Our Philly Cheese Steak Protein-Bowl is scrambled eggs and sirloin in cheese sauce with a keto pretzel, lamb’s lettuce, cherry tomatoes, homemade sour cream, crunchy almonds and chili paprika flakes, for 5,600 Ft at both Cookie Beacon brunch spots in Budapest.

It is a bowl, not a Philly cheesesteak sandwich: there is no roll, and a keto pretzel stands in for the bread. It is also the only steak on our menu for brunch in Budapest, served all day and walk-in only at both spots.

How it differs from a Philly cheesesteak

A Philadelphia cheesesteak is thinly sliced beef and melted cheese in a long roll. Our bowl keeps the beef and the cheese: sirloin in a cheese sauce our kitchen makes by hand, as it makes every sauce on the menu.

There is no roll. A keto pretzel stands in for the bread, and the bowl is tagged gluten-free at both Budapest spots. If you ask our team for gluten-free bread, they will point you to our Keto Pretzels.

Scrambled eggs go in beside the steak, the only scrambled eggs on our Budapest menu; every other egg dish we serve comes poached, runny-yolk or sunny side up. Around them go lamb’s lettuce, cherry tomatoes and homemade sour cream, with crunchy almonds and chili paprika flakes over everything.

The bowl is also tagged protein-packed, which is no surprise with steak and eggs in it.

What is in the bowl

What our Budapest menu lists, with the Hungarian words beside each item:

  • Sirloin in cheese sauce (hátszín sajtszósz). The cheese steak part of the name.
  • Scrambled eggs (rántotta). The breakfast half of the bowl.
  • Keto pretzel (keto perec). The bread, and not the pretzel bun from our burger.
  • Lamb’s lettuce (madársaláta). The English menu calls it leafy greens; the Hungarian one names the leaf.
  • Cherry tomatoes (cseresznye paradicsom).
  • Homemade sour cream (házi tejföl). Hungarian sour cream, which gets its own note further down.
  • Crunchy almonds (ropogós mandula).
  • Chili paprika flakes (chili pehely). The heat, and the only spicy ingredient on the list.

In the bowls we photographed, two sesame-topped pretzels lean on the rim, the tomatoes are cut into wedges and the almonds are slivered.

There is no roll on the list, no fried onions and no peppers, and no add-ons for this bowl.

How to eat it

Tear off a piece of pretzel and drag it through the cheese sauce, picking up some egg on the way.

Build forkfuls with a bit of everything: sirloin, egg, a couple of leaves, a piece of tomato. The almonds are the crunch and they sit on top, so scoop some into each bite.

If the chili is more than you want, the sour cream is the fix. If you would rather have no heat at all, ask us to hold the spice when you order.

Is it gluten-free, keto or low-carb?

At both Budapest spots the bowl is tagged gluten-free, protein-packed and spicy; you’ll see the same three on the café cards below.

Our menu describes the bowl as glutenfree & lowcarb. Of those two, only gluten-free is one of its printed tags, so that’s the one we list.

The pretzel is the keto part. We describe our keto bakes as gluten-free, sugar-free, high in protein and low in carb. The rest of the bowl isn’t sold as keto.

If you are coeliac or avoid gluten strictly, the gluten-free tag describes the recipe. Everything is made fresh in a shared kitchen, so please confirm with our team when you order.

Where the Philly cheesesteak comes from

South Philadelphia, in the early 1930s. The story most people tell is the Olivieri family’s own: Pat Olivieri and his brother Harry ran a hot-dog stand, grilled chopped beef with onions on a roll for their own lunch, and a passing cab driver asked for one. Some accounts date it to 1930, others to 1933.

Cheese came later, and nobody agrees on the details. Pat’s credits a manager known as “Cocky Joe” Lorenza, but even the family’s accounts differ on the year and on the cheese, provolone or American. Cheez Whiz came later still, and Geno’s opened across the street in 1966. In Philadelphia you order “wit” or “witout” fried onions; our menu lists no onions, so going by the menu, ours is witout.

Where it sits among our dishes

These plates on our Budapest menu overlap with this one:

  • Grilled-Romaine Caesar Crunch. The only other brunch plate tagged both gluten-free and protein-packed. Grilled chicken instead of steak, a keto caesar sauce instead of a pretzel, and it is tagged low-carb as well.
  • Avo Smashed Big Cheeseburger. Beef and cheddar in our homemade pretzel bun; the burger isn’t tagged gluten-free. If you want beef and cheese you can pick up with your hands, order the burger.
  • Breakfast Crunch Pretzelbun-Sandwich. Sunny side up eggs, cheddar, bacon and sour cream in a bun. Add a beef patty for 900 Ft and it becomes a smashed burger.
  • Spirulina Power Granola Bowl and Yogurt & Honey Whipped Granola Bowl. The other two bowls, both sweet and both tagged gluten-free. If you want a bowl and no steak, look there.

Eating it in Budapest

The most Hungarian thing in the bowl is the tejföl, the sour cream Hungarians put on lángos and stir into soups; ours is homemade. On the Hungarian side of the menu, the dish keeps its English name.

It sits in Hearty Brunch, the first section of our menu, and it’s on all day at both rooms: Basilica on Hercegprímás utca and Ferenciek tere.