The love of the whole team is in every dish – the Kiscsikó restaurant in Transcarpathia is open even in wartime
The phone number starts with +38. This is Ukraine. The neighbouring country where there has been a war for two years now and which some 130,000 Hungarians call home. Here, precisely in Beregszász (Beregovo), is the Kiscsikó ('Little foal') restaurant, which is not only the canteen of the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education, but also an important meeting point for the local Hungarian community. The Russian-Ukrainian war has left Ildikó Puskás on her own to do things that she and her husband used to do together. Her family, however, supports her from Vásárosnamény, Hungary, as a safe backup, just as the motherland does not leave them on their own: the State Secretariat for National Policy offers several opportunities for entrepreneurs to seize.
Kindness, professionalism, boundless hospitality. These three words came to my mind while talking to Ildikó Puskás about their family business. The Kiscsikó canteen was launched in 2017, but despite calling itself a canteen, it goes well beyond catering to college students. "Today, we not only cook for students, we also do catering for all kinds of events, even banquets or presidential luncheons. We have basic menus that we have devised ourselves, but we also have made dishes on demand, we are open-minded, we like variety, but we make sure that we keep the great classics on the menu," Ildikó says enthusiastically.
Their story with the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education did not begin when the restaurant opened. Both of them studied at the institution, Róbert majored in English and his wife in Philology. Ildikó's family had previously had a small business at the institution, which closed down.
The president of the college, Ildikó Orosz, however, did not forget about them, and two weeks after graduation, she approached the young couple to open the new canteen.
During the Covid epidemic, the college also closed, and the canteen's clientele disappeared overnight. "Then, as part of the Hungarian State Department's entrepreneurship training program, we came up with a strategy, together with wonderful mentors, and assessed the local needs, and we knocked on doors in Beregszász/Berehovo with flyers and started a delivery service, which was the only one of its kind in the city. The contact with the State Department has given us knowledge that we could put into practice. The network of contacts helps us to get to know other entrepreneurs, and the mentors not only give us advice, but we have a friendly relationship and look out for each other," Ildikó recalls.
"Then came something even more terrible, the war," the owner's voice becomes serious. - We relocated to Vásárosnamény, Hungary, my husband and children are there now, and I cross the border every day to run the business. Unfortunately, my husband can't help with the physical work, although he was always there for me before, so "I'm limping on one leg' in that respect, but we have a great team of people who work together and we operate in the same way. Luckily, we have a lot of orders," adds the mother, whose words reveal that the Kiscsikó is more than just a financial source for the family.
"If it was just that, I would have left the business a long time ago. We started the restaurant from scratch, and we've poured our hearts and souls into it ever since."
"Everyone in the team feels the business as their own, and their love is in every dish," says Ildikó, who is very proud that among the guests are well-known people such as President Katalin Novák, singer Magdi Rúzsa, the band Halott Pénz and members of the band Edda.
But it's not just the famous guests who make her feel like it's worth getting up every day and keep going. "We get a lot of love from people. Recently, the fifth graders from a local school were here on a field trip, they sat down for a hot chocolate and we started chatting about who we've cooked for, and how we cook the dishes, and the kids were interested in everything. We sponsored the college's Freshmen Dinner to help the young students eat good food and have a good time. The college organizes many events: at a grape harvest we had to cook for 800 people," recalls Ildikó, who, despite the circumstances, is looking forward to what the future will bring.
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