The place across Pierrot's, at 21 Fortuna Street, was bought by the Ilonas in 1991 from the Kelenföldi Közért as part of a pre-privatisation.
Of course, there is a story behind this as well.
In the 1980s, the Austrian businessman Peter Strauss spent a lot of time in Budapest, he used to come to Pierrot's a lot, and a friendship developed between him, Ilona and Péter.
When there was a talk about privatising the premises at 21 Fortuna Street, Peter persuaded Ilona and Péter to buy it and explained the reason why. The small and dark stretch of pavement in front of Pierrot will never become a large sunny terrace, but the building opposite has a large square and the sun shines on it.
The downside was that the building was privatised in 1991 with a clause that it had to be a public house for five years... Ilona didn't want that, but Peter Strauss kept insisting that once the five years were up, it would be a great property, perfect for a restaurant.
So Ilona and Péter bought the property by privatisation, and after many changes of profile (first it was a compulsory grocery, then an office, then an antique gallery) they opened 21 Hungarian Kitchen in 2008.
The idea to open a new restaurant came when Roy joined the family business. The restaurant profile was the only question.
It was Péter Zsidai's idea to open a Hungarian restaurant in order not to compete with Pierrot. Not "Hungarian", but a bistro with the flavours of Hungarian bourgeois cuisine.
When it opened, András Wolf helped with the menu, Attila Tálos helped with the Hungarian wine list, and later Zsolt Litauszki prepared the delicious Hungarian dishes.
The restaurant was fully completed by September 2008, but it did not get its operating licence straight away - bureaucracy meant that it had to wait until December.
Interestingly, the 2008 currency crisis had already hit, so 21 managed to open on 12 December 2008, in the middle of one of the biggest global crises...
