Imre Háda has now become synonymous with the burger. It emerged in gastronomy years ago and has been a force to be reckoned with in street food ever since. He has helped many restaurants to flourish, mainly because of his specialities. The pandemic and the market situation have not been kind to him and he has had to endure many hardships. Now we can meet him again, as a true restaurateur - he has also held his own despite the difficulties.
- Years ago, the Pest Burger and Bar-you have made your mark on Budapest gastronomy. You've received a number of awards and prizes. What has happened to you since then?
- Lots of things. The last few years have been pretty rough. I mean, basically, the Ataka from restaurant where I worked with Lajos Nánási. There I worked with classic restaurant food, and then came the burger. There was a simple reason, given the location and the facilities of Pesti Burger and Bar - it was the best solution. That's when I decided to go for burgers, and my partner Edina Noszlopy and I founded Pesti Burger in 2014. A lot of time, energy and professionalism and our efforts have been successful. But as life had it, we had to move on. Then I tried in quite a few places and hit a lot of walls, and during the pandemic I also tried home delivery. I have to add that the burgers I have created are not very good at home delivery. The problem with this was that I had to add an extra 400 cents for delivery and even then the maths didn't work out. The point is, we've started again.
- Where can we find you and see your famous burgers?
- I'm currently working at Chili Bar & Food as a chef. We've been open for about two months, but basically the concept is built on me. It's fundamental that we have burgers, with ten different kinds to choose from. But in addition to that, you'll find beef, chicken and veggie quesadillas, and we have a daily lunch menu from 11:30 to 3:30. Importantly, we use Pest Burger Bar's baguette and mayo for our burgers, the only thing we don't make is the meat patty. I'll keep that for myself.
- You have just opened. What is your experience with guests?
- I can see that although the place is fresh, they are happy to see us, and I'm the reason why a lot of people come, obviously for the burgers. Thank God we have a lot of people following us and of course the eight years I've been doing this have made a difference. Let's just say I've made a mark on people with my burgers. I have to admit, it does feel good. We're always on social media, which is very important these days, so we have a nice clientele. We sell 50-60 burgers a day, the turnover is not like before the pandemic, of course, but people are still scared. Somehow they don't even realise that only the staff need masks, they put them on at the entrance. But the point is that we are working well.
- You can also be sure that you will soon be opening your own place. What do we know about that?
- I'll be at Chili Bar & Food until April, which is about the time I'll have my own place ready. Of course, we made that clear with the owner from the start. Of course I will not let go of the place, I will continue to be a creative chef. Obviously I will have trained my replacement by then. My own place will be in District 12 and a lot depends on how the construction goes. I really hope that things will go smoothly and we can open at the end of April. I can tell you that it's going to be a very nice looking, fancy place. It's clear that I will be going there entirely on my own burgers. And the name of the place says it all: Pesti Burger Buda.
- How do you see the issue of operability now - in terms of raw materials?
- Unfortunately, the prices of raw materials have gone up tremendously. By about thirty percent. So you can get everything, but at a much higher price. I'll give you an example to give you an idea. I was able to buy a French goat's cheese with a white rind for four thousand forints a kilo, now it's at six thousand, and I fear it's going up. The patty I'm buying now is 225 cents, I'm using Marmorstein artisan burger patty, but I'm not going to give it up because it's extremely good quality, I'm sticking with it. I'm like, whatever I put my name to, it has to be high quality. You can't do anything else but add the increased cost to the price. I think that even though we are not giving the 600 HUF fast food, the street food line can still work well. It's affordable - and good quality. #
Author: Tamás Budafoki
Photo by Imre Háda
