The cosy restaurant where the owner is the chef.

“We opened the Rosenstein family restaurant because the tiny diner where our private enterprise had started from proved to be too small. The guests would have liked to sit down and have a chat with each other and with me, I, however, would not have liked to open a stiff restaurant, putting people off with its elegance. That was why we insisted on a cosy little restaurant still maintaining a high standard. In the meantime, we have improved its looks in many ways but we did not want to change its homely atmosphere.

I feel at home in traditional catering being aware at the same time that one has to keep up with the times since a new generation of guests has grown up and people have become more and more demanding. I entrust my son, Robi with the modernization, however, we both make sure that each of our dishes – wherever its idea comes from – should have the ‘Rosenstein style’. We have never been an exclusively Jewish restaurant, everything fits into our cuisine. Anyway, ‘everything is kosher, that tastes good,’ my grandmother used to say. So in our family restaurant we have committed ourselves not to one single trend but to our guests being satisfied. I am inspired by our guests’ daily satisfaction. I would not like to be recognized after my death. I wish to make a mark on today, on the momentary art of cuisine.”

I chose cuisine to be the profession of my lifetime already as a child. I began my studies with the Catering Company of Kőbánya. In the first year I was an apprentice in the Grand Hotel of Margaret Island. I worked in several small restaurants in Kőbánya, then I spent ten years in the country: in the ‘Cifra Csárda’ of  Nagykőrös and in Cegléd. From 1979 I was the chef of ‘Kispipa’ Restaurant in Budapest for ten years. My first private restaurant was ‘Kürtös’ Snack Bar, next to which in 1996 I opened the Rosenstein Restaurant authenticated by our family name.

It is a real pleasure for me to work together with my family: my wife, Judit and my son, Robi, who now manages the restaurant together with me. I do hope the third generation: my granddaughters, Mira and Luca will also follow in our footsteps.

Tibor Rosenstein