Florence

We spent 3 nights in Florence, and took it easy exploring the city and trying out various restaurants. We arrived around lunch time, just in time to try out what appears to be highly regarded as THE place to go in Florence. Mario's is apparently open only for lunch, and there's a no reservations policy. Those chaps in the photo were waiting for a table too.

Their menu changes daily...I would imagine.

We didn't have to wait too long for a table. When we entered, the place was packed to the brim. And very few patrons were speaking Italian. Oh well...we were also guilty as charged.

I wanted to try the vegetable soup - this was a lot thicker than I expected, and definitely wouldn't have fallen into my definition of soup. It tasted of blended beans and other veggies.

This was the penne with deer - I wouldn't have been able to tell! It tasted exactly like ground beef.

Half a litre of house wine cost 3.50 Euros. Cheaper than water.

 

This is how they cook the bistecca on the grill. We quietly claimed ownership of one of them. Or so we were hoping. 

This was a 1kg bistecca - the husband liked this better than the Sotto Le Fonti version because he claimed it was juicier. Both were pretty good, in my opinion, and I was most happy to eat as much bistecca as I could while we were in Italy. Lunch cost us about 50 Euros including 35 Euros for the bistecca alone.

After lunch, we went for a walk along the streets of Florence and decided to follow Rick Steves' Renaissance walk already preloaded in my trusty iphone. We came across a number of market stalls - I think it's a pity how these canvas structures block the historical buildings from being appreciated in their totality, but there's always a fine balance to draw between wanting a purist approach and allowing some form of enterprise.

Random street in Florence

The Florence Duomo...or part of it, at least

With Brunelleschi's dome built in the 1400s. When Singapore was still a fishing village with everyone building things out of timber. 

Our first gelato stop - Grom came highly recommended, but we weren't too impressed. It wasn't as creamy as we would have liked.

We headed across the Arno River to Piazzale Michaelangelo, on the Oltrano side.

 

And, I'm proud to say, in our most unfit and food-stuffed state, climbed the dunno-how-many steps to get a glimpse of this view of Florence. It was beautiful, and totally worth the hike.

 View of the Duomo and the Palazzo Vecchio

 Ponte Vecchio in the distance.

We didn't eat expensive meals all the time. We also popped into random sandwich shops for a quick panini.

After visiting the Uffizi Gallery, we had dinner at this place called Il Canastorie, which I wouldn't really recommend for the simple reason that I felt we could have had something a lot more special elsewhere. It was decent, pleasant and very enjoyable, but lacked a certain WOW factor. However, all in, a decent meal.

We started with pecorino with honey and fig jam - I really enjoyed this dish.

The husband had ravioli with a porcini cream sauce to start with

While I had tagliatelle with black truffles. There wasn't much truffle!

I think the husband had a veal dish.

While I had a tenderloin with black truffles. Mmm this was pretty good! This cost 20 Euros which we felt was pretty reasonable given the amount, and quality.

Another look at the steak. It was a pretty thick cut, and done to medium-well perfection.

We ended off with vin santo (or holy wine) and cantucci - those thick biscuit like things, for dessert. The vin santo was more than we bargained for in terms of alcohol content.

On our final night in Florence, we ate at Zaza, just opposite the Mercato Centrale and next to Mario's. This was also a really enjoyable meal, and somehow the restaurant was just a little bit perkier than the previous night's dinner venue.

They've also got their own wine glasses.

Half a litre of house red goes a long way with us.

We started off with the wild boar pasta - I was really craving this and wanted to get a last fix.

I liked Zaza's version - it was rich and very flavourful.

Then we also had a prawn, zucchini and truffle risotto flavoured with saffron. This was amazing. The combination of flavours was extremely complex, and yet the risotto wasn't too rich. Easy to eat and very yummy.

Especially with the truffle.

We also shared a pizza with porcini, truffle (it's somewhere under the leaves), pesto and something else. Not bad, but way too few toppings.

Next up: San Gimignano.