The Restaurant of the Year in Hungary, 2016: Gusteau Culinary Experience Workshop in Mád

Index.hu writes that this year’s Gault & Millau prizes have been awarded and the Restaurant of the Year is a countryside restaurant again, the Gusteau Culinary Experience Workshop in Mád. The Chef of the Year is István Pesti, while the newcomer Beszálló was also awarded.

The Hungarian Gault & Millau restaurant guide of 2017 came out on Tuesday. Tamás Molnár B., the editor-in-chief of the issue, said at the award show, organised on the occasion, that this year has been quite hectic, because there were management changes in many good restaurants, Babel reopened, the chef of the Michelin Starred Tanti left again, and Tamás Széll and Szabina Szulló both left Onyx.

By the way, the latter restaurant got the most points in this year’s Gault & Millau magazine: they are the only ones to have 3 hats and 17 points. However, they weren’t chosen as the Restaurant of the Year, because the aim of the prize is to acknowledge the hard work of several years. So the award was presented to Gusteau Culinary Experience Workshop in Mád, hoping that the gastronomy of the Tokaj wine region will be able to close up to the popularity of their wines.

“In Mád, in the heart of Tokaj-Hegyalja, life is about wines in our restaurant. Our dishes are inspired by wines, and terroir is expressed not only in wines but also in raw materials. Our mission is to arouse love and respect for top quality white wines of Tokaj-Hegyalja. We plan our programs in such a way that they provide a lifetime experience for each visitor of ours.”

The French director and owner of the restaurant guide was present at the award-ceremony and emphasized that even though Michelin is a very important guide, it is full of restaurants which most people can’t afford. On the other hand, G&M aims to acknowledge chefs, because they know how much it takes for someone to be successful in this field.

The Chef of the Year award was given to István Pesti, who received a Michelin Star last year as the chef of Tanti, but he got fed up with the capital city and is now running the Platán restaurant of Tata. This award acknowledges that he was able to stabilise his position in Platán, which has become one of the best countryside restaurants with 15 points in a year’s time.

Besides the Restaurant of the Year award, the guide also acknowledges the Alternative Restaurant of the Year from last year on, to strengthen the quite weak middle field of Hungarian gastronomy. This category includes the representatives of simpler restaurants and street food places. It’s a curiosity that Krisztián Huszár’s Beszálló food bar, which opened only a month ago, won this category.

Photos: MTI, www.facebook.com/GusteauKulinárisÉlményműhely

Copy editor: bm

Source: http://index.hu/