Many guests come from nearby hotels, and Hungarians try us, too, but it takes time for people get to know about this new restaurant. Costes Downtown’s location is good. A lot of tourists hang-out in the area, and there are plenty of offices nearby.

When defining the prices, one of the aspects was to be less expensive than the Costes on Ráday utca, yet we don’t want to compete on price since true quality costs. Our goal is to reach out to a broader downtown audience, with the experience being more casual and bistro-like. Our aim is to attract people who otherwise would not go to a more high-end restaurant, such as Costes on Ráday utca, where people usually go on special occasions like anniversaries.

From September, Miguel has been cooperating with us as a consultant chef, helping us develop meals and teaching us dishes, and also making sure the restaurant meets our standards, but now he lives in Portugal and only comes to Hungary every two weeks for 2‒3 days. Now the kitchen on Ráday utca is led by Ester, the previous sous-chef. Costes Downtown’s kitchen will be coordinated in turn by Petra, who recently returned from America, and Tiago, who is from Portugal. We are striving to preserve the quality of the dishes and the ingredients.

The Chef’s Table & Show Kitchen

At Costes Downtown, we have a show kitchen with a unique Chef’s Table. At the Chef’s Table, a chef prepares a surprise menu, and besides allowing the guests to see the kitchen at work, this chef finishes off dishes that were already half-prepared. We also have a small wine cellar and those sitting at the Chef’s Table are given the opportunity to visit this cellar and taste a wine.

We provide breakfast because of the hotel, but if we have free tables, others can come in for breakfast as well. The Prestige Hotel Budapest has a conference room, to which we cater as well.

We are open every day of the week so we need a bigger staff. We have to provide sandwiches and cocktails in the lobby and the lounge and also take care of room service. This is a very complex task and we do not want to drop below our standards of quality. Every day we have two operating teams, one responsible for breakfast, room service, conferences and the lobby, while the other is responsible for lunch and dinner.

Looking Back To See The Future

When I opened Buena Vista many years ago now, Liszt Ferenc tér was my main focus. Back then there were no terraces in Budapest. I wanted to create a place with a Mediterranean feel, places that already existed in other countries. We were the first to fight for permission to open a terrace in Budapest and in return, we had to take on a lot of responsibilities. We had charge of the security of the square, keeping it clean, and we even had to partly finance the costs of rebuilding the square.

Nowadays terraces can be found everywhere, where a few tables are put outside. It would be hard to imagine the city without these, so it is difficult to believe that in 1998 this was not the case. Buena was a great place, operating both as a restaurant and as a café. During the season, we could provide tables for 400 people. Luckily business was good, but it troubled me that the place was too big and did not allow us to focus on the details. One day a buyer showed up offering a good price for Buena Vista and so I sold the restaurant.

After selling it, I was thinking of creating a smaller but better quality place, a fine dining restaurant which could become world-class in Hungary. I knew that this would only work if we did not compromise on the ingredients, on the professionalism, and on the technology. In Hungary most people need a business that provides their living and this eventually leads to a drop in quality.

Luckily we did not have to live from this business, so we could focus on quality, and 18 months after opening this restaurant, the Ráday utca Costes, became the first Michelin-starred restaurant in the country. We placed 25th on Tripadvisor and ranked 14 on the list of best restaurants in Europe, in 2014.

This business model, however, does not allow for making profit; it doesn’t even cover its costs. At first we did not expect to make money with it, but eventually it began to bother me: regardless of professional recognition, after eight years the place still needs financial support. So we decided to establish a bigger place at a better location that would become a more profitable business.

In Hungary that layer of society that can afford expensive quality is rather small, but it is increasing , and now more people can afford high-end gastronomy. This is a slow process. There are no big jumps here, since people’s need for quality is slowly if constantly increasing. Even though there are at least 100 good restaurants, there are only 5‒6 internationally recognized places. When we opened in 2008, two out of three of the best places ( Páva and Lou Lou) went bankrupt. Back then, it was not a profitable business to be in.

As there are at least 20 000 dining places in Hungary, 100 is not a significant number. By now, though, the situation might have matured to a level where a place that attracts a broader audience, one that is more casual, friendlier, and still provides great quality, can be successful business-wise, or at least we hope that this will be the case for Costes Downtown.

Michelin Star(s)

We enjoy good relations with all the Michelin-starred places in town, because we collectively want to change people’s approach. While in the past, a good place was where the most food was put on our plates, nowadays this approach has begun to change, but it is still present. For a second star there are higher expectations.

Ten years ago only those who were thinking in terms of elegance had a chance. Luckily today a more polished, simple environment is not a reason for exclusion, and waiters are not expected to wear fancy gloves. Nowadays, a chequered table cloth and a simple dish can achieve a star, and we don’t have to force the overly elegant fine dining line. A second star of course requires more complicated and exciting dishes and it is important that the restaurant explores its own style. The Ráday utca Costes might have a slight chance for a second star, but this is not likely to happen before the next Guide is released.

Eszter Palágyi, who took over the Ráday utca kitchen from Miguel, is very talented. She has also worked abroad in one and two-starred restaurants. In the past two years she has worked together with Miguel efficiently, so I am not worried about a decline in quality. Yet the chances of getting our second star any time soon are low because of a change in chef and the opening of a new place. Other places, where such events did not occur, have better chances than us perhaps.

Costes Downtown was built in a way that we avoided the obstacles we faced with Ráday utca. So if we can get the right team together, then Costes Downtown, in the long run, will have better chances of professional recognition, but we need a few more years for this. It is however promising that at the opening we were able to provide higher quality than in 2008 at the opening of the Ráday utca restaurant.

Interview in Hungarian by Melinda Székesvári

Translated by Daniel Csáky

Proofread by Írj Jól Szolgáltató Kft

Costes Downtown

Address: 1051 Budapest, Vigyázó Ferenc u. 5,
Phone:(1) 219 0696