All'Antico Ristoro di Cambi, Via Sant'Onofrio, Florence

It was fortunate for us that this restaurant (Via Sant'Onofrio 1r, Florence, tel : +39 055 217134) was but a 10 minute stroll from our hotel in the quiet neighbourhood south of the Arno. We were rushing back from conquering the leaning bell tower of Pisa that wasn't very forgiving on our knees and tried to still be on time for our table.

This was an exciting dinner since we would be having a real bistecca alla fiorentina where the meat was from the pasture fed Chianina cow. The restaurant exuded charm of a brick lined eating establishment where legs of prosciutto and wreaths of garlic were hanging high on beams and bottles of wine littered almost every platform.

We started it off with their crostini Toscani which was filled with one of the most delicious and savory chopped chicken liver on bread I've had. Can you imagine being charmed by chopped chicken liver?

The first plate we had taglierini Gorgonzola e asparagi. This was a pretty damn good pasta at the for a reasonable €8. What surprised me was that both the Gorgonzola and the asparagus both shared equal intensity in flavour that was nicely accented by the chopped parsley. Texture of the noodles was unsurprisingly springy and lively.

The anticipation was as mentioned, their boned in porterhouse bistecca, Florentine styled. Flavouring was what the char, an exceptionally fruity olive oil and coarse salt crystals imparted. The meat was rare to medium rare on the inside, juicy but was pretty lean in some parts. The charred bits of fat on the exterior were amazingly fragrant though. 

While mythical descriptions of the steak remain, the part about them being fork tender was unfounded. While it was tender, it was certainly not fork tender.

Dessert was a eggless black and white chocolate cake that we managed to scarf down even though we were pretty stuffed from all the food. Testimony to the fact that it was freshly prepared, served hot and pretty well made.

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!