Does it carry any weight at all these days when people write online that something is „legendary”, „unparalleled” or „not to be missed”? Promotional articles are pouring in from all directions, each trying to outdo the other with superlatives. The challenge, amidst this deluge of unsolicited information, is to highlight the genuine gems. And the Gundel 125 dinner promises to be just that.

Kálmán Kalla a household name amongst Hungarian chefs. This professional, who now lives in relative seclusion in Sümegprága, is a legendary figure in the great revival of the Gundel Restaurant following the change of regime. His seclusion is relative, however, because the Kalla Kálmán Guesthouse welcomes travellers all year round, and these days, this Hungarian culinary legend cooks once a week in his own little realm.

Zsolt Litauszki Last year, he became the executive chef at Gundel, Hungary’s oldest restaurant. The ‘reformation’ of the Gundel establishment, as it is commonly referred to, is a huge and time-consuming undertaking; we are following developments with interest, and it is perhaps no exaggeration to say that the whole country’s restaurant culture will be enriched if Gundel flourishes once more.

The restaurant, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, is marking the occasion with a truly fitting seven-course dinner: Kálmán Kalla will be cooking at Gundel once again for one evening – alongside Zsolt Litauszki. It is a testament to the restaurant’s grandeur that they are expecting 125 guests, as they can easily seat that many, and we wholeheartedly recommend this truly unique evening, confident that, in the world of trendy restaurants and pop-up dinners, an event like this will find its own appreciative audience.

In Sümegprága, we managed to speak to Kálmán Kalla, and we began by asking him how he looks back on the „glory days” in Gundel.

„I think of him very fondly; there’s no question about that. Back when Mr Láng first got in touch with me (György Láng and Ronald S. Lauder bought the Gundel from the Hungarian state and refurbished it in the early 1990s – (editor’s note), and when he offered me the position of head chef at the restaurant, I had absolutely no intention of accepting it. Up until then, I’d always worked in the most elegant establishments – five-star hotels on the banks of the Danube. After the old Duna Hotel, the InterContinental and then the Forum Hotel, it would never have occurred to me to take a job at a restaurant outside the city centre.

Mr Kalla, you’ve gone mad!

That is exactly what György Láng said. That conversation between the two of us was a real eye-opener. ‘A hotel restaurant runs itself,’ he said. ‘The hotel supports the restaurant, and you can never really have a name or a personality of your own there.’. It is actually possible to ruin a proper restaurant! His words made a profound impression on me, because I hadn’t really thought about it until then; after all, for historical reasons, the situation in the hospitality industry in Hungary had been different. For decades, it was only in these hotels that we had the opportunity to work in kitchens of such quality, which truly represented the pinnacle of the profession. But Mr Láng made me realise then what an opportunity Gundel represented for me, and from that point on I saw the role of head chef at the restaurant as a serious challenge and a truly wonderful task.”

„I then had the opportunity to get to know Mr Láng, who had returned from America, better whilst working with him; it was a wonderful time. He literally became my mentor, and by the end he was almost like a second father to me.”

And how does Kálmán Kalla view the current situation at Gundel?

„I sincerely hope that we will once again witness a renaissance.”

„When it comes to reinventing dishes, you mustn’t go too far in the other direction,” he says, addressing a key question in today’s gastronomy. „Back then, I spent weeks simply studying the family history, old recipes and menus from days gone by, and leafing through the Wampetics cookbook.”.

After extensive research, I wanted to develop a style that truly embodies the Gundel spirit: a fusion of Hungarian and French cuisine that can still be created today.

We must uphold the Gundel traditions.

He deliberately doesn’t reveal everything about the menu in advance, but we do know that the „asparagus-mad” chef – as he describes himself – will be serving asparagus with hollandaise sauce this evening, just as it appeared on the menu in the ’90s. No gala dinner at Gundel would be complete without foie gras, and the menu is rounded off with Wampetics-style curd dumplings.

The Gundel 125 Date and time: Tuesday 21 May 2019, 7.00 pm

The price of the menu bar 29,125 forints, the pepper rack 19,125 forints.
À la carte drinks are also available with dinner.
Prices do not include the 12.5% service charge.

Further details about the Gundel 125 dinner are available here.