One of the great mysteries of the Budapest dining scene is how so many tables in so many "white tablecloth" restaurants can manage to remain empty on any given night. In one sense this glut is a boon to diners, as it means you can pretty much stroll into any given up-market eatery and just sit down and order. But it also has downsides. For one thing, eating in an empty or near-empty restaurant is, at least to us, sort of a buzz-kill. Worse, the oversupply of seats means that some extremely worthy eateries go bust before they have a chance to draw the audience they deserve, and need to stay in business. So we're not very happy that on the two occasions we've visited recently-opened Csalogány 26 the only meals we saw being prepared on the restaurant's unusual "kitchen cam" were ours - and they were some of the best meals we've ever eaten in Budapest.

Before going any further, we'll first point out that the live TV link from the dining room to the kitchen is the only gimmick going at Csalogány 26. In fact, compared to most local eateries in its class, it is refreshingly gimmick-free, right down to the name (it's the restaurant's address). Instead, the place seems to be focused relentlessly on providing inventive and flawlessly executed "Hungarian international" cuisines at prices that we think are exceedingly attractive. In short, this place is going straight on the Chew Top 33, and unless something drastic happens, is likely to be there for a while.

From what we understand, the man behind the magic is Balázs Pethő, formerly the top szakács at the posh District V "bistro" Lou-Lou. If so, it's not too hard to connect the dots. Some of the best items we had over there are echoed over here. We remember once having an appetizer of véres hurka (blood sausage) wrapped in rétes (pastry) at Lou-Lou, which at the time we thought was the best attempt at nouvelle Hungarian we'd ever had. This véres hurka "salad" pictured right above was equally wonderful, assuming that véres hurka doesn't make your blood run cold. (Unfortunately, it was only on the chalkboard during our first visit.) Below it is another strikingly successful "Hungo-fusion" dish, in the form of a piece of Mangalica pork cooked confit-style (Ft 2,500/€10), which came on top of a bed of puy lentils. Simply put, this was astounding. For the same price you can also get what we reckon is the best plate of roast lamb (all the way up top) we've had from a regular menu in Budapest since, well, forever. The polenta on the side was also fantastic. Below that is a wonderful starter of duck liver cooked in cocoa butter (Ft 1,400), set off against a few thin lines of passion fruit drippings. Heaven.

And the delights just kept coming. At Ft 4,000, the monkfish special up top was the dearest item available (at least on our visits) but was worth every forint. Two kinds of roast duck on one plate, and goose liver with anise sauce, each for well under Ft 3,000, and each perfectly done... what more can you say?

The desserts we've tried were equally inventive. There's a triple shot of creme caramel, a walnut and noodle special, and a nice little bowl of home-made orange ice cream with crunchy accompaniment (Ft 600, Ft 900 and Ft 800, respectively).

Adding to all this are wine and drink cards with prices well below other local restaurants of this caliber. (Wenninger Kékfrankos goes for Ft 3,500, and welcome bottles of non-imported mineral water are just Ft 300 a pop.) Finally, the staffers we came into contact with were charming, helpful and efficient, unfortunately still a triple crown in this town. So that's it: we simply can't find a bad thing to say about Csalogany 26, except for our fear that it might not make it unless you and enough others make it there first.