The fragrance of food, or Ellie Phant at the Gundel Restaurant
There lived a family in Budapest that ran a restaurant at the City Park. The restaurant was famous for its delicious Hungarian dishes, and its unmatched sense of hospitality. It was called Gundel Restaurant. Mr. Gundel, the head of the household − and founder of the restaurant − was committed to his guests always being satisfied. Word of the restaurant’s special dishes have traveled far and wide around the world.
The odors flowing out of the establishment could be smelled from all over the City Park. They even reached the Zoo, causing quite some excitement to all the animals that lived there. The one who desired Mr. Gundel’s cooking the most was Ellie Phant, the elephant.
He kept wondering and wondering about where these delicious odors could be coming from. Adding to Ellie’s bewilderment, Mr. Gundel was constantly developing new recipes, with increasingly stronger and more mouth-watering smells. Ellie’s desire was so strong, she was almost drooling. One beautiful day, a family was walking towards the Elephant House. They were singing praising of something or another:
“The crêpes were also amazing! We shall return here again. Mr. Gundel’s restaurant is the best,” said the father. The elephant heard everything, and started trumpeting with joy so loudly that the entire neighborhood could hear it.
“This is it! This must be the person I’m looking for,” she said, and already started thinking about how to get to the restaurant, and taste some of its many delicacies. Like those heavenly crêpes… She had to wait for the solution, but not for too long.
Later that morning, gorilla mom was walking there with her little ones. They heard Ellie’s cries:
“Oh, I wish I could eat some of those delicious crêpes! I wish, I wish, I wish…,” and an elephant tear rolled down her enormous trunk. Gorilla mom felt pity for the sad elephant.
“Ellie, come with us, we will invite you to lunch to the Gundel Restaurant!” The elephant was so happy for the invitation, he could almost fly: “I am going to lunch, I will have crêpes at the Gundel Restaurant,” she told her friend Lawrie, the parrot.
She was getting ready with excitement, and by the time the clock hit noon, gorilla mom and her family arrived with a car that had a trailer attached to it. In this funny off-road vehicle, the parents sat in the front, the little ones sat in the back, and Ellie had to squeeze herself into the trailer – a feat that wasn’t the easiest to achieve.
“All good, I’m in.
We can go!” she trumpeted joyously, and the small car started rolling to its destination. After a short and shaky drive, Ellie saw the sign: Gundel Restaurant. She took a large sniff of the air, which was saturated with newer and even juicier odors:
She felt moved, and thought to herself, “Oh, such joy! I could also bring some gifts from here to my African relatives. They will be so happy for those!” Later that night, Ellie would be traveling to Africa to visit Mr. Trunky and his family, who also loved delicious foods.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gundel was singing happy songs in the kitchen.
“Tray-lay-lay, tray-lay-lay, let’s lay some crêpes on this tray!” He glanced at his watch. “Uh-oh, we better hurry, the guests are coming,” he said, and started tasting the dishes faster. He suddenly noticed that a huge trunk entered the kitchen through the window, smelling around in the air. He could not believe his eyes! He ran out of the building, and his jaw dropped when he saw a large elephant in front of him, accompanied by a decent-sized family of gorillas. “Well, I’ve never had guests of this ilk, that’s for sure!” “Welcome, welcome! Come with me, we will find you a large table somewhere,” he said, and started to lead the new guests.
He set a table outside, in the middle of the garden. The table almost couldn’t handle all the fragrant and delicious foods that were put on top of it. Ellie also got a fully packed basket of delicacies, prepared by Mr. Gundel to send to the elephant’s African relatives as a gift, so that they can also sample the restaurant’s specialties. The lunch ended up being quite good – Ellie left happily, with belly full. She carried the gift basket with her and looked back at the restaurateur with affection:
“Thank you very much! We shall come again soon!”
Mr. Gundel let out a satisfied sigh. He was happy that he could bring joy to the animals. And because he especially loved elephants, he thought that it would be nice to include one on the sign of the restaurant. And he made it happen!
From that day, the elephant became the signature animal of the restaurant – not just one, but two of them, in fact! Look!
