WOW! He worked for Gordon Ramsay and now he opened a restaurant in Budapest! – photos

It is not easy to find a Portuguese kitchen in Budapest even though there are many different restaurants in the Hungarian capital. The Essência Restaurant – Tiago & Éva tries to fill this gap where the leader is Tiago Sabarigo, the former chef of the Michelin restaurant Costes Downtown, who worked together with Gordon Ramsay before. Their restaurant is in Sas street 17. next to the Société Budapest.

The restaurant opened on July 7, which is quite brave taking into consideration that, because of the virus, there are almost no foreign tourists and many Hungarians lost their jobs or income. Furthermore, nobody knows what the future holds; for example, the government introduced travel restrictions yesterday because even though the virus does not spread inside travellers can take it from abroad.

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According to index.hu, all these did not stop Mr Sabarigo to open his Portuguese restaurant in the downtown of the Hungarian capital where 50 pc of the meals are Hungarian ones. He said that many still wait, but most of the people in the restaurant industry would like to work. Therefore, they did not want to postpone the opening.

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Tiago Sabarigo has been living in Budapest for years, he moved to the Hungarian capital to work in the Costes Downtown, a Michelin restaurant. Still, his dream was to open his own restaurant. Now, he could make it come true together with his Hungarian wife, Éva Jenei (featured image).

The kitchen does not offer fusion cuisine but separate Portuguese and Hungarian dishes even though the use of paprika or good meats is also popular in Portugal, so a fusion kitchen would not be difficult to create. Furthermore, there is a Portugal meal that is very similar to the Hungarian goulash soup, and if we add some white wine to the famous Hungarian, we can create something familiar for even Portuguese people.

“Goulash soup – Come and taste the iconic Hungarian goulash at lunch and dinner time and see how Tiago prepares them with beef cheeks” – they say on their Facebook page. Source: facebook.com/pg/Essência-Restaurant-Tiago-Éva

Éva and Tiago opened the restaurant for the Hungarians, and they try to buy all ingredients from Hungarian producers. Furthermore, they assembled the Portuguese part of their menu to help people remember their stay in Portugal.

Before he opened his restaurant, he worked for Gordon Ramsay in his Michelin restaurant, Pétrus, and worked in the Costes Downtown for 4.5 years. He was the chef, for example, when the restaurant received its Michelin star in 2016. However, Tiago’s goal is not to get another Michelin star but to create a friendly and high-quality restaurant in the heart of Budapest.

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Therefore, everybody in the staff said that Essência is not a fine dining restaurant. Tiago would like to create a place where guests can enjoy the different flavours, and they can feel comfortable. Currently, they can welcome 70 guests, but reservation is not obligatory. They are open between Tuesday evening and Saturday evening, and there is a lunch menu each day except for Tuesday. Appetisers cost 6-15 EUR, main courses 12-22 EUR while desserts 6-9 EUR.

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Their five-course tasting menu costs 55 EUR while the eight-course one 72 EUR. The latter cost 110 EUR with wine. Both menus have two versions: a Portuguese and a Hungarian one. Index.hu says that the dishes are delicious and nobody would be able even to imitate them so everybody should try the restaurant.

Source: index.hu