As the ongoing recession bites further into the local gastronomy trade, it is interesting to see how different players are responding to the challenge. Some seem to be grimly holding on, hoping the whole thing will quickly blow over. Others are throwing up their hands and running away. And a small number are cleverly adjusting and playing to their strengths. Among the latter are the folks behind the ever-popular Trattoria Toscana, who also own the adjacent L'Enoteca Wine Shop & Deli, and have decided to get out of the wine importing business and use the space occupied by L'Enoteca for spillover from the Trattoria, as well as special events and so on. In addition to providing some extra seats for the often fully-booked Toscana, the "liquidation" of L'Enoteca is providing millions of forints in deals for local wine fans.

From a brief conversation with Toscana maestro Robert Longworth, it seems that he and his partners simply decided that the wine business was more of a hassle than it was worth. Meanwhile, even with restaurant business down everywhere, the Trattoria is still in the enviable position of having to routinely turn away patrons. So the move to integrate the wine bar into the restaurant makes barrels of sense.

If you are keen on checking out the wines being offered - which include both Hungarian and imports - just right-click here for the list in .xls format, and contact the shop to order. (The contact info on their site should work for at least a month; note that on the spreadsheet the number of bottles available for each wine is the total of the last two columns.) You can also probably just stop in the restaurant, though until they make the switch you're advised to call ahead for reservations.