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Alexander van Dülmen

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Hungary

Skykitchen, Restaurant, Berlin

Skykitchen, Restaurant, Berlin, Germany

7 points

Alexander Hoppe has Richard’s deer. Which is funny because a few days before I finally made it to Skykitchen Berlin, I visited Richard, another Michelin star restaurant in Berlin, and there was no deer there – see here my review about Richard Richard, Restaurant, Berlin

Not that you should get the impression that I go exclusively to starred restaurants, but Berlin makes it quite easy, given that there are a total of 21 restaurants with altogether 28 stars – more than any other city in Germany and currently in 12th place in the world, and in Europe coming in right after Paris, London, and Brussels at number four! This said, I do not think that restaurants are necessarily better just because they have a star. There are many I’ve visited in past years they would easily get one from me, if I were a tester. But there are many cities and places in world that Michelin does not even test. And since I’m not ruining the career of a chef or a winemaker because I may not like what I’m served, with my recommendations you can take them or leave them. A friend from Los Angeles recently visited Brawn in London (Brawn, Restaurant, London) and enjoyed it very much. It is not listed among the almost 80 restaurants with a star there. And it’s certainly interesting to see how different all of the Berlin Michelin star restaurants are – or what makes them similarly unique on the other hand. This kind of field research is best done in my current hometown.

Skykitche view

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Magnus Merlot, 2011, Villa Tolnay

Magnus Merlot, 2011, Villa Tolnay, red wine from Hungary

5 points

One of the most beautiful areas in Hungary is located between Tapolca and the north-western shore of Lake Balaton: hills, soft valleys often with cottonwoods, beautiful views – a place of relaxation and peace.

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The countryside is a mixture of Mediterranean views and volcanic landscape. Lovely: wine almost everywhere, mainly still owned and cultivated by private families – not as winemakers but private gardeners. Continue reading “Magnus Merlot, 2011, Villa Tolnay” →

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St. Andrea, Örökke, Egri Féher, 2008

St. Andrea, Örökke, Egri Feher, 2008, White-wine from Hungary

7 points

St. Andrea as I already wrote once is one of the most interesting and definite best wineries in Hungary.  It is located at the edge of Egerszalók which is a village in the heart of the Hungarian wine area Eger. The person behind of all is even a “doctor”. Dr. Lörincz György. Usually I do not believe too much in Hungarian white wines although there are of course some exceptions. Not really surprising that one of this exception is a wine of the vinery St. Andrea. The (success) story of St. Andrea is quite impressive: nowadays they husband nine vineyards and with 17 different sorts of vines.

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Nobu, Budapest

Nobu, Japanese Restaurant, Budapest, Hungary

6,5 points

Many of you have heard of the fashionable chain of modern Japanese restaurant and Sushi place called Nobu. The most of Nobus are in top metropolises as Los Angeles, New York, London, Moscow and Tokyo and many more but some selected ones are in rather different places as Istanbul or Johannesburg. Really surprisingly there is a Nobu in Budapest which is a beautiful city but certainly not a cosmopolitan town. Located at the Kempinski Hotel and owned by no one else than film mogul Andy Vajna this restaurant is exceptional and a pearl among Budapest’s gastronomical offers.

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Barbár, Heimann, 2011, Szekszárd

Barbár, Heimann, 2011, Szekszárd, Red-wine from Hungary

3 points

This is the big brother of Heimann’s Birtokbar which I introduced some while ago: https://avdwineandfood.wordpress.com/2015/03/12/heimann-birtokbor-szekszard-2011/. The wine comes from Szekszár which is in Southern West of Hungary. The area covers the Eastern foothills of Transdanubian hills. The soli is mostly loess but also a little bit stony. It is one of the warmest areas of vineries in Hungary as the summers can be really hot there and usually they have long warm autumns as well.

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Tokaji Hárslevelü, Kassai, 2012 Kikelet Pince

Tokaji Hárslevelü, Kassai, 2012 Kikelet Pince, White Wine from Hungary

4,5 points

I would believe that everyone who ever came in tough with sweet wine had once or even often a Tokaji, probably still the most well known and internationally exported wine from Hungary. Tokoji is without any doubt one of the most traditional and eldest wine sort, it is made out of only four sorts of grapes which aren’t well known at all: Furmint, Lindenblättriger (Lipovina or Harslevelü), Muscat and Zéta. The name of the wine comes from the Hungarian city Tokai. Although everyone thinks this wine is only Hungarian origin, there are Tokai wines also from Slovakia – mostly from those Slovakian areas revanchist of Hungarian establishments’ sometime calls Hungarian hemisphere. The area is the most northern foothill of Balkan mountains called Carpathians. There is volcanic and also clay soil but due to the geographic location is one of the coldest areas of Hungary. You wouldn’t consider that this is a typical and appropriate wine area. But it is, in particular for this kind of wine as it needs not only sun and heat but also wet and foggy autumns before the harvest as grapes need to mature long upon they are noble rot and small like rosin.

Continue reading “Tokaji Hárslevelü, Kassai, 2012 Kikelet Pince” →

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Heimann, Birtokbor, Szekszárd, 2011

Heimann, Birtokbor, Szekszárd, 2011, red wine from Hungary

4,5 points

My friend Gabor Kereszty brought me a box of six different wines from the Hungarian winery Heimann.  Although I thought I would know more than others about Hungarian wine, I must admit I didn’t know of Heimann, from the southern city of Szekszard.

Like all really good Hungarian wine, this is a cuvée! Birtokbor contains Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Kékfrankos (Blaufränkisch) and Syrah – according to the website of Heimann (http://www.heimann.hu/en/menu/wines). It is the very well-balanced combination of grapes that makes it very notable and, simply speaking, good.

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Aranyszarvas, Restaurant, Budapest, Hungary

Aranyszarvas, Restaurant in Budapest, Hungary

5,5 points      UNFORTUNATELY THIS RESTAURANT IS SHUT DOWN since 2017

This has been my favorite restaurant in Budapest for many years. It became a place of many lunches in the Hungarian capital as some years ago the office of an affiliated company I worked with was WP_20150303_007just around the corner. Today I only come at night and it is very nice as well.

This restaurant offers an appropriate mix of classic style, elegance and coziness. You feel immediately very snugly like in a familiar big living room.

The food is a perfect combination of high end Hungarian cuisine and an excursion into southern European styles.

The menu is constantly changing and oriented to the seasons, but probably also to the weekly inspirations of the chef. What I really like is that you recognize an individual character and – let’s call it – a signature in all of the dishes. Whether you take the fish, chicken or some lamb, the way it is prepared and cooked is somehow similar, always down to earth in its substance but subtly flavored.

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Merengö, St. Andrea, 2006

Merengö Egri Bikavér superior 2006, St. Andrea, Red wine from Hungary

6,5 points

My favorite Hungarian wine maker is St. Andrea (http://www.standrea.hu/). So far I haven’t had a chance to visit them, although this is a producer I would really like to get to know. They produce a variety of wines: white and red, from typical grapes of the Eger wine region in Hungary, but also Pinot Noir. Most of the wines of St. Andrea are cuvées.

While I’m a big fan of their Pinot Noir, the most prestigious and certainly also their top wine is called Merengö. It is a cuvée made from ca. 50% Kékfrankos, then Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

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