A magical café in the 3rd district of Budapest, in a basement of a busy main road, where colour-changing drinks and smoking chalices greet you. In addition to the magical food and drinks, special programmes, games, quizzes and craft packages make your time here unforgettable.
In fact, it's not uncommon for a real magician to enter the café while the guests are having a bite to eat and cast a spell on the guests. Brigitta Borbély, who owns the Flying Broom with her brother, was the first to introduce us to this wonderful place.
- Is the reason they don't call the place Harry Potter because they're not allowed to use that name?
- When we asked if the name could be used, we were told no, because they didn't want to publish a franchise of that kind. But we didn't really want to do that, because it wasn't our intention to organise a Harry Potter fan club.
- But this is what it became.
- A lot of people think of us as that, but we continue to try to create a magical atmosphere and focus on that. Harry Potter is so well known that anyone who comes in here immediately associates it with Harry Potter. Every wizard has an owl, but if our guests see one of these here, it's sure to be Hedwig. And if they see a snake or a dragon, they'll be looking for the movie equivalent.
- People who come to you don't say I've been to the Flying Broom, they say I've been to the Harry Potter restaurant. Do you regret it?
- I like Harry Potter and there's nothing wrong with it, it's better from a marketing point of view. People like it, they're looking for it. But I really hope that sooner or later all our guests will realise that it's not just about looking for similarities with the best-known wizarding story, but simply about immersing themselves in this special world we're presenting to them.
- They opened almost exactly two years ago. What experience have you gained during this time?
- Of these two, one was closed due to COVID. Unlike others, we didn't try home delivery because we thought the experience of the place was important. We are not caterers and we set out to create a magical world. But we knew that food was important, because if people are here, they should eat something delicious but simple. We didn't want to do home delivery because we're not good at having the best soup, burger or sandwich, we're good at the atmosphere.
- However, this is where the best names for food are, such as Soft Sleep, Hunger Loops or Werewolf's Terror. Are these your own inventions?
- They're our own names, but of course, they're in line with Harry Potter, because we were forced to go in that direction. As I said, I've loved Harry Potter myself since I was a kid because I'm fascinated by that world and it's nice to think that it exists. But my children are not fans of it any more.
- How do you feel you have learned the catering trade in these two short years?
- I don't know if we can learn from it, but we have certainly improved a lot. Two weeks after opening, we suddenly had a lot of guests, thank God. But the waiters were walking around with a piece of paper and we didn't know how many people we needed to serve. It took weeks to find computer systems or buy machines to speed up the work in the kitchen.
- Shouldn't all this have been done before the opening?
- But we didn't expect such a big crowd.
- What were you doing before?
- We have been working with office technology and digital printers for twenty years, inherited from our father. Around 2017, we felt that we had achieved everything we could in this market in Hungary. Print sales is not an overly creative field, it's a relatively small market with players that don't change very often, so we started looking for something to excel in. Then we saw an advertisement for this place that hadn't been open for ten years. You can imagine what it looked like, my brother even said as he was walking down the stairs here that he wasn't coming any further. But somehow I could feel what could be made out of this pile of rubble.
- Who is the target group? Children?
- As I have a family myself, I know exactly what a family needs. It's no good when my big-boobed kids pull my arm and tell me to get out of here because there's nothing here. I quickly shovel in the food myself and then we move on. I wanted to open a place where something happens while you eat. For example, a magician could come in here at any time and a magical situation could arise. That's what the drinks are made for, like the Black Lake Water, the No Harm Intent, or Professor RUMba's Wintergreen, which we tried to make as neutral, magical and surprising as possible.
- What is the chef like and what are his dishes like?
- We have no chef. We started with our own home recipes because I knew exactly what my kids liked and what the guests liked. Of course, we also held tastings with colleagues, so that it wasn't just one taste that determined our otherwise homemade cuisine. With the exception of our soups and salads, almost everything comes half-prepared, and we fool these with our own marinated cayenne peppers, onion jam, sauces and dressings. All our dishes are simple, delicious and of good quality.
- How did you get to know Matusz-Vad?
- One of my colleagues' husbands works as a chef in an elegant hotel in Budapest, and he recommended him as a good and reliable supplier. Cream of aubergine, pulled pork and beefet, cakes, bolognese pasta and sauce, something frozen baguette, frozen vegetables and fruits, tortillata we used to order.
- They got into this business at the worst possible time. How did they survive the period of mandatory closures?
- At first, we closed for three months, and at that time we thought we would quickly get over COVID. It was still very bad that we had to slow down from that huge initial momentum. We pulled ourselves together in the summer, but the next shutdown, which lasted from November to May, was a real ordeal. Our other business was also affected by the epidemic and we had to sustain ourselves from reserves.
- Did the workers have to be sent away?
- We didn't give up on anyone, but many people left the hospitality track at the end of the closures. Initially we were only open four days a week and have recently moved to five days. We work with young people who need to be prepared for the hustle and bustle, and we expect them to know the wizarding world. They either have other jobs or they are at university or college. When we reopened, we found that a lot of our former staff had disappeared. It's hard to find the right people, and I think it's possible to earn a good living here, although it takes a lot of work.
- If not food, you can order gifts and toys.
- Yes, that's what the closure brought. We were sitting here, we didn't know what to do, and that's when we came up with the idea of having a webshop. We started putting together kits to mix potions at home. Not only do we send the recipes for the adult cocktails, but we also send all the supplies except the alcohol. Chemistry tubes, pipettes, base powders, everything that is durable and packable. And our very popular colour-changing lemonade is especially for children, so they can make their own for their friends. This pack also includes quizzes and other games to remind them of us. At Christmas, as in every other webshop, we had a lot of sales. The magic wand has sold out and is now out of stock.
- If there is so much interest, why are they not expanding?
- We would like to expand because we have a lot of ideas, but COVID has also held us back. If we bring anything new, like this bite book, we just don't have anywhere to put it. This will be in the corner for now, and then we'll put it there from here. I have a lot of new things in my head, and I'm looking for people who can make them. I can tell you that I want to make the consumption and the time spent here more magical and interactive.
