When we think of Gundel, the first thing that springs to mind is that you have to be born into it. A sort of neo-Baroque palace right next to the Zoo in City Park \u2013 of course, it would be brilliant to give it a go, but it\u2019s not a place for mere mortals. And yet, enjoying the original Hungarian gastronomic sensation created by K\u00e1roly Gundel was certainly not the exclusive privilege of the wealthiest classes, although there\u2019s no doubt they were frequent visitors to Gundel too. 10 things you\u2019ve never thought of before when it comes to Gundel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was no luxury, no privilege, no VIP treatment: every social class found something to suit them and a place of their own there. Gundel was a restaurant that welcomed everyone with open arms, anyone who wanted to feel at home and enjoy a good meal. With its wide range of prices, it appealed not only to celebrities but also to ordinary people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the course of its 127-year history, the venue has been visited by most of the celebrities who have come to Budapest. Pope John Paul II, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Luciano Pavarotti, Angelina Jolie and Arnold Schwarzenegger \u2013 it would take a very long time to list all the world-famous public figures who have stayed here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was thanks to his imagination, knowledge and exquisite taste, as well as the Gundel family\u2019s keen creative drive, that dishes such as Pal\u00f3c soup, paprika chicken, Bakony mushroom ragout, Fogas K\u00e1rp\u00e1ti and Tokaji asz\u00fa goose liver were created\u2026 Gundel\u2019s most famous creations were desserts, such as Gundel pancakes, Soml\u00f3i Galuska and R\u00e1k\u00f3czi T\u00far\u00f3s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among other things, they served delicacies such as boiled eggs in goulash sauce, sausages in broth, and savoury pretzels with draught beer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It made catering for large crowds its mission. Its outdoor seating area was so vast that it could accommodate as many as 1,000 people. On peak days in May, 3,000 plates of food were served; they enjoyed a huge turnover, serving crowds of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every member of the family was made to feel welcome, and the garden was full of children running about and having fun. K\u00e1roly Gundel\u2019s 13 children also grew up in the restaurant, whilst Zolt\u00e1n Latinovits was born upstairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The restaurant had its own 11-piece band, providing a continuous programme of live music. In this way, throughout the entire opening hours, they ensured that guests visiting Gundel were able to lose themselves as fully as possible in the enjoyment of the food, life and the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has given us numerous dishes and flavour combinations that we now regard as the cornerstones of Hungarian cuisine, such as goose liver paired with Tokaji wine, or, within the category of sauces and stews, the sauce for chicken paprikash and the mushroom stew with paprika and sour cream. With astonishing perseverance, he sampled the various sauces, gravies and stews he had devised from different ingredients and in varying proportions; he spent months perfecting the Bakony mushroom stew, for example. It is thanks to him that we have the combination of cottage cheese, apricot jam and vanilla, the embodiment of which is the R\u00e1k\u00f3czi cottage cheese dessert; but he also conceived the complex flavour profile of another dessert, which, under the name Soml\u00f3i galuska, has also become a famous Hungarian delicacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He introduced the art of breading from Turkey at a time when it was not at all widespread here. Breaded meat, or Wiener Schnitzel, was not strictly speaking Gundel\u2019s invention, but it was thanks to him that it entered the Hungarian public consciousness; later, however, it took the country by storm, and its triumphant march continues unbroken to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was an incredibly talented gastronome; thanks to his wide-ranging, in-depth knowledge and his experimental approach, he succeeded in putting Hungary on the world\u2019s gastronomic map.<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 10 things you\u2019ve never thought about regarding Gundel.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":17881,"template":"","publikacio":[216],"class_list":["post-17880","sajto","type-sajto","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","publikacio-hol-magazin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gundel.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sajto\/17880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gundel.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sajto"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gundel.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sajto"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gundel.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sajto\/17880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gundel.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gundel.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"publikacio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gundel.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publikacio?post=17880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}