At the Buda foot of Margaret Bridge, Frankó Kitchen embodies a dream conjured up by Dávid Szakonyi, former chef at Budapest’s renowned Rosenstein. Now, along with his wife Kinga Erdős, he has created a wallet-friendly restaurant of rare class and imaginative décor.
Upon first visit to this cellar bistro on Frankel Leó út, were we amazed by how striking it looked despite its lower-floor location. With so little natural light, decorative plants such as a peace lily, sycamore fig and coconut wood bring the basement to life. Now a small seasonal terrace has opened too, and the couple’s aim to create to homely stress-free eatery popular with nearby residents and workers is being realised.
The current weekly lunch menu – two courses for 1,750 forints, three for 1,950 – features ginger cauliflower soup with black noodles, sweet-potato corn chips with cos lettuce, pork tenderloin, chocolate truffle mousse, and strawberry soup with black pepper, coriander and marzipan. Impressive, imaginative, surprising dishes not only sound good, but are conceived with expertise and attention. Those who come here for lunch will get top quality, but the same is true for the à la carte dinner menu, available from 6pm.
For our second visit, we tried smoked trout with celery cream soup, and also the kohlrabi spaghetti with mussels. Yes, you heard it first time, kohlrabi spaghetti. It has even baffled some diners who thought they were getting plain pasta. It can also be prepared with carrots. Dávid learned the technique when working in Denmark and, despite all appearances, puts it together with basic utensils. No advocate of modern kitchen technology, nor sous-vide, he prefers old, traditional methods.
He’s a big fan of offal, too, which might surprise most modern cooks. These kind of organs have long been forgotten about in the age of large-scale meat processing. On the menu of Frankó Kitchen, however, heart, liver and bone marrow make frequent appearances. We sampled a starter of toasted rabbit liver with pumpkin, lovage, goats’ cheese, caramelised pearl onions and wild mushrooms – and it proved to be an orgy of flavour.
Kinga is responsible for the design of the restaurant, inheriting her talent from her mother, who worked in interiors. “Everything is one-of-a-kind,” she explains. “With such a small space to work with, it’s not too difficult to carry out.” A carpenter created special storage boxes for the cutlery, while the coffee cups were collated from different places, with no two the same.
The devil is in the detail, with carefully thought-out solutions everywhere you look. Alongside, you’ll find Zhao Zhaou teas, Hungarian colas by Tikkadt Szöcske, craft beers and cordials by Panni – no wonder Frankó Kitchen has recently been granted a local award for sustainable catering.
The further good news is that the kitchen will be expanded in summer, so that guests can sit alongside it – as well as on the terrace.
Frankó Kitchen District II. Frankel Leó út 20
Open: Mon-Sat 11.30am-midnight
