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.

He was born in Ansbach, Bavaria, as the son of a master baker named Johann Gundel. After his father’s death, his mother could not afford the cost of his education, and

When he was thirteen, with 30 forints in his pocket, he was sent to Pest to work in the restaurant run by his stepfather’s brother-in-law.

He served pints of beer as a barman at the pub called ‘To the Last Penny’, and as he was skilful and hard-working – and could speak five languages – he quickly rose through the ranks.

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 his marriage, he set up on his own and opened his first restaurant on Király Street. The Bécsi Sörház – the setting for Krúdy’s short story *In My Happy Youth* – enticed customers with Viennese beef (tafelspitz – tender braised beef served with vegetables, soup, potatoes and gravy), Viennese schnitzel, braised lung and Austrian beer served alongside them. Two years later, he took over and revitalised the Virágbokor restaurant on József Nádor Square, where traders from the nearby grain exchange sought relief from their nerves.

Several celebrities have visited here; the painter Károly Lotz even gave him a painting, which has been hung in the private room.

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.

Having amassed a tidy fortune in the hospitality trade and as the father of five children, he returned when he took over the Archduke István Hotel on the corner of Akadémia Street and Vigyázó Ferenc Street. He brought the new establishment to the attention of the public in the following manner in the 29 September 1889 issue of the *Vadász és Versenylap*:

„My primary aim will be to ensure that, under my personal management, the strictest standards of cleanliness, the most attentive and helpful service, excellent cuisine and wine cellar, and the most reasonable prices, to make this hotel one of the most pleasant places to stay in our capital and to provide a welcoming home for the travelling public.”

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.

The hotel, which is justly famous 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 all dined at Gundel’s; they were fond of this distinguished, quiet and cosy retreat. For one of her favourite guests, Kálmán Mikszáth, she had a separate suite prepared, and she went out of her way to ensure the writer’s every need was met.

He even created a whole menu in his honour; Mikszáth’s works inspired 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’. When Mikszáth mentioned that he would like to eat a soup that encapsulated all the flavours of Hungarian cuisine, Gundel created the Palóc soup – still popular today – in honour of the ‘great Palóc’, using onions, paprika, minced meat, vegetables, potatoes, green beans and sour cream.

At the grand opening of the Mikszáth Room in 1894, „palóczleves” 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 organised for restaurateurs, began its conquest of the culinary world. The younger Gundel, who carried on the family tradition, had the hospitality trade running through his veins, but unlike his father, he never picked up a wooden spoon; instead, he composed the harmony of flavours in his mind. In 1910, he bought the Wampetics restaurant in City Park and renamed it Gundel.

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 Tasting Experts, honorary president of the National Restaurant Association, member of the Budapest Coffeehouse Trade Association, elder of the Lutheran Church, and a member of the Lipótváros Savings Bank. He is credited with introducing professional qualifications for the catering trade and establishing international links. In 1886, he established a scholarship to support the waiter who produced the best menu.

His knowledge and precision were legendary in restaurateurs’ 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 attention. He created several dishes, and it was he who popularised the Viennese schnitzel in Budapest.

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 his son Károly went to the front during the First World War, she, aged seventy, took charge of the procurement on his behalf. He died a year later, on 28 December 1915, in Budapest. 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, which subsequent generations also managed skilfully, was designated a ‘Hungaricum’ in 2014.