Buborék in Csopak opened its doors in July this year, serving as a bakery, café, bike shop, service, and rental, and work is already underway on the upstairs of the building to make accommodation available for the coming season. Eszter Bertóty and Edit Móder were responsible for the special interior design, creating a space where the hospitality industry is combined with a bicycle shop, both functionally and visually
We arrived on an early September morning at Csopak’s new hotspot, the complex catering unit advertised as Bed, Bike, Bread. The location is close to the train station, the bike path, and a few minutes’ walk from the beach. The bluish-green of Lake Balaton emerges from the street frontage, and the hue is echoed on the building’s exterior details, including the shutters and signboard. At the entrance, lavender bushes and olive trees create a Mediterranean atmosphere, which is then contrasted with Scandinavian influences inside. The love child of Provance, Stockholm and Csopak: Buborék!
Although the season is over and the number of visitors has dropped from the summer peak—sometimes with up to 400 breakfasts served—there was still a steady flow of customers. There is clearly a great demand here for a new-wave place that doesn’t pull the plug at the end of August but welcomes locals and cyclists all year round. Breakfast-lovers are treated with homemade leavened bread, baguettes, extra buttery pastries, aesthetic sandwich and (chia) pudding creations and egg dishes. In addition to coffee, guests can choose from kombucha, freshly pressed juices and even champagne. The quality of the traditional and electric bikes on offer is as high as the gastronomic line. As well as two-wheelers, you’ll also find accessories and own-brand cycling clothing.
The interior is dominated by natural materials, stainless steel, white-tiled and raw concrete surfaces, neutral tones and clean, modern furniture. The minimalist atmosphere is broken up by vibrant fragments of space and bicycles installed as artworks. Eszter Bertóty and Edit Móder, interior architects, worked together on the interior design: we approached them for a mini-interview.
What kind of atmosphere were you aiming to create in the Buborék, and to what extent were you given a free hand by the owners?
E. B. & E. M: The task was to design a bakery—café—bicycle shop in a building under renovation, with accommodation in the attic. There were no specific requirements for the design, we, the designers, came up with the concept. We wanted to design a sophisticated yet casually homely space. We looked at several existing bike shops, and our aim was to deviate from them and create a space where the hospitality and the shop would flow together, functioning as one unit even visually. We deliberately placed the bikes in the restaurant’s guest space and made the use of materials consistent.
What do you consider the most important interior elements of the place?
The uniquely shaped bar and the fireplace in the middle of the space are the most distinctive elements of Buborék. It was important to make the entrance inviting, and the indoor-outdoor bench helps to achieve this.
What do you think makes a new-wave Balaton restaurant truly cozy and outstanding?
Cozy can come from the harmonious use of materials and inventive but not too strict details, but to be truly outstanding, hospitality has to be exceptional. Fortunately, Buborék’s team is like that. As we often visit Csopak, feedback from our guests always comes back to us. Buborék has been very well received from the moment it opened, which we are very happy about, as we both have a particular love for this project. For us, it’s the highest praise if people like spending time there.
Photos: Balázs Mohai
Buborék Csopak | Web | Facebook | Instagram
Eszter Bertóty | Web | Facebook | Instagram
Edit Móder | Web
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