In a country dominated by dine-like-a-king-and-not-pay restaurant reviews, the "Wittman Brothers" were some of very few critics who lived up to the name. The pair routinely panned poor restaurants in the column in daily broadsheet Népszabadság, and as a result were treated with a reverence normally reserved for opera divas among Hungary's restaurant-going public. (They were not actually brothers, and neither was named "Wittman," being known to those in the know as Miklós Fáy and Jakab Orsós László.) Sadly, the Wittmans' generally spotless reputation has been tarnished by their latest book, which has just received a scathing critique from a critic at portal Index.hu.

The book is a collection of restaurant reviews published between 1997 and 2001, which, as reviewer Barbara Thüringer sensibly points out, kind of defeats the purpose of a book of restaurant critiques, however amusing and trash-talking the articles may be. (The publisher sidesteps the book's obsolescence by saying on the back cover that it is "not for heading downtown with.") Meanwhile, Thüringer says it is poorly laid out and badly illustrated. Worse still, it costs Ft 3,190 (€12.15). Strike it from your Christmas gift list today.