You are what you eat – which is why Hungary’s most celebrated Olympic champion swimmer is offering tried-and-tested, healthy dishes created by her own personal chef at affordable prices. Koool is the joint project of Katinka Hosszú and her fiancé, Máté Gelencsér, with most ingredients locally sourced.
During the daily grind, even the most guilty couch potato might wish they had the same active life as an Olympic swimming champion. They might well be interested what would happen to their body if they ate what a personal chef prepares for a top athlete.
Now, thanks to newly opened koool, they can find out. Kitti Móricz has been cooking for Katinka Hosszú for years, even during preparations for competition, and the swimmer now wants to show everyone that this kind of nutrient-rich, healthy and allergen-free meal can be varied, colourful and affordable for even a wider audience.
The venture comes only weeks after a major documentary was released about the swimmer’s life, Katinka, and shortly before what will almost certainly be her last appearance at a major event, the FINA championships in Budapest.
The menu was put together exactly as you might think. Katinka and her fiancé, Máté Gelencsér, sampled and perfected the dishes together with Móricz for a year. So much so that at the press opening, where the Olympic champion’s favourites were presented, Katinka herself admitted she was mostly there for Kitti’s desserts, particularly the pistachio chocolate cake, moist, creamy, cocoa-y and also healthy, sugar- and lactose-free.
Katinka also highlighted the baked spinach beetroot with tuna, where the vegetables are grilled on a salt bed, so they retains their wonderful colour, to which is added the pink of the sesame-crusted tuna, both delicious and attractive at the same time.
We also really liked the cold basil-and-oregano-oil tomato soup with extra green spices, and the chicken breast with jalapeño, served with a delicious, spicy tomato sauce, the buckwheat making the root vegetables extra crispy.
The toast offered alongside is also worth nibbling, as it is also cooked according to their own recipe, made from buckwheat, sorghum and millet flour, with lots of extra fibre.
Most of the dishes are made in-house anyway, even the tahini to go with the yoghurt and toast is theirs. We tried about eight kinds of dishes, following our curiosity piqued by the flavours and colours. Surprisingly, even the effect of these modest tasting samples lasted all afternoon, and we weren’t hungry for a long while afterwards.
These delicacies are available in decent-sized portions at really affordable prices. The menu, which consists of soup and a daily main course or bowl, for example, costs 2,490 forints, and the various bowls – where you can find quinoa, buckwheat and cellophane noodles – in addition to the more well-known sushi rice poke – cost 2,390 forints.
In addition, you can also request a combination of side
dish + protein, ie some kind of meat, fish or vegetarian option and differently
prepared vegetables, for around 3,000 forints, certainly for under 4,000.
The
healthy selection offers quite a few alternatives anyway, so those who want
more traditional flavours and those who would rather eat specialities, as well
as juices and smoothies, can also find their favourite.
Home delivery will be offered shortly but it’s worth popping in to see the lively interior, designed to evoke the world of Budapest’s baths and Katinka's life so far. Lined with tiny mosaics and a bench built into the wall, it even evokes the start of a swimming race – on your marks, get set, go!
Venue information
