Sandorf

The restaurant & setting. Martin Novák ("Maťo") heads to the Záhorie region, to the village of Prievaly, home to the Sandorf restaurant, brewery and wellness complex. The whole place grew from Izabela's father's vision: he sank nearly a million euros into a small brewery, a guesthouse, a spa and Thai massages. The guesthouse and wellness turn a profit; the restaurant limps along beside them.

The people. He was called by 25-year-old Izabela, who grew up here and is now meant to run the restaurant her father built. The restaurant is effectively run by two women, Izabela and her stepmother Ľubica (Ľubka), whose roles overlap and clash. In the kitchen stands 44-year-old cook Peťo (Peter), a trained cook-and-waiter with 30 years' experience and a former business of his own, who disagrees with the menu management dictated to him. On the floor are the long-serving, perpetually scowling 63-year-old waiter Pavel "Paľo" Polakovič and young waiter Maťko, who fell into the trade through a summer job.

Why they called Martin. Izabela wants to win back its old name and ratings. Beside the profitable guesthouse and wellness the restaurant limps along, and Maťo had already sent in his mystery diners beforehand; their impressions and the online reviews are damning, especially about the older waiter.

The first visit. Maťo orders duck, ribs, tagliatelle, a burger and fish. The soup arrives lukewarm and has to go back to be reheated. The Thai curry doesn't belong here at all, the duck skin is rubbery, the tagliatelle lacks a single gram of salt, the burger comes out cold ("just make the fish and be done"), and the fish is over-soured with lemon. "This is exactly what the people I sent here told me": Maťo had sent in his mystery diners beforehand, and the online reviews are damning too, especially about the older waiter.

The diagnosis. Maťo calls in Peťo and backs him: if the cook is stuck serving dishes he disagrees with because "management is stronger than his opinion," the problem isn't the kitchen; it's the leadership. He scolds the two women for refusing respect to a man who cooked there alone for two and a half of the last three months. He then brings the mystery diners straight in front of Izabela: none of them would return, not for the service, not for the food. Izabela breaks down in tears, admitting she isn't succeeding. Paľo is frustrated by the conditions and unmotivated, and it shows in how he treats guests. Maťo's diagnosis: a "shadow minister", two bosses contradicting each other, leaving the staff scrambled. The restaurant has one advantage, a village monopoly; but let someone open a place a hundred metres away and they'd be devoured.

The reset. The next day Paľo doesn't show (he reports health problems). Maťo leaves Izabela and Maťko to clear the air between them, and shuts himself in the kitchen with Peťo. It turns out Peťo thinks almost exactly as Maťo does. "I struck a chord with someone". Maťo gives Peťo a "memento" for the place and sorts out new plates (the old ones came from a works canteen, "the last soldier standing in the field").

New concept & menu. Together they cook a beer-built menu: beer soup, braised beef brisket, French toast, pancakes with beer jam, chocolate pudding. The concept leans on the on-site brewery and on a cook who finally stands behind the dishes.

The big night. Invited guests arrive for the launch of the new menu. Service starts shakily: Maťko is stressed, orders get muddled, a waiter brings fried bread instead of French toast, but the food goes out and the floor stabilises, especially once Izabela starts working the room more. The beer soup is "brutal" (in the best sense), the venison and the foams get praise. At the end of the night Maťo openly thanks Peťo and names him the pillar of the restaurant; he tells Izabela she has someone to learn from. "Tomorrow isn't the end; tomorrow is the be-gin-ning."

One month later. The restaurant has been repainted and re-wallpapered and has a new menu. Paľo has since parted ways with the place (and wasn't taken back). Maťo sits down as a guest: he finds used, dirty napkins on the table; floor management still isn't under control, and Izabela should give it more of her time. The food, though, is a clear step up: the venison with dill sauce is excellent, the fried beer cheese is great, the root vegetables beside the beef brisket needed to be al dente and the meat wanted another half-hour, but the flavours are good. It opened people's eyes, and new customers have come.

Verdict: Sandorf has a brewery, a village monopoly and a cook who pours his heart into it, and, a month on, a direction and a new menu too. The weak spot remains floor management and the small details on the sale, which Izabela still has to nail. Maťo symbolically hands the sticker to Peťo as the pillar of the kitchen. The Sandorf restaurant in Prievaly is awarded 3 knives.