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The best restaurants around Hungary were announced on Monday at the Audi-Dining Guide Restaurant of the Year awards gala, Telex reports. Many new recipients can be found on this year’s list, including three countryside establishments reaching the top 10+2 category. Those who were highlighted have made it onto the Dining Guide, bringing them recognition and fame.
The Audi-Dining Guide operates similarly to the Michelin Guide. It has a jury of foreign chefs and even a former Michelin director, Fausto Arrighi. Zoltán Herczeg, the publisher of the Guide, explained that its purpose is to give diners a perspective of Hungarian restaurants’ accomplishments and give them access to reliable recommendations.
The TOP100 Restuarant Guide goes beyond the scores by giving symbols and labels to inform readers on the classification of a given restaurant. (…) This year’s testing was unique, since there was limited time allotted for it, and many places among the best restaurants did not open. This year’s guide does not mention or rank them, of course.”
Hungary’s top 10+2 restaurants of the year are:
Stand
Stand, by Tamás Széll and Szabina Szulló, provides classic Hungarian meals with precise, but not overdone workmanship. It is known for traditional dishes like Hungarian potato casserole, gulyás, and Somlói galuska (dumplings from Somló). Széll and Szulló’s other restaurant, Stand 25 Bisztró, also made it on the list
Pasztell
Part-owner of Pasztell, Nicola Portinari, is an Italian chef with two Michelin stars. He trained chef János Erdei in Italy to now provide Italian-Hungarian fused fine dining in Hungary.
Platán Gourmet
The Platán Gourmet is a fine dining restaurant which opened this year under István Pesti. The restaurant has traditions which can be connected all the way back to the Eszterházy family. It has a very vibrant and diverse menu, serving everything from veal to seafood.
Bistro 42
A restaurant in Esztergom by the name of Bistro 42 can also be found on the list. Ádám Barna, one of St. Andrea’s former chefs, cooks gourmet meals in a laid back and welcoming style, harmonizing with the atmosphere.
Anyukám Mondta
Anyukám Mondta (My Mother Said), found in the small town of Encs, has been among Hungary’s best places to eat for years. Run by the Dudás brothers, this restaurant provides many great Italian meals; pastas and pizzas. They even won two awards, one for this and one for their other restaurant in Debrecen named Pizza, Coffee, World Peace.
Rumour by Rácz Jenő
Jenő Rácz’s Rumour by Rácz Jenő is a relatively new restaurant in Budapest, built around a chef’s table experience. Dining at Rumour is more than just ordering and eating, it is a unique experience where guests get to be a part of the experience with the whole kitchen in front of them. Because of the pandemic, Károly Gerendai is found with this restaurant on Audi’s list this year.
Textúra
Run by Ákos Sárközi, this restaurant just went through a huge upgrade, and now offers an open dinner experience. This means guests put all their faith in the cooks, sitting down to eat without a menu of any kind.
Arany Kaviár
Arany Kaviár (Golden Caviar), run by Attila Molnár and Szása Nyíri, offers Russian style of fine dining with an extensive selection of caviar.
Salt
Salt, led by Szilárd Tóth, operates with the style of a Nordic kitchen, providing traditional foods with a modern touch. Specifically, the foods from Tóth’s North-Eastern Hungarian roots are placed in a more technological environment.
Essência
New on the list this year is Essência, run by Portuguese former Costes Downtown chef, Tiago Sabarigo and his Hungarian wife, Éva Jenei. The romantically unique element of this restaurant is that it mixes the couple’s ethnicities, be that in its style, its kitchen, and its wines.
Laurel Budapest
Ádám Mede leads a young staff in this fine dining-based highly modern restaurant. Laurel is famous for its exceptional deserts, prepared by Zsuzsanna Ötvös, who also makes her own cookbooks.
This year’s Audi-Dining Guide Restaurant of the Year award, like last year and the year before, was won by Szabina Szulló and Tamás Széll’s Stand. But other notable awards also went out, such as the Year’s Countryside Restaurant, which went to Platán Gourmet Restaurant.
Other award recipients include:
Featured photo via Stand 25 Bisztró’s Facebook page
