Hospitality with heart and soul | The revamped Mandragóra Restaurant

The history of Budapest’s Mandragóra Restaurant goes back more than a decade. Initially, it operated as a clubhouse-like café, then turned into a fine-dining bistro restaurant, while maintaining its laid-back, intimate and friendly atmosphere. But Mandragóra has recently arrived at a new chapter: in addition to the revamped interior and kitchen, as part of the renewal, Kira Koroknai has designed a sophisticated brand identity expressing the restaurant’s spirit.

Kira Koroknai graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts with a graphic design degree and is currently working as a freelance designer: she enjoys creating in the fields of art, design, architecture and gastronomy the most. We first noticed her work when designing a label for the Dúzsi winery’s Le Tour de Dúzsi, which was a collaborative project with Anna Hidvégi.

In Mandragóra’s new identity, a traditional yet modern and timeless visual language takes shape, harmonizing with the new interior’s ambiance. The main motif of the visual identity was inspired by the plant in the name of the restaurant: mandragóra means mandrake. The botanical elements are paired with matching shades of colors, evoking the verdure of nature, and all this is topped off with a combination of traditional and contemporary typography.

“The restaurant offers traditional Hungarian dishes, which are reimagined from a modern perspective. In addition, their goal is to use as many high-quality, local ingredients as possible when preparing their dishes. I wanted to create sophisticated, detailed and physically tactile identity elements that reflect the excellent quality of the dishes, therefore premium papers and printing technology played a significant role in the design process, as these items make the first impression on guests,” Kira added.

Kira is currently working on the brand visuals of a winery in Hungary’s Balaton Uplands, the website of an architectural foundation and a book dealing with semiotic research at the same time. For more of her works, check out the designer’s website.

Photos: Kevin Harald Campean

Kira Koroknai | Web | Instagram | Behance
Mandragóra Restaurant | Web | Facebook

• brand identity
• branding
• gastronomy
• gastro
• identity design
• kira koroknai