November 13, 2025
The culinary experience of the year is coming to Prague. In autumn, more than a hundred people will have the opportunity to try a tasting menu created by the best Chefs from Czechia and Slovakia.
This unique fine dining event, aptly named Dinner of the Year, will be organized for the first time in Czechia by the international gastronomic guide Gault&Millau. It will be hosted on Sunday, October 19, 2025, at an iconic location of Czechoslovak gastronomy – the rooftop restaurant Zlatá Praha, the jewel of the newly reopened five-star luxury hotel Fairmont Golden Prague (formerly InterContinental).
A multi-course tasting menu will be prepared by a trio of top Chefs. Two of them are holders of the highest trophy, Chef of the Year Gault&Millau 2025, namely Jan Knedla in Czechia (Restaurant Papilio, Vysoký Újezd) and Daniel Tilinger in Slovakia (ECK Restaurant, Devín). They will be joined by Chef Maroš Jambor from the host restaurant Zlatá Praha. The impressive dishes will be accompanied by paired wines and welcome Champagne in the stylish Golden Eye Bar.
"Given the composition of the Chef team, the impressive surroundings of the restaurant, and the magnificent view of Prague offered by the restaurant´s premises, it is clear that this will be a unique experience. The event will be held in the Czechoslovak spirit, and those interested will also be able to take part in a guided tour of the hotel," adds Miroslav Lekeš, CEO of Gault&Millau Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary.
"Let yourself be surprised by the menu itself. However, I can reveal that all three of us will draw inspiration from the cuisine of the countries we come from and love. We will focus on precise, flavorful, and detailed preparations that will provide guests with a wonderful experience," adds Maroš Jambor on behalf of the trio of Chefs.
Tickets for the Dinner of the Year will be available for purchase online from September 1, priced at €360. There will be two time slots to choose from, either at 12 noon or 7 p.m. The total capacity of the event is 120 guests.
Dinner of the Year is a unique event that will mark the end of Gault&Millau's first year in Czechia. In addition to the January gala evening, which saw the launch of this year's guide and the announcement of the award winners, Gault&Millau also held POP Battles in May and June, a series of cooking competitions between popular local restaurants as part of the Elimon FRESH Festivals in Pilsen, Brno, and Pardubice. In each city, two restaurants competed against each other, using regional ingredients in their recipes or coming up with their own fine dining menu. Gault&Millau also arranged for Italian Chef and winner of the Italian national round of the prestigious Bocuse d'Or competition, Martin Ruggieri, to take part in a cooking show at the April MAKRO Czech Gastro Fest in Prague. In addition to publishing the guide, Gault&Millau Czechia plans to organize a gastronomic event for the general public next year, which is expected to take place in Brno.
Foodies who cannot make it to Prague for the October Dinner of the Year can check out the Bratislava version on Sunday, November 9, 2025. At the Radisson Blu Carlton Hotel, Jan Knedla and Daniel Tiling will be joined by one of Hungary's best Chefs, awarded by Gault&Millau, whose name will not be known until the results are announced on September 22 in Budapest.
Chefs’ Medallions
JAN KNEDLA
Jan Knedla is the Chef at Papilio restaurant in Vysoký Újezd, which, under his leadership, received a rating of 17 out of 20 points this year, earning four toques in the Gault&Millau guide. He began his career in prestigious restaurants in Scotland, where he worked at the Hilton hotel. He gained further valuable experience in Michelin-starred restaurants in Italy, Great Britain, and Hong Kong. He also worked under the guidance of French gastronomic legend Joël Robuchon, which had a profound influence on his approach to cooking. Today, his restaurant focuses on working with high-quality seasonal ingredients, which he prepares using modern gastronomic techniques with respect for nature and farmers.
DANIEL TILINGER
The Chef, but also a designer and a builder of the entire concept behind the ECK restaurant in Devín near Bratislava, which received the highest rating in Slovakia, namely 18 out of a total of 20 points and four toques. Daniel Tilinger gained experience at Kempinski in the Tatra Mountains and in Bratislava, at a five-star hotel in Bruges, at Gordon Ramsay's Maze in London, and at the award-winning Austrian restaurant Ikarus Hangar-7. His cuisine is based on the unconventional, eye-catching, and beautiful presentation of traditional Slovak ingredients. Thanks to his work, guests will understand Slovak gastronomy in a delicious, unprecedented and playful form with his unmistakable signature.
MAROŠ JAMBOR
Chef Maroš Jambor, who gained experience in Michelin-starred kitchens at Eleven Madison Park in New York and Gordon Ramsay and Sketch – Lecture Room and Library in London, brings to Zlatá Praha an emphasis on cleanliness, precise organization, and a strong culinary culture. His fiancée Romana Zelinová, who has worked at Harrods and the Michelin-starred restaurant Muse, among others, is the creator of Zlatá Praha's dessert concept.
About Gault&Millau
The French gastronomic guide was founded by journalists Henri Gault and Christian Millau in the 1960s as a reaction to the rigid evaluation rules of other guides at the time. They created a flexible rating system based on a combination of toques and points. They defined the culinary ten commandments of the so-called "Nouvelle Cuisine." Thanks to their approach and work, they made the cover of the prestigious Time magazine in 1980, and their system helped discover many gastronomic talents, such as Jöel Robuchon. The guide is currently available in France, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, Georgia, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, and, most recently, Czechia and Slovakia, with Hungary set to be added in September.
About the Fairmont Golden Prague Hotel and the Zlatá Praha Restaurant
Fairmont Golden Prague is the result of a sensitive and extensive renovation of a brutalist building from the 1970s. The hotel offers 320 rooms, a state-of-the-art Fairmont Spa & Wellness, and six restaurants and bars that aim to become a natural part of metropolitan life. "Golden Prague is a symbol of what we want to bring to the hotel – a top-notch experience, authenticity, and openness to the city," says Gerhard Struger, general manager of Fairmont Golden Prague.
