No one can take the past decade away from me
I signed the contract on New Years day, and that’s when I started weaving dreams. It was a beautiful, huge task, a meaningful challange and I have never cut my axe in such a big tree before. The realization of a modern version gastronomic center with the size and complexity of the Gerbeaud house was standing ahead of me. Bistro, confectionery, a monumental garden area, my fine dining restaurant which was just about to move and a big event hall. I was standing here, in front of the whole facility, and all I wanted was to create a successful place, while – nobody knows this – I didn’t have enough faith in me just yet. Just like they don’t know that I gave credit to the words of bad advisors many times, how I fought for this place with all my strength, for which i sold everything, invested my entire fortune and literally gave up my comfortable life.
It took two years before we could open the KIOSK alapozó - the precusor of Kiosk Budapest - after planning, permits and constructions with a cool, ruin pub like atmosphere, but with quality food and drinks. Over time we could beautify the place with continuous care.
My goal was to create a complex that would become part of the city’s history and through this so would I. This part was undeniably successful, since we have been hosting events and guests, who are from the forefront of the world in terms of quality and performance. Tom Hanks, Zendaya, Robbie Williams, Lewis Hamilton, Barbara Palvin, Orlando Bloom, Katy Perry, Luke Evans and many Hungarian stars and outstanding artists, whom we do not want to mention by name, because one by one they are just as important as our regular guests who have honoured me with their trust for a decade now.
The square where this facility stands now was, to put it mildly, a disadvantegous area of the city center, nobody knew or liked it, it was not busy just run down, and the building itself was a pile of rubble inside full of garbage, where there was no water, no electricity or anything in the rental property, I literally rebuilt everything from scratch.
Our realized three – level kitchen was later referred to as the Bentley of restaurant kitchens, but only after they thought me to be a fool for undertaking such an ambitious task.
Old big restaurateurs were saying that when I go bankrupt they will take over KIOSK from me, while others placed ridiculous offers and there were also those who tried to trick it out of my hands. Well, you can try, and anything can happen in life, but no one can take this past decade away from me. I love what I have created, and I also love the path – no matter how tough and still beautiful it is – that I have taken, and this creation is continuous, since we are constantly developing and beautifying it together with my team, so that you can love it too.
I wanted a place where the elderly come for a coffee, the children attend programmes created for them while tearing the house apart, the busy business women and business men come to have lunch, the entrepreneurs bring their dinner guests, the young people are coming for cocktails because they also consider it cool. But way more has been achieved, manuscripts were created, lifetime vows were made and we also hosted unforgettable company events, all within the walls of KIOSK.
KIOSK has become more than a restaurant…It’s a bubble inside Budapest, where we love you no matter who or how you are. Where life is beautiful. This place has it’s own identity, an identity that helps those in need, that gives space to those who need it. Now we have a story, confidence and self-criticism, so we not only know where we came from, but also where we are going. The beautified KIOSK, complemented with the balcony separees, is a unique asset to the city. We would like to celebrate this and the past decade with you on a three-day festival, which starts on Friday, the 15th of September and lasts until the night of Sunday the 17th.
This letter is also your personal invitation. You can access the details of the event and further instructions by clicking on the following link.
Hugs:
