7Petrus Restaurant
The sleepy outer part of Budapest's District 9 is an unlikely place for an upscale French restaurant so it's against the odds that here hides Petrus, the Bib Gourmand-awarded bistro of Hungarian owner-chef Zoltán Feke. You might think the vintage Citroën car parked inside the restaurant overdoes the French countryside vibes but the snug space is comfortably elegant. Petrus's slim menu features both classic French bistro food — onion soup, baked camambert and the like — and fine dining fare. The tasting menu skews to the latter, the a la carte offerings the former.
The seasonal tasting menu might include a pan-seared foie gras and a butternut squash veloute anchored by a tender blood sausage (the six courses cost €80 per person, or €120 with wine pairing). Of the regular dishes, reliably good are both the duck confit with a side of potato gratin, and the beef bourguignon sitting in its signature sauce spiked with wine, mushrooms, and pearl onions. If you have some stomach space left, get the chocolate eclairs to finish. The wine selections consist mainly of Hungarian options.
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