On Monday, 2nd September 2019, the Embassy of Hungary in London was proud to host a fine dining evening as a tribute to award winning Hungarian agricultural products, which have proved their excellence at this year’s Great Taste Award (GTA), often described as the ‘Oscars’ of the food world.
The Central and Eastern European region performed exceptionally well in terms of the 2019’s awards. What’s more, our Hungarikums, such as the acacia honey, szegedi paprika and Hungarian grey cattle were also among the winners. There are only four countries around the globe, where the three most exclusive and luxurious delicacies (goose liver, caviar and black truffle) are produced in natural conditions and have been so for a long time. The four countries: Italy, Spain, France and, you guessed it, Hungary. If we pair these truly unique gourmet treats with the world-famous naturally sweet wine, Tokaji Aszú, we already have a clue, why Ambassador Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, invited the best of fine food writers and retailers to proudly present them the gastronomy of Hungary.
The Dinner was one of a kind, as it was built around Best of Hungary's GTA winning products, highlighting the ingredients and their wide range of usage. Further unique moments of the night were the Hungarian wines and champagne specialities served between the courses, made from indigenous Hungarian vine varieties. The wine pairs were arranged by three recognized sommeliers, who were WSET wine academics and leading winery owners. The menu was compiled by the chefs of Turul Project London, a fine dining pop-up initiative, creating an evening of Hungarian fine food and wine feast, in one of Europe's multicultural and gastronomically fascinating capitals.
Throughout the dishes of the evening, 11 ingredients of GTA winning products that won 25 stars combined in 2018-19 were used. The wines served, provided by Happy Hungarian Wines, were international competition proven, representing Hungarian varieties (Furmint, Kadarka).
All of this would not have been possible without a superbly broad endeavour of manufacturers, wineries, importers and distributors, the Hungarian chefs of London and last but not least the Hungarian Embassy and the Ministry of Agriculture.
