Tucked behind a minimalist matte-grey façade just off the city’s main tourist thoroughfare is one of Budapest’s worst-kept secrets, the Babel restaurant and its freshly Michelin-starred chef, István Veres. He spoke to TransylvaniaNOW about his craft, respect for raw materials and his own brand of dining.
Veres has learned from the very best, but he is reluctant to name his masters – which is a matter of public record, anyway – only mentioning Frenchman Alain Passard, chef of L’Arpège in Paris.
“In art – not that I’m saying that is what I do – when you single out someone as your master, it means that you are somehow imitating their style. I like to do my own thing,” he said. “Even back in elementary school, when other children had a toy, I never yearned for it. I always wanted something different.”
He is about 30 years old, one guesses (while quite candid about his chosen profession, he is also very much a private person and won’t reveal his actual age) and hails from the small Transylvanian town of Kézdivásárhely/Târgu Secuiesc. He says he brought with him the family tradition – his parents run a restaurant there – and the respect for farm work and the amount of work that goes into vegetables. Yes, vegetables.
“While I am one of those meat worshippers, vegetables are the foundation of any meal,” he said. He also doesn’t like wastefulness: “I like to use every single part of the raw materials I work with. The peelings of vegetables, skin, bones and even the testicles of quail.”
Chef István Veres and his beloved vegetables
In a country with only a handful of chefs (five, actually) who have earned their restaurant a Michelin-star, he is proud of his Transylvanian roots. István Veres’ regret is that the media in his native Romania doesn’t seem to have noticed his achievements. “Since getting the Michelin star, I have had interview requests from all over the world, except Romania. A Romanian commercial TV station called me once, but the interview never happened. And I don’t think it’s because I am (ethnic) Hungarian, either. it’s probably because I’m based in Budapest.”
The Babel restaurant in Budapest (note the small red Michelin recommendation far right)
All the more curious because he is the only Romanian-born chef to have ever been awarded a Michelin star.
He says that unlike in major metropolises with cutthroat competition, Hungary’s top chefs are in fact a tightly knit bunch. “The chefs of Hungary’s top 20 restaurant have a meeting every month, so yes, we are pretty close, which is kind of unusual in our business.”
In another exception to the norm, Veres not only reigns supreme in his kitchen, but he also runs the entire restaurant. “I want everything to be perfect. The lights, tables, everything. Even the best meal will avail to nothing, if a waiter destroys the experience in a second.”
There is much talk nowadays about ‘fine dining,’ but I want patrons to have a complete experience, so I rather aim at offering ‘fun dining.’
As to the question many people would like to know: what does a top chef cook for himself at home? The answer is rather anti-climactic: nothing.
“I don’t like to cook at home. Everything is, you know, so tiny. It’s like getting out of a Formula One car and driving a Dacia [the ubiquitous Romanian car brand]. I even do my experimenting here in the restaurant kitchen on my days off.”
And he doesn’t sit on his laurels either.
“There is always more. The next goal is obviously the second Michelin star.”
In case you’re visiting Budapest (or even if you are a resident) and want to sample his brand of culinary art, here’s a link to the Babel restaurant.
(Images by the author)
