1910 - Great past, great traditions
In 1910, Károly Gundel leased it from the capital and renamed it to Gundel Restaurant. Although it was on the sign for a long time, Gundel is the successor of Wampetics.
He set to work with great courage: modernising the menu, reforming the service and the whole kitchen system. And he won! Károly Gundel tamed Hungarian cuisine, combined it with culinary trends from around the world - and made gastronomic history with his dishes. For Hungarians, the name Gundel soon became synonymous with true hospitality, and the restaurant became a favourite meeting place for Hungarian politicians, business leaders and the middle classes. "It was chic to go to the Gundel..." was the opinion of artists, sportsmen, writers and other celebrities, as well as the restaurant's regulars.
With its rich and unique history, the Gundel Palace is one of Budapest's iconic buildings. The restaurant owes its popularity to two things: its inimitable hospitality and its inimitable cuisine. In the first decades of the 20th century, Károly Gundel renewed the Hungarian cuisine with an instinctive sense, combining its original flavours with the delicacies of French cuisine, using modern kitchen techniques. He left an indelible mark on Hungarian gastronomy with his popular dishes, which are still part of the everyday repertoire, such as Goulash Soup, Palóc Soup and the famous Paprika Chicken.
Gundel did well - so well that he took over the new restaurants of the Gellért Hotel. The Hungarian cuisine of the time was a boring, provincial, greasy, paprika-filled horror that the world didn't want. Passionate about his work, he has decided to create French cuisine with the best Hungarian ingredients. Charles Gundel has never cooked, never picked up a spoon - but he has tasted very well. He made the tenderly steamed spinach presentable and introduced asparagus as a side dish. It was also at this time that three of Charles Gundel's famous dishes were born in Gellért, the Rothermere, the Bakony style mushroom stew and the Pittsburgh veal ribs. The Gundel survived intact not only the two world wars, but also the fall of the Stefánia Street carriage house, the death of the conflis and the fiacre and the birth of the car.
The philosophy of Charles Gundel's restaurant has always been a place of hospitality, care, innovation and tradition. Before the century, those with less affluent budgets could enjoy dishes such as pretzels and draught beer, or boiled eggs dunked in roasted gravy. According to the surviving stories, the wealthier you were, the further in the restaurant you were allowed to sit, based on 'caste', small and large groups of people could pass the time at their tables.
The internationally renowned "Gundel dishes" are mainly refined dishes of the traditional Hungarian cuisine, reformulated in the spirit of the Gundel flavour. The dishes he created - Veal Budapest style, Gundel stew, sauces and excellent desserts - have become indispensable dishes of Hungarian cuisine. As a traditional restaurant, we still serve them today, often in unchanged form, based on the original recipes, thus ensuring that all our guests, both domestic and foreign, have an authentic experience of Hungarian gastronomic culture.
