When visiting Bratislava, to try the authentic Slovak cuisine is a must. To catch the historical flow of the city, there is no better place, than to visit the Savoy Restaurant in the ground floor of the legendary Carlton building, that used to form an atmosphere of Bratislava for centuries. In today’s Savoy restaurant you can try the redefined concept of traditional Bratislava (rather than Pressburg or Pozsony) cuisine. They offer exceptional meals that perfectly fuse the old Slovak recipes and modern culinary trends. It is a good choice to treat your guests with supreme modern Slovak cuisine and catch the vibe of centuries-long Bratislavian history.
THE HISTORY
The ground floor of Hotel Carlton in Hviezdoslavovo square, close to the National Theatre and Slovak Philharmonic, has for centuries been a meeting spot for foodies. Today’s restaurant with the iconic name opened in the past years. But the place has served as a restaurant from the 13thcentury. The name of the restaurant back then was The Swan’s, and since there were no potatoes in Bratislava back then, they probably served mostly wheat products.
Later on, in the 18thcentury the tavern changed its name to By The Three Green Trees. It became a rest house for the hungry and thirsty travellers and their horses. The rest house was later rebuilt to a three storey hotel. Even the great historical names, like Franz Joseph I., the Emperor of Austria, spend some nights at the hotel. The hotel By the Green Tree triumphed with first cinema in Slovakia with a futuristic name Elektro Bioskop.
After the total reconstruction of the Savoy-Carlton with 400 beds became the biggest hotel in Central Europe. The Carlton cafe was a known meeting spot for intelligence, lawyers, doctors, engineers, professors and businessmen. Some great names like Thomas Alva Edison, Albert Nobel or Theodor Roosevelt can be found in the old hotel books. The nearby Savoy restaurant was, on the other hand, a notorious melting pot for different social groups, mostly young university scholars and gay community of Bratislava.
After all that great history that was created, by the eighties the hotel was so devastated that it had to close down. After a massive reconstruction, Hotel Carlton finally reopened in 2001 as a part of the Radisson Blu chain with 4 stars. And the ground floor remained the Savoy restaurant where history keeps being written.
Written by: Ajda Borak
