Jamie Oliver is spreading his Italian formula for feasts in Hungary’s capital. After opening his first Budapest restaurant – Jamie’s Italian in the Castle District – last year, the British celebrity chef is now launching a new pizzeria in downtown Pest’s ever-bustling Gozsdu Courtyard. This freshly opened eatery is the first unit of Jamie’s international pizza chain within Continental Europe. The menu features thin-crust pizzas, oven-baked pasta specialties, Mediterranean salads, and creamy desserts; flavors are enhanced with accompanying wines and craft beers of Hungary’s finest quality.
Jamie’s Italian treats are now baked to perfection at two of Budapest’s key localities. While the star chef’s Castle District restaurant continues to offer full sit-down meals for multiple-course feasts, with the fresh opening of Jamie’s Pizzeria Gozsdu, the Englishman’s renowned pizzas are now available on the city’s Pest side, as well.
Pizzerias running under the famed Brit’s name are found in the United Kingdom and in India, but they work independently without belonging to a complex franchise. Jamie Oliver’s new Budapest eatery is the first of his international pizza chain in Continental Europe, and it’s set to feature a firm business model and a unified concept within its category. Specialized in freshly baked sourdough-crust pizza topped with traditional Italian ingredients, Jamie’s Pizzeria Gozsdu is operated by the prestigious Zsidai Group, the proprietors of Spíler, ÉS Bisztró, and several other Budapest hotspots.
The ingredients are selected just as strictly as at Jamie’s Italian. The meat comes from free-range animals, while the fruits and vegetables are sourced from sustainable farms. All this needs to pass Jamie’s internal rating system, the JOSIE scale. To ensure consistently high quality, some ingredients are the same in all of the chef’s eateries around the world, including the Levoni ham, “00” flour, olive oil, olives, and the Parmigiano-Reggiano. However, the restaurant also uses local foodstuffs sourced from Hungarian suppliers.
Featuring almost a dozen pizzas on the menu (from classic margherita to carbonara and spicy chili beef to gamberetti with prawns), the restaurant serves 32-centimeter thin-and-crispy delights every day of the week from lunchtime through dinner, all priced under 3,000 forints. Meals are also offered for vegetarians and vegans. Guests with a modest appetite can order pizzetta, a half portion of pizza served alongside a light dish from the restaurant’s salad selection, like rocket and Parmesan or roast squash and lentil. Pasta aficionados can feast on such al forno treats as tastefully layered lasagne, melt-in-the-mouth gnocchi Bolognese, and rich vegetable cannelloni, but any of the bruschetta trio would also make a great choice.
An assortment of Italian sweets completes the selection, including creamy tiramisú, coffee-based affogato, and the seriously soft “Death by Chocolate” dessert. Among the drinks, Magyar libations are plentiful, featuring reds, whites, and rosés from many of Hungary’s wine regions, alongside the finest craft beers from the local Hedon and Monyo breweries. Jamie’s Pizzeria Gozsdu starts home delivery in January to spread the Italian lifestyle across town.
Jamie’s Pizzeria Gozsdu
Address: Budapest 1072, Király utca 13 Website
Facebook
