Ikon Restaurant opened its doors in 2012 in the heart of Debrecen. Already that year, he was in the forefront not only of the city, but of the whole country, and all restaurant guides, restaurant critics and social rating portals praise her performance to this day.
In the Gault Millau guide it is included among the “hats”, in the dining guide it maintains a stable position at the top, and the Hungarian Michelin guide published last year rewarded him with a plate, i.e. a recommendation.
Its interior features thoughtful interior design solutions and relaxed elegance. A vaulted high interior, sunken rug on the floor, live plants, white tablecloths, and modern light fixtures. Wine bottles are skillfully used as decorative elements. They also run a chef’s table, so guests can watch the kitchen work with their own eyes and ears if they wish.
Ikon is one of the pioneers of quality-based innovation in Hungarian catering. They work with high quality ingredients, mostly local and seasonal, using gentle techniques. Most vegetables, mushrooms and herbs are grown in their own garden. The cuisine is demanding and creative, the service is amazing, but not overly sophisticated.
The culinary style of the place was created by Péter Pataky, since 2018 the kitchen is headed by Ádám Thür, who has worked in outstanding English restaurants, including Michelin stars. (You can read a meaningful interview with the famous chef here.)
Ikon draws on Hungarian gastronomic traditions, and strives to reinterpret and renew them, with great success, while at the same time allowing itself to be inspired by other cuisines. Guests see their ars poetica, which can be read on the website, echo one by one on the dishes: “With Ikon, we dreamed of a rustic restaurant where, even though the menu is based on Hungarian principles, we still manage to sneak in a bistro-style We consider it important that it be a place where the food is self-explanatory, but the guest still gets a lasting experience from the first moment until they leave.”
The drink selection is sumptuous. On the wine list, there are nearly two hundred items, including several wine specialties, and thirty by the glass. The concentrate section is excellent, craft beers are also on the drinks menu. The selection of brandies was drawn from the products of no fewer than nine breweries.
on wheels We visited for the first time in ten years, since then we have been fortunate enough to eat twice from the regularly changing 30k menu, the ‘big’ food line, and various dishes from the lunch discount menu and the a la carte menu. We also sat at the chef’s table. Each time we had a great experience, there was a slight setback after the departure of Peter Pataky and before the arrival of Odam Thor, the team performed well above average, but there were mistakes.
We also visited them in February 2020, just before the big lockdown. We had an interesting and lively fish soup with celery and salmon. It was an original idea for vegetable beetroot ravioli additions, which were accompanied by heat-cured salmon and celery, two salmon caviar and a sprig of dill. catharsis. We also ordered an appetizer called “duck liver, tokaji aszu, almond”, this was also well presented and tasty, the aszu jelly was placed on top of a good tasting liver terrine. From the daily offering, we opted for mangalica nails fried in panko crumbs, and we were quite satisfied with what this type could offer, which is what we got here: tender, flavorful meat, excellent bread crumbs, delicious sauce, and a tender batter. Our dessert was a chocolate fondant with affogato, which was made with premium ingredients, served in a coffee sauce, with flawless coffee ice cream made in-house.
Service can be taught. Attentive, polite, friendly, professionally impeccable. Let me point out that they also indicate that the service charge is included in the bill, which is not a typical practice at all, instead we can find here and there that the waiters try to squeeze an extra amount on top of the amount included in the bill. It was an exceptionally nice gesture in 2020, since the sparkling wine we ordered wasn’t chilled, a half glass of properly tempered Kreinbacher champagne was poured as a housewarming treat while it cooled. After ten minutes to a quarter of an hour, the desired wine has reached its optimum temperature.
Ikon is one of the four restaurants from the mainland that showcased at the “Flavors of Transylvania” festival held in Gyímes Skanzen last fall. Their fingerling tripe with sautéed pig’s ear is among the best and for me the dish was the climax to the great show of the event.
at recent days , “Debrecziner Gourmet Festival“We tasted dishes that will be served as part of a press dinner. The main theme of this year’s event is memories of summer. Let me quote the relevant lines from the website: “The unmistakable aroma of Lake Balaton, the favorite flavors of your ancestral home or a friendly barbecue under the starry summer sky . .. are just a few examples of those summer experiences that bring back pleasant memories. (…)”
As a starter, we had truffle butter with two types of bread baked locally, excellent bread, followed by a sensational bonfire, then came the dishes that made up the event, “Nim Balaton Heck” accompanied by fermented vegetable foam and pepper crackers, “Grilled Bacon”, which comes on sourdough bread Fermented with scallions, sausage, and topped with a skewer of bacon, richly garnished, the line was closed with strawberry ice cream dipped in ruby chocolate garnished with cornflower and rhubarb compote. The latter is not among the dishes offered at Gourmet, and instead participants can sample the famous Debrecen restaurant, which has become a legend. That’s for sure, Ikon also excels in the genre, his compositions guaranteed to invigorate summer memories for many.
The sister event of the Gourmet Festival, organized in Calvinist Rome, will also be discussed in this section.
