György Lipták

According to his own account, he knew from a very young age that he imagined his future as a chef/hospitality professional. Since there were no hospitality professionals in his family, he believes he may have drawn inspiration from his grandmother, who ran a serious household and kitchen, and his mother, who worked at home and cooked every day.

He began seriously engaging with the culinary profession after his secondary school studies. Following his high school graduation, he enrolled in the Debrecen Vocational Secondary School and Trade School of Commerce and Hospitality. As one of the last students of László Boros, a Venesz Award-winning master chef, he completed his practical training at the Belgian Pub.

Alongside the three-year vocational training and practice, he regularly traveled to Budapest every week to work and learn, absorbing everything he could. This is how he came into contact with Csaba Ádám, Attila Bicsár, Péter Budai, Árpád Győrffy, Tibor Jászai, István Lukács, Gábor Merczi, Szása Nyíri, Lajos Papp, Ferenc Rácz, Viktor Segal, Lajos Takács, Péter Várvizi, Zoltán Vidák, and Frigyes Vomberg. After passing his vocational exam, he began his career at the Ikon restaurant in Debrecen.

Subsequently, he was admitted to the tourism and hospitality program at the then Budapest Business College, where he met Dénes Sándor. As a former student, it was a great honor for him to judge numerous culinary competitions through Dénes Sándor and to work for several semesters as a practical instructor at the university.

During his college years, he continuously worked at various places, including La Fiesta Party Service, as well as the Gundel, Olimpia, and Arany Kaviár restaurants. He feels that through La Fiesta Party Service, he became familiar with many special event locations (Opera House, Royal Palace of Gödöllő, Kiscelli Museum) and also traveled to Denmark, where he assisted at the gala dinner of the Womex music festival opening night.

Throughout both his vocational school and college studies, he sought to enrich his professional knowledge with international experience. This led him to Germany, where he worked at a four-star superior hotel, gaining insight into the life of the hotel’s F&B department. Later, he spent two weeks in Northern Italy, in the lakeside town of Lecco on Lake Como, as part of an exchange program.

During his college years, he spent most of his time working at the Arany Kaviár restaurant led by Attila Molnár and Szása Nyíri. There, he became acquainted with the Hungarian fine dining world. Thanks to head chef László Kanász, he was introduced to high-quality ingredients. Through this experience, he also participated in the annual Gourmet Festival. It was also thanks to Arany Kaviár that he attended the Sirha exhibition in Lyon, which included the Bocuse d’Or world final, where Tamás Széll achieved fourth place. At the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ stand, dishes prepared with Hungarian ingredients were sampled, in which György Lipták also participated.

He completed his college internship in Hong Kong at the three-star Bo Innovation and the one-star MIC Kitchen. During his years at BGF, he was the gastronomic director of the Garamvári Vineyard for four years in Balatonlelle and Budafok. After college, he worked at the Moszkva Tér Bistro in Budapest. From spring 2018, he worked as head chef of a vegan bistro on Andrássy Avenue, and from spring 2019, he became head chef of a sixty-room private clubhouse at Normafa.