By using local quality ingredients, offering seasonal dishes and combining tradition with modern culinary techniques, the Oroszlános Wine Restaurant is poised to lead the way in bringing a gastronomic revival to the Tokaj Wine Region. We have been encouraged in our efforts to this end by ‘Chef of the Century’ Eckart Witzigmann who, while touring Hungary by invitation of the Hungarian government, had dinner at Oroszlános.

We compile our menu using dishes rooted in urban and rural traditions, never losing sight of the festive and seasonal context. Accordingly, Lenten soups, fish and meatless dishes feature on the menu from Ash Wednesday until Easter, when lamb, hare, smoked ham and eggs take over as primary ingredients in the kitchen. May and June see a variety of asparagus dishes and desserts made with fresh strawberries, accompanied by an abundance of fresh summer fruits and vegetables from June to August. In September, the scent of forest mushrooms fills the house, with dishes with autumn fruits such as grapes, pears, apples and walnuts appearing on the menu. November is dominated by goose, before trout and turkey come along to mark the Advent and Christmas season.

Like in traditional households, many of the ingredients are prepared by ourselves. We offer our guests bread baked in our kitchen. Fruits that are grown on the Szirmay Manor are bottled or made into jam, jelly and syrup. Curdled milk is used to make fresh cheese in the kitchen. Green spices come from our tiny spice garden. Fragrant forest mushrooms are preserved by drying or pickling for a later season. Specially-cured local ‘Swabian bacon’ is used to make pork scratchings, and cheese and curds are purchased from local producers, as well. Wine is used variously. Dry Tokaji Furmint is used to steam trout in, prepare ‘braised pork chops winegrower style’, as well as to flavour onion soups, ragout soups and stews. Sweet Tokaji is used to poach fruits in and mixed into dessert creams. Botrytised grapes are soaked in aszú pomace brandy before being added to chocolate truffles.

While wines sometimes make their way into the kitchen, the dish on the table always calls for a wine, leaving us with the pleasant challenge of matching wines with dishes and dishes with wines. In addition to Szirmay Manor House’s own wines, our Wine House offers selected wines and even some of museum value from other wineries in the Tokaj Wine Region to accompany our dishes.