Joining the Quarter-Century Club

Location: Wine and Medieval Cellars
July 11 and 14, 2010
Adventure #24

As soon as the lights were dimmed and Stevie Wonder's “Happy Birthday” began blaring over the speakers, I knew my birthday cake was coming. I turned around to see a flock of waitresses, all wearing belly-bearing white shirts escorting my cake to the table. Unlike the typical birthday candles, my Hungarian apple pastry had a giant sparkler plunged into its powdered sugar crown. As the sparkler’s silver bursts slowly fizzled out, I made my 25^th birthday wish.
Early July is a very celebratory time, because within 12 days the following members of my family celebrate their birthdays: my cousin Brad, my brother-in-law James, my uncle Terry, Mike, me, and my dad.

Mike’s birthday falls on the lucky 7/11, and for his birthday we kept it low key. He had just returned from a exhausting business trip to Macedonia on Saturday night, so I knew he wouldn’t want to do anything crazy. So, I surprised him by bringing together a little group of friends at our neighborhood wine bar, Doblo. For the occasion, I made my first-ever solo cheesecake, which turned out pretty delicious if you ask me. Later, we ended up at a going away party for his French interns, so he was serenaded by a multi-lingual “Happy Birthday.” On his actual birthday, which was Sunday, we ate burritos, traipsed around the city and watched the World Cup final.

For my big day, we did anything but keep it low key. All I wanted to do was to go out for dinner, so Mike chose an over-the-top medieval themed restaurant called Lancelot. Suits of armor guarded the entrance of the restaurant, and we were ushered into a cellar filled with big wooden picnic tables occupied by tourists, stained glass windows and murals.

All beverages were served out of brown steins, so my knight went the hearty route and drank a liter of beer out of the enormous mug.

For dinner, we ordered the six-person platter that could satiate any carnivorous instinct and was presented on a huge wooden plank. We feasted on an insane amount of fish, venison, pork, turkey, ham and beef, all which was piled on a bed of “treasures of the garden,” meaning veggies.

Beyond the gluttonous food, the best part of the evening was the live entertainment. My friend Stephen was chosen to interact with two dueling knights (named Sir Prise and Sir Vive), and was asked to serenade his wife as she stood on our dinner table (fortunately, he is the only professional singer of our group), in order to become knighted Sir Stephen the Brave.

Veering from its Middle Ages theme, the night’s entertainment also included a belly dancer and a fire breather who pranced around with two fiery sticks and consumed the flames in front of every table. However, at our table he hovered suggestively over my friend Dana, ran his hands through his curly chest hair and removed his shirt. I just hope that was part of his normal routine.

Lancelot was definitely the Casa Bonita of Budapest, and an appropriately offbeat place to ring in another year.