A unique literary brunch is coming to Balatonfüred on October 26, 2025, at the Blaha Lujza Restaurant, where guests can enjoy much more than just food. “Brunch with the Greats” blends readings, live music, and a multi-course menu, all under the watchful spirits of two Hungarian literary icons—dreamy, melancholic Gyula Krúdy and the celebrated, grand Mór Jókai. Although they never actually met in real life, at least symbolically, they will now share a table for one leisurely brunch.
The Meeting of Two Eras
It’s all about contrasts here. Gyula Krúdy (1878–1933) was a gambler, barfly, and—so the myth goes—a legendary gourmand. Mór Jókai (1825–1904) was the polished romantic-realist, already a national hero when Krúdy was just starting out. Jókai, now honored on the 200th anniversary of his birth, would be the special guest at Krúdy’s imaginary table in Balatonfüred (Füred). There could be no better place than this lakeside town for such a “first breakfast” together.
Despite the legends, Krúdy’s image as a hedonist was, in reality, more nuanced. The pubs and taverns in his life were really refuges from loneliness and places to eat simple foods, not the gourmet delights we associate with him. He preferred rough wines and hearty but uncomplicated dishes, using them to fight his heart condition and the existential dread that haunted him. His legendary appetite was more for storytelling than for actual feasting.
Jókai: The True Gourmet
Jókai, however, was the real culinary connoisseur—well-versed in European gastronomy and an excellent cook himself. Where Krúdy found solace in conversation and a glass of cheap wine, Jókai might have actually cared more about what was on the plate and how it was prepared. In his later years, Krúdy barely ate at all, focusing on the idea of food rather than its consumption.
A Breakfast to Remember
At this atmospheric breakfast, actor István Hirtling will bring the words of both writers to life. László Cserép will serve behind the counter, while the role of the youngest waiter—pikolófiú—goes to literary historian Mihály Praznovszky, one of Hungary’s top Krúdy and Jókai scholars.
Guests will dine on sheep cheese polenta with 1.35 oz of wine, bean soup with pork trotters, Balaton pike-perch in beer batter, paprika chicken with curd cheese dumplings, and plum pie, offering a true taste of the writers’ worlds.
