When it came to renovating a beloved property adjacent to an ancient royal castle, understanding the strengths that were available then distilling those values down to their core fundamentals was at the very centre of the concept.

Platán Gourmet Restaurant, located between Budapest and Vienna, beside the tranquil Old Lake in Tata, has been renewed and reinvigorated by this very understanding. What were once the servant’s quarters of the Esterhazy family’s estate next to the royal castle, have now been transformed into a gastronomic landmark. Zoltan Varro, a Gold Key Award-winning interior designer, together with Michelin-starred Executive Chef Istvan Pesti, Officier Maître Rôtisseur, were at the heart of the idea.

Istvan and his team - including Kevin Szabo who took part in this year’s International Final of the Jeunes Chefs Rôtisseurs Competition - prepare menus with either four, six or eight courses. A complex combination of vegetables and herbs from Platán's own garden, cutting edge technologies and the highest quality ingredients are used to create dishes. Dishes that reflect the intellectual and cultural heritage of the Esterhazy family and the gastronomic tradition of historic Hungary.

“For us, it is the memories that are most important: memories that a taste or smell brings to life. We offer a menu that appeals to all our senses, flavours that evoke feelings and moods,” says Chef Pesti who earned a Michelin star for his previous workplace and whose own gastronomic creations are empowered by the surrounding natural landscape.

With this heritage on the doorstep of Platán, the interior design shows how to integrate contemporary luxury and comfort among the stones of historic legacy. Once a dusty cellar, Platán Gourmet Restaurant has been transformed into a bright, opulent and grand environment.

Each room is colour coded in the same ways that European nobility did with their own manor homes and palaces. For example, the blue room is the breakfast suite. The green room is a drinking salon. At the end of the cellar is the final destination: the place where the gastronomic tale ends; where the vision of Platán’s redesign is fully executed.

Here is where the guests looking for a fine dining experience are escorted on the journey during which Platán offers a modern, high-end yet intimate feeling of exclusivity, separated from the bustle with tables lit like altars. It beckons visitors along the corridor.

Only those who know of the exclusive quality that awaits. They will likely already have travelled to Tata just for this special occasion.

Iván Novák
Bailli Délégué Honoraire

Photos (c) Platán Gourmet Restaurant