Osteria L'upupa, Via Augusto Conti, San Miniato

It was getting late into the afternoon and we needed to get some lunch before leaving San Miniato. Prior to getting into this town, we were informed that most of the restaurants here would have their own truffle menu as it was in season and that we only had to avoid a particular place for their outrageous prices. Everywhere else was really just fair game so we hit the first place that had a queue of locals. Osteria L'upupa (Via Augusto Conti 15, San Miniato, tel : +39 571 400 429).

Food was simple, rustic and I think the restaurant service was a little overwhelmed by a full house.

To start was a beef carpaccio with Parmigiano Reggiano and shaven white truffle. The flavors of the thinly sliced meat was pretty good, if a bit sinewy at parts.

Next up were the primo plato. We were pretty impressed by the awesome simplicity of their tagliatelline al tartufo bianco. Pasta, salted butter and truffle shaving. Widely accepted as the best way to showcase the flavour of the fungus.

The second of the first plates was their pappardelle ovuli e tartufo bianco. We had originally thought that it was just egg pappardelle and truffle, but the restaurant waiter/chef/owner had informed us that included fresh porcini as well. The flavour turned out more woodsy and earthy in comparison with the tagliatelline, but it was also in my opinion a less clean showcase of truffle. Not complaining here at all.

The meat was a tagliata di manzo al tartufo bianco. Yes, it was all tartufo bianco since it was in season and we were in the middle of a fiera del tartufo. Aside from some olive oil and some unevenly distributed salt, the only other flavour component on the meat was white truffle. The medium rare meat was a little sinewy. Not complaining because it wasn't the most awesome steak out there. It just wasn't the point today. Just in case anyone was wondering at the colour of the top of the steak, most of the nicely done caramelization were hidden by the truffle shavings.

A panini alla porchetta al tartufo?

San Miniato is a town in the province of Pisa - a region in Tuscany. One can find out more about them from Wiki.

The reason we visited was because of the truffle fair that they hold in November. Motivation enough for a couple of hours drive out of Florence up a medieval town on the top of a little hill I guess. Anyways, here's a truffle infused pork sandwich gotten from the fair. There were several stalls hawking huge hunks of the porchetta al tartufo that were ready to be sliced and put in between bread on order.

No mention will be made from which stall in particular.  We couldn't tell. We just grabbled one (costed €7 each!) for the novelty and ate under the taupe shelter from the persistent rain that had been falling all day. The bread was cold and the crust very chewy. It would have benefitted from a toast. I thought the porchetta needed a bit more salt to bring out the flavour of both the pork and the truffle. Is there a particular stall that does them better than the others?

I' Cche' c'e' c'e', Via Magalotti, Florence

I had yoghurt and Nutella gelato and I liked it

That would be the top gob on the cone. While the flavour wasn't exotic, it was a pairing that had not occurred to me before and the combination was surprisingly addictive. If anyone's interested, the shop is located at the south side of Ponte alla Carraia. One can see it right by the end of the bridge.

Il Santo Bevitore, Via Santo Spirito, Florence

This place (Via Santo Spirito 66R, Florence, tel : +39 055 211264) had been one of the recommended places that we had kept out of mind for some reason. We stumbled upon it by chance one afternoon. It was already getting late and we had found ourselves then at the Oltrarno side of River Arnos, about half the distance between two bridges away from Via Santo Spirito. And we managed to get ourselves a seat shortly before the kitchen closed for after lunch hours.

The service here was excellent with their polite staff doing their best to be attentive in a bustling crowd with poor acoustics. They also seemed very knowledgeable with what the restaurant was serving.

Their pasta were very well done. Like their fresh made maccheroncetti served with a ragout of rabbit. The al dente pasta had an excellent springy texture that was doused in a umami rich broth from the rabbit stew, accompanied by generous portions of minced rabbit. All in all, professionally accented by rosemary. I said professionally because, they made work where most people generally failed at using rosemary by not knowing when was too much.

A lunch special pasta of the week was a paccheri with some ragout of baby octopus. Less heavy in flavour than the rabbit pasta, but with identifiable seafood accent from the fresh tasting cephalopod that was both tender and still had sufficient bite. The thick columns of pasta were also nicely timed in the pot.

The off sequence item was their cold cut platter. The order was processed later as the wait staff was trying to rush the pasta orders to the kitchen before they were ready to close up. This wound up being the last to get processed and was served after the pasta were. No big deal really. The selection of cheese that they had, included some nice Percorino al tartufo and a crumbly salty cheese from Sardinia that tasted very similarly to Parmigiano Reggiano accompanied by a fruit & mustard jam.

We liked it so much that we made a reservation for a dinner the next day!

Pizzarium, Via della Meloria, Rome

The Guardian once headlined the owner of this renown shop (via della Meloria 43, Rome, tel : +39 06 3974 5416), Gabriele Bonci, as the 'Michelangelo of pizza' for the "experimental artistry" of local artisanal produce that is creatively used for the toppings of their pizza al taglio. That was in a follow up after US Vogue had done the same. In an episode of The Layover for Rome, he made a ham and pineapple topping with spicy sautéed onions and peppers for Anthony Bourdain.

Media and celebrity brushes aside, Pizzarium makes delicious pizza with interesting toppings. From what I had understood, the toppings choices change depending on the time of the year and sometimes, the hour of the day. So one is likely to get different options depending on when the visit was made. I read that Bonci has done over 1500 different types of pizza in a year.

prosciutto and wilted spinach, sliced beef and broccoli

The essence for the pizzas beside the variety of toppings was of course, the crust. The thicker than usual crust of rested dough from Pizzarium were crispy on the edges, airy and chewy at the same time. Greasy as well from the generous use of olive oil and perhaps some melted fat from the toppings that were used. Cut out with scissors from the main pie according to your preference of portions.

airy pockets of the crust

Of the toppings that we managed to try in this first visit, the best tasting one was the one with sliced beef and chopped broccoli. Boiled and chopped up bits of tender broccoli blanketed by thinly sliced beef on a bianca base.

anchovy and some wilted green, margherita with gobs of thick chewy mozza

I like their margherita for the quantity and arrangement of the mozzarella. The chewy gobs of cheese was satisfying in both the milky flavours and texture. No where else had I seen such thick twists of the cheese on pizza.

Place was pretty small. One eats in whichever small corner that can be found in the establishment or at the counter just outside the shop.

Pizzarium was a little bit pricey for a pizza lunch. If you're wondering if I felt it was worth it...well, I suppose I would love to re-visit if I ever get to come back to Rome.