Of course, secret clubs have been operating all over the world for many years. Gourmets, who value the appearance of insideness beyond measure, move around between garages, galleries, switchback gardens and tents in order to experience unique gastronomical gatherings. Some such  places are the U Jednoho pokoje in Prague (near Pavlova Square), the Hidden Kitchen in the first district of Paris, where an American couple invites you into their home, the extremely popular Salon Radtke in Berlin-Kreuzberg, and The Dinner Room, the apartment restaurant of Angelika Apfelthaler in Vienna. That said there is nothing mysterious about the former producer's apartment in Schönbrunn, especially since the publication in last December's New York Times supplement of the best 10 restaurant apartments („World's 10 Best Secret Dining Clubs").

However, this doesn't faze gastro adventurers: they would give anything just to get into the kitchen of Di Nallo, the sociology professor in Bologna, or into the restaurant of Yoshiaki Takazawa in Tokyo that has the maximum capacity of 6 people. Their chances are slight though: the ten-course menu, that costs fifty thousand forints, must be booked six months in advance.

„Samizdat kitchen" operates in Budapest as well. Miklós Sulyok organized his first 'cooking and eating course' one and a half years ago in Bródy Sándor Street. The mathematician, who has become (quite rightly) disillusioned with Hungarian gastro culture, opened a culinary club where he taught his guests the basics of taste and tasting. 'A place where you will make friends' was his motto. But he did not make friends in his block of condominiums. The property manager reported him to the police, claiming that these gatherings were not simply dinners with friends, but that the gastro guru was running an illegal restaurant without authorization from the National Public Health and Medical Officer Service, the Hungarian Tax and Financial Control Administration or the Hungarian Food Safety Office (and who knows what else). His gastronomic mission almost ended in failure, although it is an accepted custom in village tourism that small-scale producers can welcome guests in their homes up to 15 people.

But this is nothing compared to the idea of going up to somebody's apartment and having a semi-illegal dinner surrounded by total strangers. So my heart was in my mouth when I received the e-mail stating that I was among the ten chosen people. It stated the price (4,500 HUF for three courses with drinks) and the address as well. Just to be on the safe side I mugged up a few passwords (in a New York honkytonk someone once asked me what I would order if I knew it would be my last supper), but there was no hitch this time, the code worked and I was welcomed on the courtyard balcony by the three well-known chef students (Zsófia Bajor, Tamás Kollár és Márton Zeibig) from the Apartment Restaurant series of Paprika TV. Just like back when I was a student, living in a rented apartment. There was a cream soup of fried vegetables, a pork shank confit served with raisins and cognac flavoured cabbage and pumpkin and a salty caramel mousse (the recipe of Chili and Vanília) on the table. And four nations were represented at the table, just like in the book of P. Howard: 'An American foot-soldier, a French lance corporal, an English machine-gun carrier and a Russian meat salad.' On a more serious tone, the assistant and the make-up man of Ridley Scott's new Robin Hood movie were sitting at the table, so I was among those lucky ones who got to know first that Sienna Miller performing Marion had to be changed for another actress, because Russell Crowe refused to lose 20 kgs. And this made me appreciate the pork shank even more. If Robin Hood can have a belly then I have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.