After more than a decade, I am back in Florence again. My most keen memory of that trip so many years ago was a New Year’s Eve meal – a multi-course meal in a very tiny restaurant, packed with diners and filled with chain smokers. I remember having to come out of the restaurant in between courses for some fresh air. Now, I’m glad that Italy has banned smoking in restaurants. On this visit in October 2010, my most memorable meal in Firenze was my 40th birthday dinner in a restaurant called
Perseus, at Viale Don Giovanni Minzoni, 10/r.
This is a very popular restaurant, famous for its
Bistecca alla Fiorentina (Florentine T-bone steak). At the entrance, there was a big basket of fresh porcini mushrooms and upon entering the restaurant, there were huge chunks of raw meat hanging in a large refrigerator, reminding customers that the Bistecca alla Fiorentina is not for the light eater as each steak ranges from 1 to 1.2 kg. On the menu, there was an instruction that one cannot order the steak to be ‘more-cooked’. I was secretly hoping to order it a little bit more done, more like medium rare rather than the traditional rare. On each table, there was a crudite arrangement – stalks of celery, radishes, peppers, fennel, spring onions that appear more like a flower arrangement to me than a free salad. We were also served, complimentary on the house, some very delicious pickled vegetables, a freshly grilled flat bread drizzled with Tuscan olive
oil and vegetable fritters of squash blossom, eggplant, onions and potatoes. The bistecca was of course very rare (as they politely insist), but the quality of the meat was excellent and I loved the charcoal crust. I also ordered the grilled porcini mushrooms and oh boy, those were buttery and just melted in my mouth. At the waiter’s suggestion, I paired all this food with a lovely Nipozzano 2007 riserva chianti rufina. I playfully mentioned to the waiter, Simone, that it was my 40th birthday and he politely joked that I’m only 26. At the end of the meal, he brought me a chocolate torte, with a candle – also on the house. How sweet! He really made my day.
Another good find in Firenze was a great place to buy cantucci, called
Il Cantuccio Di San Lorenzo, which is at Via Sant’Antonino, 23. In the shop, there were heaps of that wonderful Tuscan treat, typically eaten after dinner with Vin Santo, a sweet fortified wine. They had 3 flavors that day – orange with chocolate, fig and almond. I bought a few of each and had them in the afternoon with coffee and again that night after dinner with Vin Santo at the hotel bar – a wonderful way to finish the day!
oil and vegetable fritters of squash blossom, eggplant, onions and potatoes. The bistecca was of course very rare (as they politely insist), but the quality of the meat was excellent and I loved the charcoal crust. I also ordered the grilled porcini mushrooms and oh boy, those were buttery and just melted in my mouth. At the waiter’s suggestion, I paired all this food with a lovely Nipozzano 2007 riserva chianti rufina. I playfully mentioned to the waiter, Simone, that it was my 40th birthday and he politely joked that I’m only 26. At the end of the meal, he brought me a chocolate torte, with a candle – also on the house. How sweet! He really made my day.
Another good find in Firenze was a great place to buy cantucci, called Il Cantuccio Di San Lorenzo, which is at Via Sant’Antonino, 23. In the shop, there were heaps of that wonderful Tuscan treat, typically eaten after dinner with Vin Santo, a sweet fortified wine. They had 3 flavors that day – orange with chocolate, fig and almond. I bought a few of each and had them in the afternoon with coffee and again that night after dinner with Vin Santo at the hotel bar – a wonderful way to finish the day!
