I'd walked by Andante Borpatika in Budapest's first district hundreds of times, meaning to come back for a glass or two of wine sometime. But it took me months to actually do it. There was just something about the place that held me back. One of the things I love best about Italy and Spain are the simple, rustic, and always lively wine and tapas bars that are everywhere, overflowing with people who know they can drop in at any time, and in any attire. Andante just didn't give out that same sort of cozy welcoming vibe that I want from a wine bar. It looked just a little too nice. But it did have a few other things I couldn't resist - tables with gorgeous views of the Chain Bridge, and wine by Ede and Zsolt Tiffán, one of Villány's premier father and son winemaking teams, who just so happen to be co-owners of the place.

It's all about the wine here, and not just Tiffán's own wine, though there are nine types of it sold by the glass. It's a swanky place in a gorgeously renovated building with white tablecloths, nice wooden wine cabinets everywhere, lots of patrons, and servers who wear ties and shiny vests. But the wine is pretty reasonably priced, with tasty options in all price categories. You can buy a bottle of Tiffan's Rosé for as little as Ft 1,600 (€6.20) or a 1997 double magnum of Tiffan's Grande Sélection for Ft 95,000. With the exception of a page of Tiffán's ritkaságok (rare) wines and a few expensive bottles of Tokaj aszú, all of the nearly 100 wines on the list are also poured by the glass, just as they should be at a wine bar.

Though they only serve cold food, it's exactly the kind that goes down best with wine, like sausage, goose liver, pate, and a great selection of goat cheese. Whatever you order is served up on big platters, family style. Pictured above is what we feasted on with a bottle of Tiffán red: cooked, smoked pork tarja (Ft 1,200; the menu calls it "spare ribs"), cold roasted duck (Ft 1,300) breast, and luscious chunks of goat cheese aged in pumpkin seed oil (Ft 800, hiding behind the pepper).

On a separate plate was the horseradish cream (which goes with the tarja), red onion marmalade (Ft 450), and some of the best tasting goose fat that I've ever slathered on a piece of bread, which tasted all the better because it was on the house.

At Andante you get the feeling that the place exists to be a showcase for its trio of owners, who are pictured up top, next to a shot of the lovely view over the river. The three are Zsolt Tiffán, Ákos Kovács (the singer-songwriter, who "is a household name in Hungary" as his bio on the menu tells us) and Dezső Urbán (whose bio reads that he is "a long-time friend of Ákos'" and "an affable giant, who can almost always be seen in our wine bar ready for a friendly chat"). In case you forget, their pictures are on the menu and also on the brochures. There is also live music on many nights; you can check their website for details on upcoming performances. If you are wondering, "Andante" means "moderate tempo" and borpatika means "wine pharmacy." Draw your own conclusions.

Our server was great, and way more professional than most in Budapest - he even made food recommendations without me having to ask - but there was that slightly snobbish undertone there again, the one that made me avoid Andante in the first place. Like when I ordered a glass of white after we emptied our bottle of red. I know that most people start with white, rather than finish with it. And so did the waiter. "That's a big step backwards," he sternly told me. But there was a glass of white calling out to me, that I was curious to taste, I argued. Isn't that what a wine bar is for?