GASTRONOMY New Executive Chef at the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest

gastronomy

A POWERFUL COMBINATION OF CRAFT AND INSIGHT

NEW EXECUTIVE CHEF RESPONSIBLE FOR KITCHEN MANAGEMENT AND ULTIMATE CULINARY EXPERIENCE The Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest has appointed Ádám Lévay, a professional with extensive international experience, as the hotel's new Executive Chef. According to the hotel, “mastering his profession, stewardship and management at several iconic hotels around the world, Ádám brings a powerful combination of craft and insight to Kempinski Corvinus.”

Ádám Lévay started his career in Budapest, worked in various parts of the world and then returned to the Hungarian capital last year. Summarizing the experience that he brought home with himself, he says that “in Budapest, the culinary level is quite high right now. The most interesting things that I could bring home are the cooking techniques, the spices and the flavors and different ingredients that people use around the world but are not really known and used in Hungarian cuisine like different kinds of spices, herbs and cheeses from the Middle East. That's basically what I try to somehow build into the cuisine here and in the menus that we are creating now,” he tells Diplomacy&Trade. As for the managerial part of the job, the chef is of the view that Hungary is very different from a lot of countries in the world. “Here, we try to ‘grow’ people in the kitchen as managers. I think it's very important in Hungarian hotels and kitchens to start to teach people how to lead and manage. Most of the time, people tend to think the chef is cooking in the kitchen all day. However, it's very important to understand that the chef is a manager at the end of the day, and on the way until you establish yourself as an executive chef, you need to learn how to deal with people, how to manage people, and basically how to organize your kitchen. It is the same as any other department, but in this case, they sometimes focus more on the culinary background and not really on the management skills.”

Hungarian food in the world

As to how he would define Hungarian cuisine having visited so many places around the world, Ádám Lévay says Hungarian cuisine is very flavorful. “I think we should be prouder of it. In every other country I went and I worked in, people are really proud of their kitchen. They are very happy to show you what they're eating, how they cook. I think in Hungary, sometimes we are not really proud of what we have. We always try to make it a little bit more complicated, a little bit more ‘wow’. Sometimes less is more and sometimes the simplicity and the history of the dishes make them interesting enough to show to foreigners. Wherever I went in the world, I always tried to show a little bit of the Hungarian cuisine, of course. Sometimes, it was very challenging because we use a lot of pork, and it is not available everywhere, especially in the Middle East. Naturally, when ingredients are replaced, the dishes are completely different. Hungarian food is very much liked in the Middle East as the way it is cooked is very similar to how they cook, it's also very juicy and flavorful, similarly to local dishes.” He believes Hungarian food should be made a bit more up to date, a bit easier to digest for foreigners. “But I also think it's very important to keep the dishes as they are because that is what makes them authentic.”

Research first

Ádám Lévay has sharp focus on the complex aspects of the food-and-beverage area that encompasses all aspects, from kitchen management to the ultimate culinary customer experience. He stresses that the process starts with a lot of research. “It's very hard to find a good, reliable supplier who is able to supply you with the quantity you need. I think smaller restaurants have an advantage as they don't need such huge amounts like we do here at the hotel. It is a challenge for us to find the right supplier. That is why research is very important, but it takes a lot of time. Of course, whenever we find a good product, we check the quality, use it, sometimes putting it on the seasonal menu. If the guests like it and we are happy with the product, then, we put it on the menus and even offer it on the banquet menu. Actually, we have quite a fine banquet operation here.”

In line with the concept of the place

Regarding how that fits in with Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest’s commitment to seamlessly executed, high-quality and marketfirst gastronomic initiatives, the hotel’s new Executive Chef explains that “it fits in very well. ‘ÉS Bisztró’ in the hotel is a very well-known and popular place. It's very important to keep the concept of the place, we don't want to go in the fine-dining direction. But it's very important to enhance the products what we offer to the guests. For example, fried chicken is a very basic dish but it really matters what kind of chicken you're using, how you prepare this dish, how you take care of the chicken until it is put on the table. This is what we try to focus on right now.”

Keep it simple

Ádám Lévay has been quoted as saying that his passion comes from “using healthy and fresh ingredients in a way that is the most appropriate in their combination and interaction, to achieve pure perfection.” In explanation, he highlights that “sometimes if you have a good ingredient you don't need to do too much with it. Sometimes, chefs make a mistake by using too much spice, they overwhelm the flavor, overdo the dish. I like to keep it simple. When you create a dish, sometimes it's very difficult for a chef to stop. You always try to add more and more things, and then, at the end, you just have too much and you don't understand the dish anymore. Sometimes, you need to know when you need to stop. There is this saying that ‘sometimes, less is more’ – I completely agree with that.”

Tomato and pasta

When asked about his favorite ingredient and favorite dish, the Executive Chef says he loves tomatoes. “Any kind of tomatoes, fresh, raw, marinated, cooked, baked, whatever. I eat a lot of tomatoes. Basically, I cannot really eat without having tomato. I love it. It's a beautiful vegetable. In the kitchen, you don't have too much time to cook and sit down and eat properly. Whenever we create a little meal with the guys, then pasta is the perfect solution. I can eat pasta anytime, anywhere, seven days a week. I love that too. I think it's a very simple meal, but it is very difficult to do it right. I've worked with a lot of Italian chefs and they are super proud of, and super detailed on, proper pasta. It's very, very difficult to execute the process in a proper way so as to have the proper crunchiness, to use the right salt, the right flour in the pasta and then, you use the right tomatoes – following the process until the end.”

Cuisine and finance

As Executive Chef at Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest, Ádám Lévay highlights that his job does not only include the creation of culinary delights for present and future customers but also the management of financial issues. “At the end of the day, the hotel is a business, so it's very important to make money and keep that money. But of course, whenever you come to the restaurant, we try to give you the best what is available, whatever we can source. That's what is in our focus now: enhance the product, enhance the quality and the consistency of the food and the dishes in our outlets and restaurants.”