The Nudli Tésztakantin is a restaurant where you can enjoy authentic local flavours and truly artisan pasta. It draws on the flavours of our grandmothers' kitchens, but it's all executed with professional kitchen technology. Chef Dániel Balogh guided us through the world of pasta.
The last 10 years have seen a lot of progress in domestic gastronomy. Many innovations, materials and technologies have become commonplace. Fortunately, many young people have travelled abroad and brought back knowledge that they can use at home in their own countries. for the pleasure of guests. However, the most characteristic has been the adoption of foreign trends for a very long time. In recent times, however, it is gratifying to see that intensified the characteristic a desire for home cooking. We started to focus on tradition and more and more restaurants started to offer real Hungarian flavours. The NUDLI Tésztakantin, which aims to promote local pasta dishes, has become an important part of this trend.
Photo by Árpád Pintér
Starts
It was a strange start, as Nudli opened in the middle of the Covid closure. It was a bold move at the time - the December before last - as with no customers, only home delivery and takeaway service could work. But Nudli stood its ground! At that time, the initial team from Costes was made up of chefs who had just been laid low. The concept was very much about Hungarian food, but over time Nudli has built up a team of people who not only know how to prepare our flavours from their expertise, but also from their hearts. As a first step, last February, chef Dániel Balogh took over the kitchen.
Chef Dániel Balogh
Dániel Balogh is no stranger to the industry, having worked in catering for 32 years. You can meet him in many places and he has a number of interesting projects to his name, including Pöriző, a street-food-turned-stew, and the hugely successful gourmet ice-cream parlour. He has worked as a chef, managed a restaurant and now puts amazing food on the table as the chef at Nudli Tésztakantin.
Photo by Árpád Pintér
- How did you get started?
- Basically, because it started with the Costes team, who were mostly foreigners - and mainly in the fine-dining world - I had to adapt a few things. I said, if this is a Hungarian restaurant, especially in the pasta world, then meat soup should be meat soup, lecsó should be lecsó. We revised the recipes and obviously we did a lot of testing with the management to make sure that those flavours, those textures, those presentations, really were like in grandma's kitchen. And then over time we introduced the blackboard offering, so we really got into the pasta dishes, which included, for example, wild noodles with wild rice noodles, chicken noodles with paprika, or even cottage cheese choucro.
Photo by Árpád Pintér
- What is the most important thing you would tell us about Nudli?
- It's clearly what makes them love us. We do everything by hand! All the dough is handmade, even the noodles are rolled one by one. You can imagine what that entails, but that's exactly what quality is all about! It's the only way to achieve the homemade character, the homemade flavours.
- Nudli is in a pretty prominent location. What is your experience of the distribution of guests?
- What I can say is that - as I took over the place and the conditions that were given in the hospitality - Nudli has a very good upward trend. Obviously we are in the Basilica area and we were close to the Christmas market. That counts for a lot. It was noticeable that there were plenty of tourists here, and this was also very noticeable in the traffic. The Hungarian guests still tend to be into delivery, they kind of like it. Let's admit it, no one is in the market for a vargabel or a real home-made noodle. I think - and I think everyone agrees with me - that the hospitality industry will really take off when life comes back to life. If we can get back to where we were two years ago, gastronomy will be able to breathe again.
Photo by Árpád Pintér
- I wonder, with this name Nudli, which obviously Hungarians know, how can you get foreigners?
- We've been working on this a lot since the beginning. They put marketing activities alongside the owners to make them aware of what it's all about. It's basically written out that it's Pasta Canteen. Our portal fully shows what it's about. It's very important that there's a screen out there that's constantly spinning, so everyone can see what's on offer. And what's really appealing is that the kitchen itself and the chefs' hustle and bustle is happening in the window. Anyone can walk past us as if they were watching a show! There's hardly a moment when passers-by, whether Hungarian or foreign, don't stare. This is a huge advantage!
Photo by Árpád Pintér
- It is well known that there are world-renowned pasta „nations” and dishes. How do foreigners feel about our noodles?
- They definitely love it! Obviously there are dishes they know better, like goulash soup, or chicken paprikash - with homemade dumplings, of course - or lecsó. But typically, once they're in, they're interested and really go for the real Hungarian pasta dishes. In my opinion, it's a concept that's hit the spot! Even though we haven't been open that long - by restaurant standards - more and more people are visiting us! Location matters a lot, because that's what this street is all about. But just think, if you go back 10-15 years ... when did we have Thai food or pho soup?! Since then we have come to know and love these dishes. In a word, noodles will also become something that foreigners specifically look for in time.
Photo by Airchef
- What are your hit dishes?
- It's definitely the shredded duck noodle, which has two types of cabbage in it, so it's really a savoury noodle, and it works really well. Originally it was breadcrumbs with powdered sugar- spiced up by cooking a homemade plum jam on the side. The other is a fantastic wide noodle grits pasta- also cooked here with homemade peach jam. Other hits include the cabbage pasta, potato noodles, dumplings and the crow's-foot. Not to be missed, the sheep's cheese strupacchi, everyone will be licking their fingers!
Photo by Árpád Pintér
- How much of the basic problem - the labour situation - has been a problem for you?
- Thank God we found better and better people. I have the privilege of working with a young, dedicated team. To say that I've been working with the initial team ever since - that says it all. Of course there is some turnover, but the people who are here really work with total humility and respect. I might add - it shows in their work. I would also like to thank them here for what they do and put on the table every day!
Author: Tamás Budafoki
Photo by Nudli / Árpád Pintér
