When you're strolling along the shops on the promenade in Balatonfüred in the direction of Tihany, glance right if you want to see something new. Yes, there is a giant circus sign beyond the parking lot with a circus car at the end of the garden. Manézs Bisztró is Balatonfüred 2.0 with proper Facebook activity, slight ruin pub-atmosphere and enthusiastic owners.
Máté Hercsel received his mechanical engineering degree at the university on 3rd January, then on 4th January he grabbed his tools and he just hasn't been able stop working since. "We opened two months ago, and we've been constantly forming the place since. This is our family's first business; none of us has done anything like this before. It was my architect dad's idea, because he wanted a business of his own, so he could have something to believe in again. He loves planning, to sit down with a piece of paper and calculate the possible income and expenditure. He called me and said he found a circus car, we should pick it up".
Máté started to bargain and in the end he brought two cars. With his two bare hands and the help of two workers, he renovated one car and put it at the end of the garden. This car from the mid-60's was torn down to its parts and then reassembled. A family member repainted it, the cupboard inside belonged to the great-grandmother and the wine barrel is the grandfather's last barrel. (If you're interested in the reconstruction's phases, check out their blog.)
Fellini feeling
Fellini Kultúrbisztró on Budapest's Római part had a huge impact on the Hercsel family. They even considered the travelling option, too: "First, we wanted a festival car which could travel with us, but we realized it was too crazy. It's much easier to run the place when it is standing in one place, and after all this is our first bar. We'll finish this summer and then we'll see; maybe I'll make a travelling bar from the other circus car."
Placing the car in Balatonfüred was never a question since the family's summer home is here. They were lucky with the garden though: the painter, Gyula Medgyessy Kovács decided to put a part of his garden up for rent this summer. His pictures fundamentally defined the place's look. There's a giant pirate head behind the beach beds: it was the decoration of the building's former resident, Kalóz (means Pirate) restaurant in the 90's. The pictures, paintings, beach beds and the pallet furniture Máté dreamed up together produce a pleasant eclectic atmosphere: Balatonfüred needed this cool ruin pub style.
Beyond the parking lot
We received many e-mails inquiring about Manézs when we checked in to Facebook from Manézs. No one thought there was something to see beyond the parking lot, until now. 'We are in the shade all day long, you don't have to spend hours in the queue for an ice-cream, there's no crowd. The tourists mostly spend their time with shopping, but everyone who finds us enjoys the peaceful environment and spends here more time, than they expected' says Máté. 'We hope that we filled a gap with this place in Balatonfüred, because only fancy spots have been opening in this city lately. This bar is halfway between an elegant and a skanky place.'
"No need to worry"
Manézs might be brand new, but a full house is getting more and more common. 'People have realized that there is something going on here, when the sun sets, we turn on the lights and our sign lights up the parking lot. Two weeks ago we suddenly realised we have become trendy, when the locals called the police a couple of times because of us. We had a few nights with a full house, my friends said that important people dropped by, too. I don't know them, so I can only rely on my friends' opinion.'
