Matild Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Budapest has announced its partnership with Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group.

Wolfgang Puck will oversee the entire dining operations at the restored Palace, including a new Spago restaurant. Slated to open this May in the heart of Budapest, just a stone’s throw away from the Danube, Matild Palace will bring a new era of entertainment and gastronomy to the city.

Originally from Austria, Puck began cooking at his mother’s side as a child. She was a chef in the Austrian town where he was born, and with her encouragement he started his formal training at the age of fourteen.

As a young chef, he worked in some of France’s very best restaurants, including Maxim’s in Paris, the Hotel de Paris in Monaco and the three-Michelin-starred L’Oustau de Baumanière in Provence.

Today his name carries an undeniable cachet, synonymous with a bold, innovative school of cooking that redefined fine dining in America and around the world.

After many years away from home, the chef arrives to his new home in Budapest, with three dining concepts at Matild Palace, together with a culinary team that includes some of the best local talent in Hungary.

“I’ve been waiting for the right time and partner to return to Central Europe,” said Wolfgang Puck. “I am thrilled to finally have Budapest, the Queen of Danube, as my new home, and look forward to providing exceptional culinary experiences to the city’s residents and visitors.”

Spago by Wolfgang Puck

The original Spago opened in 1982 in West Hollywood, California, and became an overnight success. Known for its Californian cuisine, the restaurant relocated to Canon Drive in Beverly Hills in 1997 and has continued to set the standard. Spago was the recipient of the AAA Four Diamond Award and two stars in The Michelin Guide-Los Angeles edition.

Spago by Wolfgang Puck Budapest will offer contemporary design, a lounge and a terrace located at Duna street. Maintaining its leading position as one of the pioneers of the gastronomy world, setting trends in culinary arts, service, and style, Spago will cater to a brand-new gastronomic culture in the city by blending the chef’s famous Californian cuisine and Puck’s talented local chefs’ Magyar culinary skills, traditions and choice of local products.

Matild Café and Cabaret

Matild Café & Cabaret – scheduled to open in September – will be the reimagination of one of the finest and most historic European Coffee houses, the Belvárosi Kávéház, which is and has been a much-loved institution of Budapest’s urban history, established in 1901.

Created more than a century ago and restored to its rightful grandeur within Matild Palace, the classic art nouveau café has an iconic heritage and famed culinary traditions. The space creates stylish and modern scenes of pleasure over coffee, cakes, bakery, comfort food, all envisioned by Wolfgang Puck.

The Duchess

Hidden amongst Budapest’s famed roofscape, with a view towards the Elisabeth Bridge, Danube River, and Gellért Hill, The Duchess will be a secret liquor library that provides a new perspective on Budapest vistas.

Inspired by the Archduchess Maria Klotild, who in 1884 commissioned the Matild Palace to include a clandestine rooftop section as a rendezvous for the Decadence Movement, the bar is accessed through a hidden entrance of private elevators and transports the guests to another world through its concealed and decadent story of glamour, gastronomy, mixology and a curated soundtrack.

The partnership also extends to include the in-room dining for the guests to dine in the convenience of their room, and all the meeting and social events catering.

“Wolfgang Puck’s name is synonymous with the best of restaurant hospitality and the ultimate in all aspects of the culinary arts and is acclaimed globally for delivering exceptional culinary hospitality,” comments Emre Pasli, General Manager at Matild Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Budapest.

Adding: “I am delighted to welcome Wolfgang to his new home in Budapest. Together with Wolfgang, we are confident that Matild Palace will once again ignite the city’s dining scene into a gastronomic epicentre.”