Budapest Hilton Tel Aviv Hilton Tel Aviv Keren Jerusalem Le Chateau Tel Aviv Golden Apple Tel Aviv David Intercontinental Lyon Pierre Orsi Amszterdam Intercontinental Amstel Budapest Baraka Budapest Segal

A portrait of Segal

Viktor Segal’s fusion cuisine in five + 1 courses

He has worked in famous restaurants in Tel-Aviv, Lyon and Amsterdam, his cooking has earned the praise of the New York Times’ food critic, and his culinary works have even attracted the attention of the board of Michelin restaurant inspectors. Recently, a new chapter began in the life of the chef Viktor Segal, with the opening of a fusion restaurant bearing his name, in downtown Budapest.

I. A middle-eastern adventure

Fairy-tale beginnings. A Greek multimillionaire on vacation in Budapest makes a tempting offer: the aspiring chef is invited by the Hellenic gentleman to serve on a Hilton pleasure cruiser. Although he stuck with the Hilton, the geographical coordinates of the destination changed, with the Middle East scoring a resounding victory over the Aegean Sea.

Viktor Segal: The first chef’s college in Budapest to recruit secondary school graduates opened in 1987. Although I come from a long line of lawyers, it went without saying that I would apply to join, since I’d always loved cooking. After serving my apprenticeship at the Budapest Hilton, I was offered the chance to work on a huge ship operated by the Hilton chain, sailing the seas around Greece. However, the thought of spending six months at a time at sea did not particularly appeal to me, so when I received a job offer from the Hilton in Tel-Aviv I jumped at the opportunity. Suddenly I found myself among a 100-strong team of cooks, representing a mixture of ten different nationalities. The experience taught me a lot about my profession, and about life as well, but in culinary terms it was less challenging, since it was basically a factory. Of course it was classy, and indisputably expensive, but a factory nonetheless. It was a great experience to live in the Middle East, where gesture and intonation are all so different, where an expression or smile carries a different meaning than it does in the west.

II. Dining with the stars

Segal remained in Tel-Aviv, but went to work in a restaurant called the Keren. Here, the world opened up before him, and it was love at first sight between the chef and the art of French cuisine. It was in this, the city’s top restaurant, that a new chapter in his career began – that of haute cuisine.

“Our first job in the morning was to listen to the latest stock-market news on the radio. The Keren was an astronomically expensive restaurant, and our turnover depended on the state of trading on the bourse. After a brief spell in Jerusalem – where I worked in the French Le Chateau – I was wooed back to Tel-Aviv, to the kitchen of the Golden Apple. Then I was approached by the David Intercontinental, where they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. The chief attraction was the opportunity to work with an Italian chef who had earned a Michelin star back in Europe. By that time I was beginning to feel a bit homesick for the old continent, so I took the offer. At the age of 30 I was chef of the five restaurants in the hotel complex. This meant supervising no less that 120 cooks, walking some 10-12 kilometres a day, and being constantly on-call with a radio pager. And then there were the world famous guests. I was just as likely to meet some eccentric superstar as a super-alert secret agent, who would scan the food with a portable detector. When I was a child I’d loved watching films, so it was a fantastic experience to carve the meat for Oscar-winning Faye Dunaway, the heroine of Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, and Network, or prepare supper for Harvey Keitel, the star of Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Reservoir of Dogs. My spaghetti Bolognese has been eaten by Antonio Banderas, and I’ve cooked for former US president Bill Clinton, and even the footballers of Milan and Chelsea.

III. The Contest – Oui, Chef!

In Israel, Segal was nominated for a chef’s contest without even knowing it – and then the judges, still working incognito, decided to award first prize to the young Hungarian.

“Amid the greatest secrecy, a committee tasted the cooking of 300 chefs under the age of 30. In the last round of judging I was finally let in on the secret. They asked me what I would do if I was given 4,000 dollars. Without a second thought I replied that I’d get on the next plane to France and work there for as long as my money lasted. The next day they made out the cheque in my name. I soon found myself in Lyon, in the classic kitchen of the legendary Pierre Orsi restaurant, which has two Michelin stars, where I worked for food and lodging. In France, behind the scenes, working in a restaurant is like being in the army. The kitchen is run along dictatorial lines, with the upper ranks terrorising those below, and the hierarchy is sacrosanct. The kitchen staff live in fear of the all-powerful chef, and there is only one correct reply: ‘Oui, Chef!’ I’ve never believed in this system, and I even resisted it in my own way. Wherever I went to work, anywhere in the world, I always set off with a single suitcase, and never worried about how much I was paid. In order to advance professionally you have to accumulate experience, see and try things for yourself.

