One hundred and eighty years ago, on 3 March 1844, János Gundel, the founder of one of Hungary’s most renowned hotel and restaurant dynasties, was born. Our article is based on a portrait from the MTVA Press Archive.
He was born in Ansbach, Bavaria, as the son of a master baker, under the name Johann Gundel. After his father’s death, his mother could no longer afford to send him to school, so at the age of thirteen, with 30 forints in his pocket, she sent him to Pest to work in the restaurant run by his stepfather’s brother-in-law. He served beer in a stein as a waiter at a pub called „Az utolsó fillérhez” (The Last Filler), and as he was skilful and hard-working, and could speak five languages, he soon rose through the ranks.
From head waiter to owner of the Viennese schnitzel restaurant on Király Street
He was first employed on the glass-enclosed veranda of the Téli Sörház, and later at the Arany Sas inn in the city centre. By the age of eighteen, he was already head waiter, and his position was further strengthened when, in 1869, he married the owner’s niece, Anna Kommer. After the marriage, he struck out on his own and opened his first restaurant on Király Street.
The Vienna Beer House – the setting for Krúdy’s short story *In My Happy Youth* – serves Viennese Tafelspitz (tafelspitz: tender braised beef served with vegetables, soup, potatoes and gravy), Viennese schnitzel, braised pork lung and the Austrian beer served alongside them.
Two years later, he took over the Virágbokor restaurant on József Nádor Square and turned it into a thriving business.
Several celebrities have visited here; the painter Károly Lotz even gave him a painting, which has been hung in the private room.
He was awarded the Knight's Cross, then returned to work as a hotelier
To the great surprise of the profession, Gundel retired at the age of barely thirty-five and threw himself into public life. As chairman of the Hoteliers’ and Restaurateurs’ Trade Association, and as a member of the Budapest City Council, he made significant efforts to organise vocational education; in 1885, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph.
He returned as the father of five children, having amassed a considerable fortune through his hospitality business,
when he rented the Prince István Hotel on the corner of Akadémia Street and Vigyázó Ferenc Street.
The new establishment was recommended to prospective guests in the columns of the *Vadász és Versenylap* in its issue of 29 September 1889 as follows:
He ran the hotel until 1904; in 2016, a commemorative plaque was unveiled on the façade of the building on Akadémia Street in his honour.
Jókai, Kálmán Tisza and Mikszáth: they all used to dine at Gundel’s
The hotel, renowned for its cuisine, enjoyed its heyday under his management; it was here that members of the neighbouring Academy would meet, and it was here that the Kisfaludy Society held its banquets.
Kálmán Tisza, Mór Jókai and Baron János Kemény dined at Gundel’s; they all loved this „distinguished, quiet, cosy little haven”.
He had a separate suite fitted out for one of his favourite guests, Kálmán Mikszáth, and went out of his way to please the writer in every way. He even created a special menu in his honour; dishes such as Lohinai herb-crusted fish, the Tót brothers’ fish dumplings, Brézói goose à la Mikszáth, Pigeon in a Cage and That Which Sweetens the Soul were all inspired by Mikszáth’s works.
When Mikszáth mentioned that he would like to eat a soup that „encompasses all the flavours of Hungarian cuisine”, Gundel
In honour of the „great Palóc”, he created the Palóc soup, which is still popular today, using onions, peppers, minced meat, vegetables, potatoes, green beans and sour cream.
At the grand opening of the Mikszáth Room in 1894, „Palócz soup” was already on the menu; it began its conquest of the culinary world in 1935 as a dish served by his son, Károly Gundel, at a dinner competition for restaurateurs in 1935.
The Gundel son who carried on the family tradition had hospitality running through his veins, but unlike his father, he never picked up a cooking spoon; he composed the harmony of flavours in his mind. In 1910, he bought the Wampetics restaurant in City Park and renamed it Gundel.
The ‘King of the Viennese Schnitzel’ in Hungary has become an event organiser
The elder Gundel retired once again in 1904, devoting his time and energy to promoting professional organisation and training. He held numerous positions, including that of member of the Permanent Committee of Wine Inspection Experts, honorary president of the National Restaurant Association, member of the Budapest Coffeehouse Guild, elder of the Evangelical Church, and a member of the Lipótváros Savings Bank; he was also a member of the ‘Régi Hívek’ Masonic Lodge for forty years.
He is credited with introducing compulsory qualifications for the catering profession and establishing international links. In 1886, he set up a scholarship to support the sommelier who produced the best wine list.
His knowledge and attention to detail were legendary in restaurant circles. He personally checked the menu, the portion sizes and the composition of the dishes; not even the contents of the slop bucket escaped his notice.
He created several dishes; it was he who popularised the Viennese schnitzel in Budapest’s dining scene.
He was the first to refine Hungarian cuisine – previously regarded as barbaric and overly spicy – with the milder, more subtle flavours of international cuisine. He wrote numerous specialist articles in Hungarian and German. In his spare time, he turned wood on a lathe, crafted ivory objects and pottered about in his garden in Budafok.
When her son Károly went to the front during the First World War, she, at the age of seventy, took charge of the procurement on his behalf. He died in Budapest a year later, on 28 December 1915. The new gastronomic culture he had established was carried on by his son, whose name had already become a household name during his lifetime.
The Gundel legacy was designated a ‘Hungaricum’ in 2014.
