Posting may be light over the next few days, as we are currently in the process of re-working our "Top 33" list of Budapest restaurants, adding a few eateries that we think are among the best in BP, and kicking off a few that for one reason or another no longer make the cut. As part of this process, we've checked back in with a few charter members of the list, just to remind ourselves what makes a restaurant special enough for near-permanent Top 33 status. One such restaurant is Baraka.

Anyone who knows anything about haut cuisine in Hungary will know Baraka, which last year moved from its long-time premises in District V to the Andrássy Hotel, near City Park. But there is another side to Baraka that we only recently discovered ourselves, when we stopped in for a quick bite with a friend. While we had always associated the restaurant with long, extravagant and very expensive dinners - things we aren't often in the mood for - this time we ordered lightly, and came away with an altogether different feeling.

The basic point here is that, in some cases, less is more, and a place like Baraka shouldn't be limited to special occasions, even if the food being offered is truly special. Yes, a Ft 3,600 bowl of shrimp soup (top) is an extravagance, but somehow when you are not spending a week getting psyched up for it, it's even more enjoyable. The same goes for the porcini soup with goose liver foam (second from top, Ft 3,200).

We followed our soups with two other appetizers, a delicious beef tartare wrapped in crispy noodles with a yoghurt-wasabi dressing (Ft 3,200) and a plate of seared goose liver with currants (Ft 3,500) that was so good we didn't even get a pic.

Having been to the restaurant enough times to get on their own "A" list, we then were presented with an amuse bouche that was not so much amusing as astounding: that's a single sea scallop submerged in a (as we recall) vanilla-scented cream.

Finally, out came a little a multi-layered liquid palate cleanser with the faintest taste of reduced balsamic vinegar. As if we wanted to have our palates cleansed! So just to recap, sometimes the biggest culinary marvels are better in nibbles, and, as long as there is a Top 33, Baraka is likely to be taking a 1/33th bite of it.