her mother sat quite close to me, in a near bar and restaurant called Korhely. I remembered adding this name to my “to do” list because local people already have recommended me multiple times to visit it. It was even mentioned to me in an other Hungarian county seat called Győr.
Korhely isn’t a frequently used word, neither in Hungarian. It means a person who drinks and got a hangover regularly and/or lives a bohemian, lazy lifestyle. The place itself was a big timejump compared to István pince. At first it appeared to be only cool and cozy but it was actually much more of a grown up type of venue than it sounds or seems for the first sight. It was located in a small side street of the main Király street and its terrace blocked almost the entire alley. I liked it how it was, open air but still intimate.

The additional word “pihenő” means something close to “relax area”
When I joined the company they already waited for me with the wine of the house.
It was a rosé wine, a pretty delicious one, much better than the basic ones usually are. I also liked its look. They printed the logo of the place on the label. Very conscious image-marketing!
I tried their boat fries with a remarkable cool cheesy-spicy dip from our “community” plate.
Of course, despite being in a good company, I couldn’t resist too long entering and examining the inner design. Korhely was mostly famous of being the “peanut-throwing place.” You could see peanuts shells on the floor all over, mixed with the “decoration” straw.
This made Korhely have sort of a western feeling from the inside. I heard, that this cozy look doesn’t come from laziness but the opposite: it takes an extra daily work. They have to sweep the peanut shells everyday and put new straw on the ground. The new peanut shells are added to the stil life by the guests afterwards. It’s logical but you wouldn’t think of it yourself, would you? You can get unlimited peanuts for 150 HUF.
The place has been opened like this for 11 years by then (September 2016). It used to be a Mexican restaurant before. They kept their Virgin Mary statue inside the wall that comes originally from Mexico.
Another attractive design element are the old sport newspapers used as wallpaper.
One of the pages remembers a great sporting event of Hungary, a grand victory over Brasil in 1966.
And you can’t really call them decoration but they have also pub pets who enjoyed eating in this place as well.
The manager, Péter was present, hiding between guests from my perspective. He sort of unmasked me by asking if I took enough photos already? Without telling him first about my blog first he showed me around and told me stories about the place, also his favorite one: when four different nations (Hungarian, English, Slovenian, Croatian) were there at the same time, all in bigger groups and everybody was celebrating something different: new child, new prime minister, new birthday and upcoming new wedding. After a while they started to clink their glasses even together and celebrate in unity.
As I told you this is a grown up place, optimal for birthdays in the 30’s and 40’s.
According to their promo video and the plates I saw they have very promising food menu. If you end up in Pécs wants to eat good in a modern, cozy pub-restaurant this could be one of your best shots.

“Csapszék” is a very old Hungarian expression for a bar
After Korhely we went together with the group (others joined) to the favorite summer season place of Pécs called Lompos Uszkár. The name means “bushy poddle”. It it a word play after the name of the old owner of this garden, Lompos Oszkár. Oszkár = Oscar, Uszkár = Puddle. The garden had quite unique features because it was a museum garden actually. We were surrounded by its artistic atmosphere and many trees.
I couldn’t see a lot of it that time because of the many people who were there from the carnival and neither from the affect of the free pálinkás we got from Barbi’s waiter pal in Korhely. But I could tell it is worth a second shot during the day when I return once. That night I thought is a better idea to go home through this spectacularly illuminated downtown of Pécs.
Next day was a long day either.
To be continued
Korhely and Lompos Uszkár also on the map
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Previous Posts in Pécs series:
I say a little prayer for the good, old Papucs (Pécs, Hungary)