IV. A lucky break

Another town, another kitchen. Next came the Dutch capital and the imposing Intercontinental Amstel. The hotel is a popular stopping-off place for aristocrats and pop divas. During Segal’s time there, the luxury suites were just as likely to be occupied by members of the Spice Girls as the scions of kings and noblemen. Then a holiday in Budapest brought a change in his fortunes, and the Baraka was born. The word means "luck", which in this case lasted for five years.

“Friends introduced me to the owners of the Baraka. Leora and David described their vision of a fusion kitchen in the New York style, next to the Károlyi kert park. I had already come across fusion back in Israel, through the colourful mixture of nationalities working in the hotel. At that time, every day the staff kitchen was taken over by the representative of a different nation – cooks from France, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Morocco, and even the Philippines. We tasted each other’s specialities. We experimented and learned – together and from each other. Once it was my turn, and I remember, everyone was outraged by my use of sorrel. But they received it courteously; I was the Chef after all. In any event we conjured up the most fantastic flavours. This was the starting point for my own fusion experience. A mixture of the classic French cuisine that I had been practising for umpteen years, the flavours brought from Hungary, the Israeli influence and the individuality of those cooks from around the world. So in Budapest we embarked on this adventure, and even earned critical acclaim from the New York Times.”

V. Segal

The concept and the inventiveness remains, only the sign above the door has changed, now reading: “Segal”. The restaurant has opened, with the promise of such culinary delights from the chef’s kitchen as Saint-Maure Goat’s Cheese in a Campari and Honey Sauce, Saddle of Venison with Steamed Shallots in a Rocket and Polenta Sauce, or perhaps Spicy Chuao Chocolate Mousse with freshly ground pepper. The delectable flavours emanating from this very special kitchen have even attracted the attention of the Michelin guide.

“People ask me if this is the peak of my career. For me, that depends on what one regards as the peak. There are those for whom it means being the best in the world, running a chain of 8-10 restaurants. That’s not the way I see it. The Segal keeps me fulfilled and occupied, and it will certainly be a few years before it reaches its full potential. However, there are certainly turning points in a person’s life, and the opening of the Segal is undoubtedly one of those.”

+ 1
Fusion and confusion

When East joins forces with West, the sweet snuggles up to the savoury, the bitter collaborates with the sour, traditional speech is mingled with the futuristic, and conventional emotions become tied up with the extreme. What is fusion? Fusion is where flavour rules

“Simplicity! I think that’s where the future lies. You don’t need two types of source and four garnishes on the same plate. You need one dominant spice, and invention. And the creativity to take to flavours that, at first glance, seem to be far removed from each other, and combine them so as to create a harmonious whole. In my cooking the chocolate soufflé meets the five Chinese spices. Chutney meets with duck, wild garlic with spinach, and sweet potato with coriander. Surprisingly, they’re incredibly harmonious together. That’s the secret: harmony. The fusion movement started out from California, where Japanese, French and American chefs began to experiment with merging their national dishes. It has been amazingly successful over the past twenty-odd years. It’s not by chance that I emphasise the word “harmony”, because gastronomic fusion was really inspired by jazz. I, too, like south-American jazz. That’s fusion as well. The essence of it is that, just like the music, the food should also have harmony. In the old days dishes were named after regular customers. Now this whole concept has been reversed. Today, people go to a restaurant because of the chef. The chef is the star, not the guests any more. Things are beginning to get out of proportion, and that’s not right. I’d like to start something. I’d like to instil in people a desire to experiment, to try new spices and unusual combinations of flavours. Because it’s important to reform our own cuisine. It’s no coincidence that the Italian and French cuisines have maintained such high standards for centuries on end – they dare to accept new ideas. If we become insular we’ll be left behind. A revolution is under way, in the world today, and Hungary is being left out. We shouldn’t stand for this. As customers raise their standards of home cooking, the quality of catering establishments will also change. And then at last we will get a sense that something has happened – when we finally accept that there’s more to life than goulash.

Csikós Virág