I need to admit I went to eat to Emile with preconceptions. I thought that there was no raison d’etre for such a high -end bistro in Buda. Why? Because all similar experiments have failed. It would be enough to think of the late Matteo, Cascade, and several reformed incarnations of the 57 restaurant.
What works for sure in Buda is a fried, breaded chicken and the obligatory Sunday chicken soup.
If not these two, then some other plain and clear bistro meals; those that offer options for every member of the family: variety and comfort. The child can eat a soup, Grandma can find a nice chicken paprikas or Wiener Schnitzel and they can close their lunch with their favourite cottage cheese dumplings. It’s no coincidence that Remiz, the reformed Szép Ilona and Náncsi Néni can still hold on here and there is also good reason why parallel to these Pasarét bisztró and Fióka (in Városmajor) wishes to experiment with a higher-level bistro kitchen. Take a look at Kisbíró, which is more daring, but still builds on reinterpreted old classics. I won’t count the Castle district, but I guess the trio of 21, Baltazár and Pest Buda all show similar characteristics with a modern bistro, modern Hungarian cuisine notion and they seem to work better than the group’s flagship, fine-dining establishment which is Pierrot. It may actually be alright this way.
Experience shows that in Buda the families usually go out to eat with granny, aunty, relatives, many kids. It’s not easy to show a wide range of meals that can impress this versatile company.
Beyond weekend time lunches there are the dinners for couples or for circles of friends. For these occasions Buda citizens usually go to Pest in my opinion (since LIFE happens there) And it is also hopeless to expect that Pest will go to Buda for eating purposes. Then there are those business lunches that seldom take place in the immediate area of Gábor Áron utca, where corporate HQs are hard to find.
Something similar applies to desserts as well. Emile is far from both from the homely style of Daubner and Auguszt and also from the new wave character of Édesem or Marangona. Emile with its plated desserts is light years away from it all, equally far if we think of its sweets imported from Gerbaud, those are high quality snacks or premium bonbons. Regarding this simple formula it is very difficult to find its place and its circle of guests for such a kitchen.
If we add to all the above mentioned factors that the restaurant is quite small inside with only 12-15 tables and many of our sources mentioning that it is difficult to eat outside due to the heavy design garden furniture then you see this story here is not an easy one. The interior, the design is somehow central in the case of this restaurant. They really paid careful attention to the elaboration of everything, the furniture, the lighting, the textiles, all the image and appearance. Like a luxury villa in Buda opened its doors and invited upper-class target audience for a remarkable mackerel confit or 21st century ‘lúdláb’ dessert .
Quite frankly before our visit I had not met anybody who had a perfect time in Emile or had eaten so well that he/she was tempted to go back as soon as possible. It’s a miracle that with so many preconceptions in my head i still wanted to go.
As with the interior design, the chef – Kövér Gergely’s- pedigree is also first-class. He had worked in several top restaurants abroad: in Spain, in Holland and he was lured back home from there (by the owners and operators of Gerbaud) to take over Emile. Initially there was no business lunch category on the menu but nowadays it started, moreover with quite a wide menu and wide range of choices – even compared to a classical lunch menu. There are about 8 courses on the lunch menu; several among them with special, excellent raw materials for which you are supposed to pay extra.
While waiting we are given home-made butter and bread .The performance of the kitchen can always be judged by the quality of the bread and here we have really good bread. We also want to try not only butter, but some other substances to spread, so we ask for aubergine cream, crackling cream and herbed butter. The aubergine cream lies softly and airily in the middle of the plate, its taste is decent, it contains no garlic or only a very little. The crackling could be more creamy, it is too crumbly and thick. Herbed butter is pleasantly piquant, nothing special.
But then our appetizers arrive. First of all: poached salmon, ginger and smoked lemon ice-cream: a gorgeous course. The fish is pleasantly luke-warm and of very good quality. Poached, pink, soft – contrary to salmon you find at many places where they are porous or overcooked. But that is not the point. The point is the luke-warm juice in which the fish ‘swims’ and its sour, citrus-dominated features thanks to the grapefruit fillets. The salmon goes well not only with the rosé colour of the grapefruit but also the flavour pairing suits the fish well and offsets its fattiness perfectly. This slightly oriental, sour character is enhanced by the ginger foam and lemon ice-cream. Components of the dish cooperate in a refined way: the creamy ice-cream, the acidic foam, the tart grapefruit and the fatty, confit, poached salmon. Excellent course.
We next have a duck liver bonbon rolled in on chicory coffee. The chef placed the bonbon on a quince jelly -like fundament and next to it are some compote-like quince cubes. A fatty duck liver turned into a mousse and prepared in a praline like manner then rolled into chicory to break the monotony of fattness. The quince then adds fruity sourness and acid to the whole stuff. Glorious again.
Yet the brightest star of the lunch is a baked sea bass with fish soup, milt and home-made noodles. This is a conceptually winning piece: like a Baja city fish soup, but heavily deconstructed. The home-made noodles arrive in a nice little jar then the waiter pours the thick fish soup on them. Just about the same happens to the fish fillet pieces that are served together with fried fish milt and summer cabbage underneath a red pepper casserole: they are all supplied with the thick fish stock. I cut a little piece of fried fish milt, then take a portion of the grilled fish fillet, a little cabbage and then dip it all in fish soup. Then I repeat the same with noodles. I can only repeat myself: everything is in place here: concept and realization. The dish gets a 5 (best mark), and serving is only 4, because it is difficult to reach the noodles so that they are mixed up with soup.
The moral of the story is the following: fight your prejudices, win them over and take up the challenge even if it seems odd at the beginning. The other -somewhat more complex- conclusion that seemingly goes against the remarkable food praise I have given is that I cannot really see what drove the owners when they imagined and devised this place. For us, guests, the 2900 forint lunch menu is great, but when there are only 15 people in the restaurant on two floors, plus seven staff, plus five cooks, then I cannot see how the whole thing pays off. I am sorry to say this after such a good lunch, but in my view, Emile in Buda needs a serious conceptional reboot. But please keep the chef by all means.
Émile
http://emile.hu/
Total 7,5/10
FOODPOLICE 