It is a great source of pride for the Zsidai Group: Ilona Zsidai, founder of the Zsidai Group and a defining figure in Hungarian hospitality, will receive the Károly Gundel Award in 2026.
The recognition honours a professional career spanning more than five decades, throughout which the same values have always remained at the heart of her work: the guest, quality, a passion for the profession, and the belief that hospitality means far more than what is served on the plate.
Ilona Zsidai began her career at some of Hungary’s leading institutions in the hotel and hospitality industry before spending several years in the United States and returning home with international experience. In 1982, together with her husband, Péter Zsidai, she opened Café Pierrot in Buda Castle, at a time when privately owned hospitality businesses were still a rarity in Hungary. Pierrot soon became a distinctive meeting place and marked the first chapter of a family story that has now spanned more than four decades.
The Zsidai Group was built on the values established there. Restaurants, cafés, bars and boutique hotels followed, while the family business grew into one of Budapest’s defining hospitality groups. The story later continued beyond Budapest, with international collaborations including partnerships with Jamie Oliver and Kempinski Hotels.
From the very beginning, Ilona Zsidai’s work has been defined by exceptional attention to detail, high professional standards and a guest-centred approach. Passing on knowledge and supporting the next generations have always been equally important to her. Since 2006, she and her son, Zoltán Roy Zsidai, have continued to build the family business together, carrying forward the philosophy whose foundations Ilona and Péter laid more than four decades ago.
This latest recognition marks another important milestone in Ilona Zsidai’s professional career. In 2023, at the Audi–Dining Guide Restaurant of the Year Gala, she received the Dining Guide Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her decades of work and defining role in Hungarian hospitality. This year, the Károly Gundel Award becomes the latest addition to her professional honours.
For us, the Károly Gundel Award therefore represents far more than another professional recognition. It is an acknowledgement of a lifetime’s work that continues to shape the Zsidai Group across generations, the hospitality culture of Buda Castle and, more broadly, Hungarian gastronomic culture.
Founded in 2014 by the Hungarian Hospitality Industry Association, the Károly Gundel Award is open to hospitality professionals who have played a defining role in the industry for at least 25 years, demonstrating outstanding professional achievement and an exemplary career. Alongside Ilona Zsidai, the 2026 recipients are Zoltán Kóbor and Árpád László. The awards will be presented on October 18 at a ceremonial gala lunch held at Gundel Restaurant, according to Turizmus.com.
Congratulations to Ilona Zsidai and the other award recipients! We are proud of the legacy she has created and that we have the privilege of continuing to build every day.
Detailed information about the award and this year’s recipients is available from https://turizmus.com/cikk/vendeglatas/gundel-karoly-dij-kituntetettjei-2026-mvi-kovacs-laszlo-galaebed