’What comes from the heart, you can't screw up.’
Interview with Máté Boldizsár, one of the owners and managers of the restaurant.
The list of Michelin-starred restaurants in Hungary has grown by two in recent weeks. One of them is the Salt, which opened in downtown Budapest just before the pandemic. Although it hasn't had much time to take off, the restaurant's success is shown by the fact that it recently received its first star. And for good reason.
Máté Boldizsár, who is the manager, owner and sommelier of Salt, opened his own restaurant after years of working with chef Szilárd Tóth, following a bold idea, fine dining their restaurant.
Máté Boldizsár: It is a common stereotype that there are many forks, many knives, big plates and small dishes. However, fine dining is all about the experience. You don't have to dress up for it here, you can come up to the chef's counter and chat. At first we were nervous that it might be too direct for fine dining, but we realised that we couldn't do it any other way and the two styles fit together well. We are at home here and the guest feels at home. That's probably why 90 percent of our visitors are Hungarian.
What was the initial direction? Was the Michelin star ever the goal?
I think everyone secretly has a great desire to see a restaurant that follows a similar direction get this status. We didn't start out that way either. Partly instinctively, partly consciously, we have developed this line. A the most important thing for us is to be close to nature, to be in touch with nature, to cooperate with nature and to live a sustainable lifestyle. At the same time, we ourselves like the fact that when we go out to eat, we have an experience, we have ’a show’, and we don't just eat a good meal.
We have a lot of experience of Scandinavian gastronomy, which we have learned and believe in two fundamentals: a welcoming, friendly welcome and taking advantage of nature's opportunities. My mother's cooking is still very dear to me, our chef Szilárd draws on his childhood experiences, we both have a curious nature, we love to create and create. That is why the herbs and fruits around us are all on our menu and on our shelves. We try to work with local ingredients and keep the traditional Hungarian flavours. We thought that if we follow what we love and what we know, we can't mess up, because that's what we are credible at.
Does this mean that at Salt we can find Hungarian food in an exciting presentation?
We all like to try internationally popular ingredients and flavours, but in fact, we Hungarians grew up with very similar tastes. We put Hungarian food first, we bring it back or keep it up, it's what we like best. Szilárd, born in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, always says that some dishes are prepared differently there, but that's just his playground. We would miss all the basic flavours if we couldn't taste more. We like my mum's fried meat at home on Sundays, or peppers and chips on weekdays, or a good stew on a weekday, in the same way. But what we also take care of as a family is the ingredients. We try to buy good quality and everything home-grown and fresh.
The restaurant has a display counter in the middle and the chef serves in front of the guests. Is there a visual element or a message in this arrangement?
I've been to a lot of restaurants, and I always felt a sense of inadequacy if I didn't know who I was eating with, who we were with, who the host was.
’Be the face of the host!‘
The best decision we made was to build a show kitchen, or chef's counter, in the restaurant's dining area. It not only gives our chefs confidence, it gives the restaurant a face. As it is truly a family atmosphere, it would be very strange not to see the host welcoming his guests. Not only can anyone go up to the counter at any time, but there is a point in the meal where we set up the guest and invite them to have a tasting at the chef's table. We talk and tell you about the food, about our own stories, we are with them.
We are just seeing the last moments at the spectacle desk. What happens behind the scenes? I'm thinking of the team, the harmony.
We're not working with a classic team, I could say I've never worked in such an environment. We think together, we understand each other and we all really strive for the best. The chef's counter was also a good idea from a professional point of view, because people can see and hear each other, we breathe together, so there is no scatteredness and misunderstandings, which is familiar from kitchens. During the day, there is a real buzz. We start preparing for dinner early in the morning, and because there are so many little details that have to be perfect, it's always a huge adrenaline rush to see if everything will be ready before opening time. When it's time for dinner and the guests arrive, we're dressed to celebrate before then. This is true in a bit of every sense, because we settle down, get changed and enjoy the serving, the eating, the fruits of our labour. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that this is one of the best parts of our job.
This is the first Michelin star for Salt. How did the team react when they found out?
There were rumours that there was a Michelin inspector nearby, and then we had a reservation with one of us who really inspected the food, we were excited. Of course, even today we don't know if it was him, we can only guess. In those days, when the restaurant awards were coming up, our chef, Szilard, kept updating the Michelin Guidethis page, and then suddenly we saw it. We honestly couldn't believe it, it took us maybe 5 minutes to realise that it was our name on the line. Then the phones started ringing, the messages, the emails, and suddenly the bookings for our little restaurant multiplied, and the attention has been there ever since.
