Apart from the wine selection, everything changes at Csopak's Szent Donát. The new host from Budapest's MÁK Bistro wants a laid back style with an expert kitchen, serving new wave Hungarian dishes. It's definitely something we want to follow up in the summer.
For a few weeks now, we've been following the mouth-watering photos of a Csopak-based restaurant uploaded to Facebook, feeling akin to Pavlov's dog. The new place will bear the name Márga Bistro, however, it's not an entirely new restaurant. The place with one of the best panoramas in the entire Balaton region, Szent Donát Restaurant undergoes a makeover.
We inquired about the details and found out that the new direction is set by János Deli, who had also worked at one of Heston Blumenthal's restaurants in England. Let is suffice that Mr Blumenthal has restaurants with three, two and one Michelin stars on the Isles. János Deli was signed from the Budapest-based MÁK Bistro, and he promises to bring along the well-known laid back but professional style.
Márga sent us a few of its afore-mentioned, mouth-watering photos, and explained that it wanted to work primarily with ingredients form local producers. As a result, the menu will include items, like the pumpkin seed rabbit terrine with orange carrot salad (pic. 1) and the ramson cream soup with farm egg (pic. 2). From the range of main courses, Márga gave a glimpse of the wild boar tenderloin served with oyster mushroom and polenta (pic. 3), which recalls (to a certain extent) the image of Badacsony and the surrounding monadnocks. The makeover does not come with upgraded prices: Márga will charge around 2-5000 HUF for main courses, just like Szent Donát did.
Márga is the name of a mudstone, found in abundance around Csopak and in a figurative sense, it signifies the bistro's connection to wine. You see, blood is thicker than water: the wine card will still consist of the Szent Donát wines, with a few items by major local competitors thrown in.
