Legendary Budapest Restaurant Reopens with Michelin-starred Chef

The restaurant Fricska, that closed during Covid, has reopened in downtown Budapest. A member of the team is Levente Koppány, a Michelin-starred chef at Costes, reports Világgazdaság.

Of the three former owners of Fricska, only one, Andor Giczi, remains and he will continue to run the restaurant according to the current concept. This would mean a constantly changing lunch menu during the day and a seasonally changing dinner menu in the evening.

Levente Koppány will join the restaurant team as chef-patron, so his main tasks will not be cooking but rather stock management, negotiating with suppliers, coordinating the team, and writing the menu. He will assist the restaurant’s chef, Krisztián Rácz, who has previously worked in Michelin-starred restaurants in England.

Koppány told Világgazdaság that

they want to create a more informal bistro kitchen based on Hungarian gastronomy and ingredients, like it used to be.

The restaurant received a Bib Gourmand certification from Michelin before it closed. This rating is awarded to restaurants that offer excellent value for money, with moderate prices and high quality cuisine. Levente Koppány emphasized that they would like to regain this rating, which would be a big step forward, as there are currently no Bib Gourmand restaurants in the Hungarian capital.

As far as prices are concerned, the two-course lunch menu costs HUF 5,450 (EUR 14), the three-course menu HUF 6,450 (EUR 16.5), and dishes such as salmon, black mussels, grilled mackerel, or even brisket are on the list. In the evening, main courses start at HUF 6,500 (EUR 16.8), with the most expensive dish – apart from steaks – being the branzino (European seabass) at HUF 12,000 (EUR 31).

Featured photo via Facebook/Fricska 2.0