The world’s most prestigious gastronomic gathering hits Budapest this month. It has not long been announced that the 2018 Michelin Star awards ceremony will take place in the Hungarian capital, presenting newly released European edition of this renowned destination and dining guide. The ‘Main Cities of Europe’ will be unveiled on March 26th and, according to those in the know, the new publication might include even more Budapest eateries, in addition to the four Michelin-starred locales currently featured. Hungarian gastronomy blog Világevő has released a list of the potential venues expected to earn the esteemed endorsement this year.
Budapest is in the spotlight for this year'sMichelin awards. As the launch of the 2018 Michelin Main Cities of Europe is organized in Hungary’s capital, venerable blog Világevő has released its list with the possible nominees for star awards. Currently, Budapest contains four Michelin-star restaurants: Costes, Onyx, Borkonyha and Costes Downtown.
Világevő founder András Jókúti asked 27 of Hungary’s culinary connoisseurs, including representatives of current Michelin-starred eateries whether they forecast new announcements for this year’s ceremony. All of those interviewed believed that Budapest will soon be honored with new stellar awards.
“It’s nice to see this kind of optimism from gastronomy experts and I believe that their expectations are well-founded,” says Jókúti. “As for me, I anticipate Babel Budapest and Stand25 to make it into the 2018 Michelin guide with star ratings,” he adds.
Selected as International Restaurant of 2017 by prestigious wine & lifestyle magazine Decanter, Babel Budapest is most likely to earn a star according to the survey. Thanks to the creative take by Babel chef István Veres on Hungarian dishes, many of the participating experts mentioned this District V dining destination by name.
Meanwhile, 40% of respondents believed that the St. Andrea Wine & Gourmet Bar in the focal Eiffel Palace would be honored with this most coveted gastronomy award. In addition, MÁK Bistro (26%), Arany Kaviár (17%), Fáma (9%), Stand25 (4%), Baraka (4%), Salon (4%) and Tama (4%) were all among the potential nominees for Michelin awards. However, the majority of those asked in the survey (70%) predicted that no Budapest restaurant would bag more than one Michelin star. Those who see a double-star rating in the future named Costes and Onyx to have such potential.
According to 48% of industry insiders, six Budapest eateries are expected to bear stellar ratings after the Michelin ceremony. And while the Michelin team hasn’t tested local restaurants outside of Hungary’s capital, 61% of the experts who contributed to this survey would nominate the Tata-based Platán, 17% would give a star to Kistücsök on the south shore of Lake Balaton and 13% mentioned Anyukám Mondta in Encs. Gusteau in Mád was selected by 9%, and 4% of respondents would include Eger-based Macok in the new gastronomy guide.
