La Giostra is a fine restaurant in Florence where the flavors (and quantities) of yesterday coexist in peaceful harmony with the culinary and trends of tomorrow.
Just for its atmosphere, somehow combining old-school cordiality with a good-hearted laidback attitude, eating at La Giostra would be a worthwhile experience. The restaurant's history also makes it unusual, as does the fact that it is run by members of the Hapsburgs - a royal Austrian family.
And then there's food..
The Trattoria da Rocco, inside the Mercato Sant' Ambrogio is one of the rare places in Florence where you will still hear more Italian than English at mealtime. Everyone eats lunch here, from the occasional bewildered tourist to businessmen to construction workers. It's open for lunch, from about 11 to whenever they run out of food.
The market itself is wonderful and deserves a review of its own, so suffice it to say that the trattoria is the same size as the regular stalls in the market but it's the one that looks more like a greenhouse. Don't be concerned if you can't find the door, there isn't any. Simply open one of the windows/walls and slide into a booth and prepare for a cheap, simple, and simply good meal...
Pig's head, anyone?
I might have had it and so have you, in all
likelihood.
It's just a way to make salami or any
other kind of sausage. Usually, to make a salami,
you take an
intestine, fill it with ground up pig parts and there you have it.
In this case, however, you'll start with an emptied
head (eyes and mouth sewn shut, all by hand) and
get it filled
with the ground stuff from the rest of the body.
This particular beauty was spotted at a grocery shop
(La Standa, via Pietrapiana, 42, near Piazza
Cesare Beccaria). And there's more good stuff in that
neighborhood (read on)...
La Giostra is a fine restaurant in Florence where the flavors (and quantities) of yesterday coexist in peaceful harmony with the culinary and trends of tomorrow.
The Trattoria da Rocco, inside the Mercato Sant' Ambrogio is one of the rare places in Florence where you will still hear more Italian than English at mealtime. Everyone eats lunch here, from the occasional bewildered tourist to businessmen to construction workers. It's open for lunch, from about 11 to whenever they run out of food.
Pig's head, anyone?
I might have had it and so have you, in all
likelihood.
It's just a way to make salami or any
other kind of sausage. Usually, to make a salami,
you take an
intestine, fill it with ground up pig parts and there you have it.
In this case, however, you'll start with an emptied
head (eyes and mouth sewn shut, all by hand) and
get it filled
with the ground stuff from the rest of the body.
