the Norsa Restaurant Its interior is friendly and comfortable with pleasant and well-chosen background music. The name of the place was given by a lovely play on words, combining the names of the owner, his wife and their daughter (Norbert, Rika and Sara), as it turned out after doing some research on the internet.
I especially appreciated that smoking was not allowed on the indoor balcony. It is a common misconception that cigarette smoke in an open space does not bother those who are allergic to it.
At an outdoor concert, you inhale as much smoke as in a bar in the South, smokers blow smoke even in restaurants, and it’s no different from smoking stands in a restaurant.
Leafing through the well-thought-out menu, I realized that the waiter at the next table served all the dishes to the family at lunch with incredible accuracy, but without going into unnecessary details. If I get a chance, I go into professional detail with the waiters, who usually turn out to be business managers, who just stop by to help. (I had great experiences of this kind at Caviar and Bull, Mandula at Villány and Natura Hill at Zebegény, to mention only those which remain in my memory).
This time it was no different. It turns out that Norbert Sibus is the owner, creative chef, and business manager all at once. She learns that he has been running the kitchen of the Horog Restaurant next door, and that he sees the other restaurant in the village not as a competitor, but rather as an ally in serving hospitality. He stated that he also worked at Tanyaksárda, one of the best Hungarian pubs, but also strengthened the restaurant team at the Merops winery’s Hotel in Mészáros.
Noresa serves progressive cuisine with Hungarian roots and some international influences. (As for the adjective progressive, I’m not willing to give it up to awake lunatics—progressive and progressive is not necessarily a subjective value, but it’s not a category of pejorative either.)
They serve, among other things, Paloo soup with shredded venison noodles, grilled goat cheese with zucchini spaghetti and tandoori roasted cauliflower, pork ribs with new potatoes in lechs, pickled cucumbers, pork tenderloin under vacuum with onion sauce, potato cakes and sweet Fried potatoes as well as bird’s milk with orange peel.
The chef’s offering changes every month and a half, which always includes three courses for people who are lactose and gluten intolerant. Let me add that these are complete and stupid creations.
They offer twenty wines from eight high-quality wineries in Szekszárd, seven of which are measured at affordable prices. Light lagers are available from Karl’s microbrewery in Mecseknádasd, along with light Gösser and lemon versions. Savanya fózde provides in Sióagárd pálinkas, among the concentrated drinks we find high quality Hungarian gin and whiskey (!) also.
Three courses cost 8,500 forints, and some of the dishes are very expensive. If you order separately, appetizers, soups and desserts cost 2,000 HUF, and main dishes 4,500 HUF.
As a first course, I ordered the crab tails with basil with zucchini salad. The crab was wrapped in basil leaves and then in brick dough and baked like that, then served on a bed of sun-dried tomatoes and candied zucchini, garnished with edible roses and young greens. The balsamic vinegar was a bit beyond optimal, but even so, the dish turned out to be particularly flavorful.
The bream was prepared fish fry-style, accompanied by delicious, heat-cured slices of kohlrabi and celery salad with mayonnaise. In addition to the edible flowers and young greens, well-seasoned and good-tasting red onions were also added to the dish. This was also a wonderfully creative and delicious dish.
The cheesecake was made with ricotta, mascarpone, and white chocolate, as I discovered, no sugar was added, and the white chocolate provided a nicely restrained sweetness, which was balanced by the subtle acidity of the apricot jam and coulis. The composition provided a nice closing chord for a great lunch.
Noresa is an excellent place, it would be worth coming back here even if the chef’s offering doesn’t change regularly. But more than that.
