In our first proper "Italy Week" post, we take you to District VI eatery Ristorante Krizia. If you haven't been to Krizia, we're not surprised. Despite the fact that it's been on our list of Top 33 Restaurants in Budapest more or less continuously since the T33 was started by our sister site Pestiside.hu back in the fall of 2004, whenever we go in or walk by the place, it seems empty. (The above picture of the empty dining room was taken back in '04, but it still looks pretty much the same.) But as with the equally excellent and often diner-less Csalogány 26, this is no reason not to go.

Our most recent visit, for a leisurely Saturday lunch, began with a very amusing amuse bouche (above) consisting of lightly-breaded sage leaves filled with cheese and spices. Equally amusing was the special menu we found on our table offering a list of dishes each of which managed to incorporate strawberries, including some pasta dishes. But we decided to stick to some slightly more traditional offerings, starting off with a large appetizer of vitello tonnato con insalatina (cold slices of veal with tuna sauce and salad, Ft 2,500/€10).

But by "traditional" we don't mean boring or predictable. In addition to whims like pasta with strawberries, proprietor/chef Graziano Cattaneo is always ready with specials based on seasonal and other interesting ingredients. For us this meant made-on-premises tagliolini with sole and two kinds of asparagus, and a few perfectly wilted cherry tomatoes (up top, Ft 2,200), as well as a quite memorable dish of fried sole with acacia flowers and a healthy portion of healthy seasonal vegetables (above, a somewhat steep but not outrageous Ft 4,600).

The flower theme continued with our desserts, one of which was the pannacotta with elderflowers pictured right above (Ft 990). And of course we couldn't avoid having something from the strawberry menu, and settled on the astounding zabaglione with strawberries and lavender ice cream pictured third from the top (also Ft 990).

While most of these dishes were specials, we just got off the phone with Cattaneo, who said they are still on offer. And if they are not available by the time you get there, we're sure there will be something else equally interesting. But go find out for yourself.