Aria Hotel Budapest Opens Music-Themed Restaurant, Liszt Menu Merges Hungarian Culinary Traditions and Contemporary
Budapest (May 2019) – Bordered by seven countries, Hungary sits in the heart of Central Europe and claims a rich and varied landscape of dense forests and mountain ranges, lush vineyards, iconic rivers and mountain springs. This landscape, along with its cultural and historical influences, serve as the inspiration for the Aria Hotel Budapest's signature restaurant, Liszt, which opened on May 23, 2019. The restaurant reaches back to the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, when the many countries that made up the empire brought forth a variety of new ingredients and flavors. Liszt chefs then meld those historical ingredients with modern kitchen techniques and contemporary presentations.
Liszt's seasonally-changing, a la carte menu was developed by Executive Chef Gergely Kövér and pastry chef Zsuzsanna Karádi. When creating the dishes for Liszt, chef Gergely researched historic cookbooks and worked with historians to gain insight into the gastronomic customs of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. This knowledge of the region and its culinary history paired with contemporary cooking techniques and the hotel's love of music form the core concept for the creative
Much like the hotel itself, the menu at Liszt is themed around music. Appetizers are listed as 'Prelude' and soups are the 'Symphony.' Main courses, known as 'Concerto,' feature dishes like fillet of herring, a fish that was plentiful in the Danube river during the period of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, served alongside a purple potato salad, marinated red onions and mustard seeds. Other traditional entrees include a Hungarian consommé made with four types of meat, and a cured tenderloin partnered with a caramelized onion purée, polenta and a red wine gravy. Menu items are created with fresh ingredients—meats, seasonal vegetables, fruits, fresh bread, dairy products and cheeses—from farms and purveyors across Hungary, Transylvania, the Dalmatian coast and parts of modern-day Ukraine and Slovakia.
Staying true to the values of quality food production using traditional ingredients and methods, chef Gergely and the culinary team produce a sourdough made with a base of grape seeds, grape skins and specialty bread flour to develop the restaurant's own unique recipe…and the inspiration for the menu's 'Overture' course of freshly baked bread and salted butter. The 'Paraphrase' of the menu is the in-house filtered water, a reference to the mineral-rich waters that Hungary's landscape has long been known for.
When it comes to the 'Encore'—or desserts—pastry chef Zsuzsanna Karádi has created a thought provoking, original menu including hand-crafted bread crust ice cream, made with apricot jam, acacia flowers and the crust of Liszt's special in-house bread. This completely original dessert, reminiscent of a classic treat Europeans of the Carpathian region might have enjoyed at their grandmother's kitchen, can be paired with Hungary's most famous alcoholic export, the sweet dessert wine from the Tokaj region. To complete the culinary experience, an inventive cocktail menu includes special aperitifs concocted to complement the modern Hungarian menu by bar managers Péter Gózon and Richárd Mihály.
This gastronomical exploration of Hungarian history enjoys a luxe environment, too. One of Liszt's streetside rooms is designed with turquoise velvet and crystal. Before the opening of the restaurant, this room was visited by some of the world's biggest musicians, from Lenny Kravitz to Sting to Plácido Domingo and their signatures are etched onto the mirrors hanging on the wall. This special touch connects to the other space of the restaurant, which was conceived by the designer Zoltán Varró, who cites the atmosphere of elegant libraries and cigar rooms as its inspiration. The recognized designer was hired to design Liszt's regal look, previously having been awarded with the most prestigious award in hospitality design - the Gold Key Award.
Liszt is open seven days a week, from 11.00am to 11.00pm. Apart from the creative menu, the new restaurant will serve a casual dining option menu throughout the day as well as a kid's menu and many gluten free, vegetarian and vegan options.
The Aria Hotel Budapest, an award-winning member of the Library Hotel Collection, is inspired by music with four wings dedicated to the genres of Jazz, Contemporary, Opera and Classical music. Guests will find that no two rooms are alike, with each honoring the world's greatest musical legends from Tchaikovsky to the Rolling Stones. The restaurant's name, Liszt, is a playful nod to two distinct and crucial elements of its foundation: it refers to Ferenc Liszt, one of the world's greatest classical pianists and a renowned Hungarian musician, and its literal meaning of 'flour,' an important ingredient in the bread that is baked fresh on the premises.
About Library Hotel Collection:
The Library Hotel Collection prides itself on the reputation of being the "World's Kindest Hoteliers" which is why it was recognized in ReviewPro's 2015 and 2016 Top Luxury Hotel & Brand Report as having the highest guest satisfaction rating of any luxury hotel brand in the world. TripAdvisor also consistently honors the brand for some of the highest guest satisfaction ratings out of the site's 1.1 million accommodations - including naming the musically inspired Aria Hotel Budapest as "#1 Hotel in the World" in the 2017 Travelers Choice Awards. Each of the hotels in Library Hotel Collection is reflective of the creative vision of Henry Kallan, named 2016 "Hotelier of the Year" by the Boutique Hotel and Lodging Association. Hotel Elysée, home of the renowned Monkey Bar, is inspired by the elegance of a French country estate. Inspired by the romance of the Hollywood classic, Casablanca Hotel is an unexpected oasis in the center of the Broadway Theater District, steps from Times Square; Hotel Giraffe is a chic, softly contemporary property in the NoMad/Flatiron District and Library Hotel is a book lover's paradise with 6,000 books organized throughout the hotel, based on the Dewey Decimal System – all three were named "Top 25 Hotels in the US" by TripAdvisor in 2019. The latest additions to the Library Hotel Collection are the music inspired Aria Hotel Budapest and Hotel X Toronto, Toronto's first downtown urban resort, located on the shores of Lake Ontario in the heart of Exhibition Place.
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