Magazine: ‘I am the Belgian in our trade’

Our magazine interviewed László Jakabffy, the president of MVI’s Ethics Committee, who told us that in his opinion Tamás Széll did really well at the Bocuse d’Or. He and many others had worked hard for this success and others, including MVI, contributed to it financially. Mr Jakabffy’s opinion is that today we already have excellent restaurants in Hungary and in these good cooks are trained. He told that the Alabárdos was the first to use combi steam oven and they were already selecting the ingredients they used with great care 15 years ago. They invited a Belgian confectioner to learn from him and he sent his colleagues to learn abroad. Mr Jakabffy welcomed the foundation of MGE (Hungarian Gastronomy Association) but he had problems with some of the followers of Tamás Molnár B. Since than he hasn’t followed what they are doing. He emphasised that there is only one Hungarian gastronomy and he stands in the middle: he is the Belgian amongst the Flemish and the Walloons. He has excellent connections which can be really useful for MVI, especially when organising events such as the guild’s gala dinner. In László Jakabffy’s opinion the ‘Hungarian Restaurant of the Year’ winner Alabárdos of 2004 would be in the top five even today. He is still really proud of winning this title and also of being in the top three at the 2nd Stars of Hungarian Catering Trade voting, because it were 300 trade insiders who cast their votes. His view is that a restaurant should be able to make profit and some of the best ones today cannot do this.