Brunch, business lunch, afternoon tea and baking with the family – On the complexities that unfold on the slopes of Émile Pasarét

The summer was incredibly hot, and this put one of Émile's biggest assets, our wonder garden, to the test, which is becoming more and more popular with our guests every year. Fortunately, during the most important times of the day for the house – breakfast and brunch – the temperature was still such that it was possible to linger under the shady trees and parasols, says Zsuzsanna Kincses, Sales and Marketing Director of Gerbeaud Gasztronómia Kft., adding that the team also took advantage of the heat: they made kombucha and water kefir as summer refreshments, and they even moved a bucket of champagne full of ice out into the cozy garden.

The enlarged shaded area and the durable furniture, which were remodeled last fall, withstand the extreme climate well, which was not the result of a major decision in response to the heat, but rather the result of the continuous maintenance that is already being taken care of in the garden.

When the market inspires the menu

According to András Frideczky, executive chef of Émile and Gerbeaud, the warm months are a light season, as the market provides almost everything you need: fresh, crispy, colorful ingredients are available, all you have to do is buy high-quality meat or other accessories. This year, they took advantage of this summer abundance to include a greater proportion of cold and light dishes on the menu, and the feedback from guests confirmed that it was a good decision.

However, according to András Frideczky, autumn also hides a small trap: pumpkins and beets are often offered at the market, while he believes that at the beginning of autumn we should not completely let go of the thread of summer, it is worth seizing the transitional period that is nature's own. - You can't immediately concentrate on the produce of the cold months with full steam - says the executive chef, who fermented many vegetables in the summer and came up with refreshing dishes such as watermelon cream soup. They also happily utilize the treasures of their own spice garden, from oregano to basil and thyme to rosemary, but in addition to spices, they also put their heart and soul into the dishes.

Popularity that is built by word of mouth

According to him, this realization – that in addition to the cozy garden and interior, the kitchen is also outstanding – is still the house's greatest strength, which András Frideczky specifically preserves. A less visible branch of the expansion of the guest base is the event line: the special room called Szeparé is chosen by more and more organizers of corporate and private events (up to eighteen to twenty people), but many are also happy to use the entire house for larger groups.

An elegant yet homely space that can do many things

Émile has now become a place that can provide solutions in almost every area of ​​hospitality. Those who come for a business lunch at noon can return to the same place in the afternoon to bake with the children, your cousin can hold their wedding here, or you can organize your company workshop here. This diversity is becoming more and more natural for our guests – emphasizes Zsuzsanna Kincses.

The versatility is naturally reflected in the menu. In fact, the same or similar dishes are offered at events as on the à la carte menu, so that the food and drink selection is stable, familiar and impeccable. According to András Frideczky, those who choose Émile typically find what they need, including lactose- and gluten-free alternatives, which are already built into the offer.

Émile has found its place so well that we are not planning any major changes, at most we would like to increase the number of guests and the level of recognition the establishment can handle – points out the sales and marketing director, adding that they would like to strengthen the presence of Gerbeaud cakes at Émile. Although these special sweets are already available at the place referred to as Gerbeaud's "little brother in Buda", they would like to communicate the offer more prominently, and even make a wider selection, even whole cakes, available for takeaway.

One chef, two kitchens, separated only by the river.

Fortunately, the two houses are not far from each other, so I do a kind of “two-house” job – says András Frideczky, who since last year has been responsible not only for Émile, but also for the kitchen of Gerbeaud, and moves between the two units frequently. The task has become much more management-related than before, but he balances well on both sides of the Danube, and perhaps most importantly: he surrounds himself with reliable and knowledgeable colleagues.

It is interesting that relatively few recipes flow unchanged between the two kitchens, as their clientele is also fundamentally different: at Émile, the tables are mainly occupied by Hungarian regulars, while at Gerbeaud, the majority of the guests are foreign tourists. “There is some overlap, often almost the same dish, perhaps with a slight modification, appears at Gerbeaud, while other times we invent dishes specifically tailored to that audience,” explains the executive chef, who believes that it is much easier to transfer and teach proven recipes and practices than to literally transfer a ready-made dish to the Pest side.

Grandma's flavors on the plate

A recurring motif on Émile's menu is a family recipe, perhaps the best-known example of which is bird's milk.

Like many people, my taste is partly determined by family memories: both my grandmother and my mother were known for their excellent cooking, and their flavors are reflected in the menu, with minor or major modifications

András Frideczky shares with us. His stuffed cabbage, for example, is prepared in a very similar way to his grandmother's, and the situation is similar with the pickled salads, or the plum dumplings that seemed only playful in his childhood, but which have now become a real, beloved item on the menu.

In addition, the stuffed chicken leg (with mashed potatoes and cucumber salad) also reveals family secrets, and the executive chef now describes in detail the ins and outs of the chicken liver filling. – We confit the chicken liver so that it is delicious and has a good texture in the end, and we cook the egg for exactly seven minutes, then cut it into cubes. We mix all this into the base made of onions, garlic, lots of parsley, and white bread from Gerbeaud's own bakery, fried in duck fat. These are small things, but I always say that the essence is made up of many small details.

Where does the chef's hand stop?

So, on Émile's menu, home-made flavors and precise kitchen technology sit side by side. One of the most illustrative moments of the conversation is when I ask András Frideczky where, for him, is the point when reimagining a classic dish no longer adds to, but takes away from, what we originally love it for?

I try to work with ingredients that typically come from nearby, from which you can make a good meal with simple use, and I don't like it when a dish borrows from too many distant worlds at once - emphasizes the executive chef, who also moves his team within this framework, and according to him, this kind of boundary-pushing is what he has represented in the Émile kitchen for years. Bird's milk or plum dumplings also follow this line of thought: childhood taste memories remain, only the technique has become more precise and mature.

The supply doesn't always come from where we expect it.

Finally, we will also discuss how András Frideczky sees the situation of professional recruitment. At Gerbeaud, as he puts it, they focus strongly on student training, considering that the company is a training center and employs nearly fifty students, many of whom are apprentice chefs. They therefore work with many young people, and according to him, it is quickly apparent who has the respect and professional humility that makes this profession worth choosing.

We are happy to employ those who possess these values: in many cases, we even hire students after they have finished school. To give a very recent example, just before our interview, a former student, with whom we worked for almost two years years ago, contacted me and now wants to return to the team.

According to András Frideczky, representatives of today's young generations enter the profession with completely different opportunities and expectations than his own, but nowadays he increasingly encounters examples of someone coming into the hospitality industry many, many years later, from a completely different background. - Twenty years ago, this was not the case at all, but now I see career changers as one of the strengths of the hospitality industry.

It is not a rule of thumb that the best team member will come from the classic apprenticeship path, and as the story of the returning former apprentice indicates, the Émile team is built from precisely this diverse background. The house is not slowing down even at eleven years old, and many small, conscious decisions continue to draw the arc on which they continue to move forward.