Announcement: from now on I’m using scale of 20 for scoring restaurants of Budapest based on a more standardised approach. The reason is threefold: i) to allow more differentiation between restaurants ii) for better international orientation and iii) for better domestic comparison. What does this mean? Now my system is more in line with Gault Millau’s system and consequently, more in line with “Étterem és Bor Kalauz”, possibly the only reliable printed restaurant guide to Hungary. However, I must emphasize that there are similarities as well as differences too so equal points do not necessarily mean identical judgment.
The new system will result in 3 scores:
1. Food score
2. Restaurant score
3. Price weighted restaurant score
1. Food score
The total of 20 points can add up as follows.
Material: the quality and freshness of ingredients has the second highest weight.
Technical skills:another important factor is how the materials are used in the preparation process. It’s easier to point out mistakes here than to appreciate outstanding performance.
Harmony and the big picture: It speaks for itself. This end result has slightly higher importance even than the materials.
Style: this relates to the exploration of a certain style of cooking or its reinterpretation. This part also incorporates the creativity factor. This has a relatively moderate contribution to the total points.
Reliability: although an important factor, it’s underweighted in the overall score.
2. Restaurant score
The overall restaurant score takes into consideration, besides the Food Score, the following aspects: service, wine list and ambience, the first two having equal weight, slightly more than the latter.
3. Price weighted restaurant score
You’d be surprised by this one. Although this factor will have a total effect of up to only 10% of the total final score, many value restaurants will outperform much more expensive restaurants when this factor is taken into account.
Please note that I’ll continue to visit and review restaurants recommended by reliable sources, so don’t expect reviews with scores less than 9, these will be the exceptions. And watch out because coming up soon: Gold Bistro and Costes! And Normafa Grill, but you’d better forget that.
