Gyula Berkes, owner of the Biarritz restaurant in downtown Budapest, has been in the hospitality industry for almost 50 years. He started at the Szabadság Hotel, followed by the Little Royal, the Parliament House and the Golden Barrel restaurant. His lifelong dream came true when he reopened the Biarritz restaurant in 1995.
It was Restaurant of the Year in 2005 and was awarded the European Gastronomic Award in 2010 for its tradition and promotion of Hungarian cuisine. He was awarded the Bronze Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary in 2016 and the Gundel Károly Award last year. We talked to Gyula Berkes about the secret of his success.
- We did not meet in his own restaurant, which is being renovated, but in a nearby café. What do you look at when you enter a strange place, a competitor's?
- The first thing is how you are received, and then I look at the atmosphere of the place. Otherwise, I usually find out in advance where I'm going. Many people think it's important how the cuisine is, but I think that's only half of it. How is the service, the waiter, the manager, and how is the sales? Because you can create beautiful things in the kitchen, but what will stay in the guest's mind is what it was like to walk into the restaurant, what the place was like, what the welcome was like. Does anyone look at me when I arrive? Oh, and humility, which I should have mentioned first.
- What is humility in a restaurant?
- You need to bring together colleagues who know what the word means, but of course you also need the right leadership. We are a family business: my wife supports us from behind the scenes, my daughter is a real professional, it is her profession, and when my son comes in, he does a great job, even though he is a political scientist.
- And you still get to work when you need to?
- Yes, in fact, I also go to pick up the goods, while the chef and I are in almost constant contact. In addition to our standard menu, we also have a daily special, and what we can do, we do ourselves. We only buy from elsewhere what we can't produce. I mainly order Hungarian ingredients, the From Matusz-Vad e.g. veal Retrieved from, liver and foot we usually buy, but I've already asked rack, malacot and lamb is. It's because they always have very good quality products.
- You may see restaurants open and others close, especially during COVID. What is the secret behind the fact that more than a quarter of a century of unbroken popularity for Biarritz?
- A few years ago, I had a guest who asked me, wondering why we hadn't gone bust yet. I tried to answer in a funny way and said that we were on the way. But we are still here, while others have closed, such as the Lure, the Fry, or the Olympia. You have to give quality and value for money, because if you do not have that, you will go bankrupt. The other secret to our survival is that we have a significant Hungarian clientele. Fortunately, I have not relied on tourists for the last 26 years, even though we are close to the Parliament.
- So it was the Hungarian regulars who kept Biarritz alive in recent years?
- That's exactly right. If I had built it on tourists, the restaurant would no longer exist.
- In such a tense situation, is it not dangerous to close for a month for renovation?
- Every year we close for maintenance for two weeks, a month, and if we can keep up the quality, I'm sure we won't lose our guests.
- How did they survive the period when for months be had to be closed?
- We started delivering, and so despite the losses, we had to lay off almost no one, and we were able to keep our colleagues. My chef is György Katona, who is an excellent professional and with whom I have been working since 2003. I don't know what would have happened if I had lost him and his team. Anyway, we kept the home delivery regardless of the epidemic because people liked it.
- Does the nickname “Leg Gyula” still fit you?
- I'm getting old too, but I'm still I want to make the most of everything. I usually rate places on a scale of one to five, but I find it very difficult to give anyone that much. Even my own restaurant can only get a solid four from me, and if someone can hold a hefty three, I consider that a serious achievement.
- What do you need to stay on your feet?
- It is important to have good chefs and cooks, to have good hands, but you also need to provide them with the right tools. We work with china and glasses that are of high quality and that match the style of the restaurant. As for the machinery, after 26 years, it is time for a major investment, and we are replacing it with the latest equipment. Nevertheless, we are neither fine dining nor a bistro, but a small restaurant with home cooking. When I look at the menus in the area, I can't understand what's happening in the industry today. Everything is made to order and restaurants have no individuality.
- What is the personality of Biarritz?
- We are characterised by puritan simplicity, and we don't rethink our dishes. We serve our guests classic dishes in beautiful dishes, made with the best ingredients. Those who come to us know exactly why they choose us.#
