We meet Laco Výpala, Brand Chef of Kubu restaurants. We will discuss his home Aupark, where he was running a restaurant until recently.
We are running late, three Bratislava´s streets were completely blocked. After arrival, we see that Laci has already printed out the new menu. As the first thing we notice that the snack section is missing – sandwiches, wraps, baguettes…
“We opted for the bruschetta section instead. An appetized with your wine or a starter.”
Bruschetta caught our attention. It looks goods, taste fresh, has a delicate crust and soft fluffy dough. Then we learn that they make their own pastry in the restaurant. “We have capable pizza chefs working with dough. We thought we could make our own ciabatta. And also own focaccia and own burger buns. As we use only quality and fresh ingredients we logically saw it as the best option.”
We started working on the new menu in January, finishing in May – it is the first great modification after three years. Approximately 80% of the menu has undergone a change. Laci and Marek Bielčik, Chef od Kubu Aupark, worked together on meals.
“Marek and I complemented the recipes. I enjoy working with him.” Laci and Marek were challenged to make significant changes but at the same time satisfy the customers´ expectations.
“We are in the shopping centre, we have clients that come here almost every day. They don´t want to experiment, they want to have their tasty meal. We selected almost 20% of meals that are the most favourite. We cannot change those. I decided to remove the others,” Laci explains. “I wanted the setting where one thing fits into the other,” he adds.
The main topic of the entire menu was to have light meals, as the summer is coming. That meaning that Marek and Laci minimized ingredients such as potato purée, cream, minced meat…vegetable was provided more space than usual in the past.
Such a significant change on the menu is similar to opening a new restaurant. Fortunately, we are a team working together very well, thus changes are no problem for us.
Come and try something, we will be looking for your visit.