\u201eThe most famous Hungarian restaurant\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s how Gundel describes itself, having reopened on 8 December after a year and a half\u2019s enforced closure. It\u2019s hard to argue with that, mind you; it really is the Hungarian restaurant that everyone has heard of, although there have been issues with quality in recent times. Now, however, Gundel has reopened, completely revamped and fresh, under the leadership of Viktor Moldov\u00e1n and Andr\u00e1s Wolf. To be honest, I\u2019m not surprised that it was fully booked on the very first day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I arrived at 11 o\u2019clock in the morning, just as the\u00a0To Gundel Restaurant<\/a>, which is regarded in Hungary as the birthplace of the Gundel pancake and has almost legendary status. There is certainly no guidebook that does not recommend it to tourists \u2013 a fact borne out by the large number of celebrities who visit here. From Angelina Jolie to Queen Elizabeth II, everyone has dined at the restaurant, which, unfortunately, has recently fallen short of its former glory. Last year, the Eventrend Group took over its management; by their own admission, they regard the restaurant as a national treasure and intend to manage it accordingly.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n No one can dispute the fact that Gundel is a unique establishment with a fascinating history. The building was constructed in 1894, as it had been decided, when the Zoo was founded, that a restaurant would also be established on the zoo\u2019s grounds. K\u00e1roly Gundel took over the running of the restaurant in 1910. His father, J\u00e1nos Gundel, had moved to Buda from Bavaria and was already a well-known restaurateur in the city. Among other things, it was he who introduced the Wiener schnitzel to Hungary. K\u00e1roly Gundel carried on these traditions; he approached the catering business not only professionally but also very innovatively, devising the names and recipes for a great many new dishes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the leadership of K\u00e1roly Gundel, the restaurant began to flourish. Not only was he a master of exceptional hospitality, but he also served the finest dishes of Hungarian and French cuisine, creating combinations of ingredients and flavours that are now regarded as the foundations of modern Hungarian cuisine. They were constantly experimenting with new recipes: pal\u00f3c soup, chicken paprikash, Bakony mushroom ragout, carp \u00e0 la K\u00e1rp\u00e1ti and Tokaj goose liver were all created at Gundel, but it was Gundel that also established the culture of Hungarian-style sauces and ragouts as we know them today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was on the terrace of the Gundel Restaurant that such now-famous dishes as J\u00f3kai bean soup, Bakony mushroom ragout and Gundel pancakes were first served. K\u00e1roly Gundel often named dishes after his regular guests. This is how, for example, \u00dajh\u00e1zi chicken soup came into being, named after the actor Ede \u00dajh\u00e1zi, as did J\u00f3kai bean soup, Munk\u00e1csy-style eggs and Feszty steak. Incidentally, the Gundel family also lived here, on the upper floor, although they never actually bought the building from the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gundel brought a great deal of acclaim to Hungarian gastronomy. The restaurant was then nationalised after the Second World War, and from that point on it was less of a success story, although it did experience several periods of resurgence following the change of regime. However, its operations were characterised by inconsistent standards; it was then forced to close due to the pandemic, and the pandemic situation ultimately highlighted the need for renewal. This has now taken place, and it appears to have been a success. The interior has been radically transformed, and not for the worse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During the refurbishment, the focus was on three main areas: the garden, the indoor caf\u00e9 and the restaurant area. The garden is expected to open in the spring and will be able to accommodate several hundred guests. The restaurant\u2019s interior has been revamped: the heavy carpets and dark paintings have been removed, and the whole interior has been refreshed and brightened up, although I think it could be even brighter still. Even so, it\u2019s turned out brilliantly, full of adorable and, of course, very Instagrammable details, such as the cute little elephants and animals. The huge green palm trees look great, as does the custom-made, enormous colourful wallpaper \u2013 the motifs on these, of course, all refer to the zoo. They also reminded me of the grand Spanish caf\u00e9s. The restaurant\u2019s main colour is turquoise, which is quite a bold choice in itself, and I think it\u2019s very beautiful; the Zsolnay plates were designed to complement it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The restaurant is essentially divided into two sections: the first, larger section serves as a caf\u00e9, where you can sit all day, even from the early morning. There\u2019s a wide selection of breakfast dishes, but you can also just sit and relax over a coffee. In the rear, slightly more secluded section, you can only have dinner; here, however, there is no \u00e0 la carte menu \u2013 only three- or four-course set menus are available, all at quite reasonable prices of 12,000 or 15,000 forints respectively. The prices aren\u2019t exorbitant, mind you; I\u2019m not saying Gundel is a cheap place, of course, but anyone can certainly afford a cake or two if they fancy giving the place a go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Andr\u00e1s