More contemporary than you think

A name is disappearing from the dining scene around Budapest’s Basilica: after fifteen years, Nonloso continues from September as Abigél Bistro, at Zrínyi utca 16 in the city’s 5th district.

The change did not begin overnight. The kitchen took a new direction in January, when Pál Tóth, the enfant terrible of the Hungarian chef scene, moved over from River Diva. By the end of the summer the team had come together around him, and Rita Nagy, leaving Virtu Restaurant behind, arrived to lead the restaurant. The clearer it became what kind of place they wanted to build, the more obvious it was that it would need a new name. Nonloso means “I don’t know” in Italian, but by then Pál and Rita, in full agreement with the owners, knew exactly where they wanted to go. And so the search for a name began.

Nomen est omen

“We wanted something Hungarian that a foreign guest could still pronounce and remember easily. Then the answer practically came to us: a few steps away, in the courtyard of a building on Október 6. utca, stands the statue of Abigél, made famous by the legendary television film based on Magda Szabó’s novel,” says restaurant manager Rita Nagy.

A personal coincidence spoke for the choice as well: chef Pál Tóth’s first child is also called Abigél. From that point on, nothing else was considered. In Abigél they found precisely what they had been looking for: elegance without stiffness, and just enough mystery for a good restaurant.

Location, location, location

One of Abigél’s greatest challenges is also one of its most exciting undertakings: can an authentic contemporary Hungarian restaurant work on one of the most touristed streets in Budapest, and still feel like it belongs to the people who live here?

Pál Tóth believes it can. “I think in dishes whose flavours are familiar but whose language is current, dishes that can be exciting without ever becoming hard to read. Abigél doesn’t set out to explain Hungary on a plate, and yet it shows how Budapest eats today. We want to be the kind of place locals not only return to, but are glad to bring their friends from abroad, to introduce them to Hungarian cooking as it is now.”

The menu offers familiar footholds and leaves the surprises to the details. Among the dishes are a light plate built around courgette, a new-wave ratatouille, duck breast, chicken paprikash with spätzle, and a crêpe brightened with citrus.

Abigél x Sauska

The change of name coincides with a new partnership: Abigél Bistro is the first restaurant in Hungary to hold the Sauska Ambassador title, at once a recognition and a commitment to exceptional quality, to Hungarian wine and sparkling wine culture, and to contemporary gastronomy. In Sauska’s wines and sparkling wines, the character of the terroir, meticulous craftsmanship and a modern winemaking outlook come together, just as Hungarian traditions meet contemporary gastronomic thinking in the restaurant’s kitchen. This is what the Sauska Ambassador title stands for: Hungarian values, shared passion and contemporary elegance at one table.