New Year's day 2018 I walked in by myself without a reservation feeling the need to load up some much needed energy after an intense two hours lying around doing nothing in the hot pools of the Gellert spa. On my previous trips to Hungary back in the early 2000s, I had never eaten well and always resented their obsession with paprika added in excessive quantities and with much national pride to every dish. I knew that there are good Hungarian wines and wanted to finally experience good food to go with them. The waiter at the door initially told me that it was fully booked, but then once he realised that I was asking for one person and for right now, was happy to let me have a table. As in many gourmet restaurants, the staff were delighted that I was actually there to enjoy their special dishes and wine rather than to use their gastronomic creations as a secondary backdrop for a social occasion. The waiter and sommelier came to see me every three minutes and wanted to hear every detail of what I thought of their wine recommendations and dishes, which greatly enhanced my experience.
To start, I was offered a furmint based dry wine from the Tojaji region, fairly light bodied with strong notes of smoke, balsa wood, and a slight touch of pomelo and pear.
An amuse-bouche of cucumber, radish and salmon caviar was pleasant but not overly convincing. My first course was a lamb sweetbread with beetroot cream, beetroot cubes and half a beetroot covered with spherified balsamic vinegar "caviar". The sweetbread was cooked to perfection, tender and melting in my mouth. The balsamic vinegar matched the beetroot wonderfully. The dish overall tended to be overpowered by beetroot and could have done with an element of spice or salt to highlight another dimension of the sweetbread, rather than let it sink one-dimensionally into the earthy sweetness of the beetroot. The presentation using only half the plate also made it look a bit lost even though the portion size was more than adequate. Overall a very good dish with some room for improvement.
For my second dish, I was served a Konyari Sessio 2012 Cabernet Franc Merlot blend from the southern Balaton region. This is an exceptionally well balanced wine and it surprised me by evoking fruity notes of Cabernet Sauvignon despite not containing any. Slight subdued tannins, perfectly ripe, a wonderful wine!
My main dish was a wild boar with textures of pumpkin and wild mushrooms. Now we are talking! This dish is exceptional and fully justifies the restaurant's Michelin star. The boar is cooked rare, tender and perfect, with a slight note of smoke. Each piece of boar sits on a thin slice of wild mushroom whose Hungarian name I was not familiar with. Two types of pumpkin were used in this dish: a creamy light-skinned variety to make an unctuous pumpkin cream that blended wonderfully with the delicious wild boar jus on the plate. A few small cubes of still crunchy orange-fleshed pumpkin with a delicate note of smoke added a touch of colour and were the real stars, the little detail that lets a plate of food sing and dance. A perfectly accomplished dish!
For dessert, I was served an off-dry late harvest Furmint Tojaji with strong apricot jam flavours and slight notes of pink grapefruit. I only knew the traditional sickly sweet Tokaji wines and was very happy to taste this crisp fruity modern surprise.
My final course was a sweet dessert on a cheese theme: soft cheese cream, a micro-slice of cheesecake, a dehydrated cottage cheese mousse, blueberries, blueberry mousse and sorbet, shreds of pistachio sponge cake and two pistachio biscuits. I loved the fact that nothing was overpoweringly sweet and hence gave the wine a chance to shine.
Overall, this is a highly recommended restaurant and a wonderful culinary experience. And what's more, not a picogram of paprika in sight!