Wolf emphasised that they specifically wanted Gundel to be accessible to everyone. So that a grandmother could sit down with her grandchild for a lemonade just as easily as a family could come for dinner. I don\u2019t dispute that, but regardless, Gundel has become the sort of place where you can finally take a foreign friend if they want to sample Hungarian cuisine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tourists will also be drawn to the live music throughout the day, as well as the all-female Gypsy band, who play for 15 minutes every hour. They don\u2019t play traditional Hungarian folk songs or Gypsy music, mind you, but film soundtracks and pop hits. The sight of girls playing the violin on a red carriage set up in the middle of the restaurant is admittedly verging on kitsch, but tourists will love it, that\u2019s for sure. And it\u2019s no bad thing that we finally have a place like this here at home, which, even if it is a bit kitsch, manages to stay within the bounds of good taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Andr\u00e1s Wolf emphasised that he and chef Viktor Moldov\u00e1n did not want to reinterpret the dishes, as foreign tourists have no such requirement. Anyone who has never tasted Gundel pancakes or Pal\u00f3c soup in their life will want to try the original versions. So, they reverted to the original recipes for everything, whilst striving to prepare the dishes using the finest ingredients and to the highest standard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201eThere was no need to write the Gundel menu \u2013 its backbone has been in place for 80 years. The dishes are based on the finest Gundel traditions, the centrepiece of which is the \u2018National 11\u2019 \u2013 those eleven iconic Gundel dishes that we all regard as the most important part of Gundel\u2019s heritage. We believe that Gundel \u2013 and, by extension, Hungarian cuisine \u2013 competes on the international gastronomic stage with these flavours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 11 dishes of the \u201dNational 11\u2019: Tokaj wine with goose liver, goulash soup, pal\u00f3c soup, \u00dajh\u00e1zi chicken soup, chicken paprikash, Feszty sandwich, Mangalica pork Bakony-style, pike-perch K\u00e1rp\u00e1ti-style, Soml\u00f3i galuska, Gundel pancakes, R\u00e1k\u00f3czi cottage cheese cake,\u201d said Andr\u00e1s Wolf. I honourably tasted everything I could possibly manage, and I was satisfied with it all. The soups particularly left a lasting impression on me, but Pal\u00f3c soup is a great favourite of mine anyway, and I regret that it\u2019s only available in a few places, especially of good quality. Just so you know, proper pal\u00f3c soup \u2013 which was first made for K\u00e1lm\u00e1n Miksz\u00e1th \u2013 is made with lamb, plenty of vegetables, green beans and sour cream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I loved the starters too, especially the trout, and the paprika chicken was also a real hit \u2013 it\u2019s bound to be one of the most popular dishes on the menu. And of course I couldn\u2019t miss out on the Gundel pancake, which was actually created by K\u00e1roly Gundel back in the last century. This is one of those rare dishes for which the original recipe still exists. A key element of this is that only part of the walnuts should be ground, whilst the rest should simply be chopped with a knife to leave some chunks. And the sauce, of course, is made not from cocoa powder but from real chocolate. According to Andr\u00e1s Wolf, they made everything exactly as Gundel prescribed, except that they reduced the amount of sugar quite significantly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I couldn\u2019t find anything to criticise about this place \u2013 not that that was my aim, mind you. It\u2019s clear, of course, that it wasn\u2019t opened for the Hungarian public, but that\u2019s not a problem. It\u2019s absolutely fine for such lovely Hungarian restaurants to dominate Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it\u2019s well worth popping in for afternoon tea at least once, as it really can be a brilliant family experience. What\u2019s more, the cakes are brought to the table on the back of an elephant!<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201eThe most famous Hungarian restaurant\u201d \u2013 that is how Gundel describes itself, having reopened on 8 December after a year-and-a-half-long enforced closure.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":17883,"template":"","publikacio":[231],"class_list":["post-17884","sajto","type-sajto","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","publikacio-streetkitchen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gundel.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sajto\/17884","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\/17884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gundel.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gundel.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"publikacio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gundel.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publikacio?post=17884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The legend of K\u00e1roly Gundel, the founder<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A radical makeover, with huge wallpapers <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A breakfast spot, caf\u00e9 and restaurant all in one <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Not a reworking, but an original Hungarian work<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What is the original Gundel pancake like? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n