I am in the middle of another big period of travels. Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Rumania, Italy, and not much time to enjoy this autumn at home taking advantage of all the bottles lying in my cellar to drink in front of the roaring fire in one of this humid and chilly November night. But should I really complain? Of course not, I am living so many beautiful experiences, meeting a huge amount of interesting people with so many different cultures and of course, why not, trying and sampling some fantastic and interesting new dishes.
In this moment I am in Firenze, where we are keeping finding unbelievable restaurant and trying the old ones that we already loved. Last night we went again at Osteria Io Personale (see my previous post) and experienced again a fantastic culinary delight. Today for lunch we found another hidden gem, Il Teatro del Sale close to the amazing mercato di Sant'Ambrogio where you can find amazing fruit and vegetables and what your foodie mind always dreamed about. Teatro del Sale is part of a group of restaurant all in this corner of the city and it is connected to the restaurant Cibreo one of the most renowned restaurant in Florence. It's a private circle (but is pretty easy to become a member) and it works as a restaurant but in the night there are all kind of events that you can enjoying while having dinner (music, theatre etc.) and it works as well as a gastronomy shop with some incredible quality products in offer. I found here a wine that I was looking for that I had almost no hope to find especially in Italy. It is produced by a guy from Florence that moved to France in the area of Banyuls, deep south of France, closed to the border with Spain. Check out the website : http://www.vinyerdelaruca.com/
This wine is produced in only 1000 bottles in a complete byodinamic environment with maniacal precision to details. Also the bottle shape is very different and fascinating and apparently all bottles are handmade by a friend of him leaving next to his vineyards. It is not cheap but I am so glad that now one bottle is going to be in the cellar. I can see this wine to be the best companion to an amazing chocolate dessert.
Coming back to our lunch the concept in this restaurant is pretty casual but the quality of food is really top. There are a number of antipasti that you can take from a large buffet, all with seasonal vegetables and freshly made. We had some creamy and lovely polenta, a broccoli pure' , a lentils salad, some beets and potatoes salad and a few others. Also all the bread and focaccia that you can choose are handmade and so flavourful. From the open kitchen the chefs are screaming which plate will come out next and when the plate is out all the people go queue (shortly) for their portion. Today we also had some lovely paccheri with tomato sauce and an incredible grilled chicken with roasted potatoes. Really a simple but amazing lunch.
Just coming back a few days ago, precisely to last Sunday I also want to spend a few words about my Georgian adventure. Considering I was with a colleague in Trabzon for work we decided to head to Georgia, that is only two hours away, precisely to the city of Batumi, a seaside resort on the black sea. Trip was lovely all along the coast and it is incredible to see how simply and poorly some people can leave. Once we pass the border you can still feel that we are in an ex Russian republic and some ruins of ex Russian Army camp can still be seen. The city is weird, mixing new and incredibly modern building to some ex Soviet Union style huge building almost falling apart. Foodwise the experience was interesting. We went to one of the nicer restaurant in town and food was, I would say, pretty good. Some differenf little fish as appetizer and a very nice Batumi Kebab as main dish, consisting in very tasting meat mixed with some beautiful yogurt. The thing I loved more of the whole lunch experience then was the bread. Just ouf from the oven, warm and absolutely delightful. This world is full of surprise and that's why is so exciting (even if a bit tiring) travelling so much.
In this moment I am in Firenze, where we are keeping finding unbelievable restaurant and trying the old ones that we already loved. Last night we went again at Osteria Io Personale (see my previous post) and experienced again a fantastic culinary delight. Today for lunch we found another hidden gem, Il Teatro del Sale close to the amazing mercato di Sant'Ambrogio where you can find amazing fruit and vegetables and what your foodie mind always dreamed about. Teatro del Sale is part of a group of restaurant all in this corner of the city and it is connected to the restaurant Cibreo one of the most renowned restaurant in Florence. It's a private circle (but is pretty easy to become a member) and it works as a restaurant but in the night there are all kind of events that you can enjoying while having dinner (music, theatre etc.) and it works as well as a gastronomy shop with some incredible quality products in offer. I found here a wine that I was looking for that I had almost no hope to find especially in Italy. It is produced by a guy from Florence that moved to France in the area of Banyuls, deep south of France, closed to the border with Spain. Check out the website : http://www.vinyerdelaruca.com/
This wine is produced in only 1000 bottles in a complete byodinamic environment with maniacal precision to details. Also the bottle shape is very different and fascinating and apparently all bottles are handmade by a friend of him leaving next to his vineyards. It is not cheap but I am so glad that now one bottle is going to be in the cellar. I can see this wine to be the best companion to an amazing chocolate dessert.
Coming back to our lunch the concept in this restaurant is pretty casual but the quality of food is really top. There are a number of antipasti that you can take from a large buffet, all with seasonal vegetables and freshly made. We had some creamy and lovely polenta, a broccoli pure' , a lentils salad, some beets and potatoes salad and a few others. Also all the bread and focaccia that you can choose are handmade and so flavourful. From the open kitchen the chefs are screaming which plate will come out next and when the plate is out all the people go queue (shortly) for their portion. Today we also had some lovely paccheri with tomato sauce and an incredible grilled chicken with roasted potatoes. Really a simple but amazing lunch.
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| Our restaurant in Georgia |
Just coming back a few days ago, precisely to last Sunday I also want to spend a few words about my Georgian adventure. Considering I was with a colleague in Trabzon for work we decided to head to Georgia, that is only two hours away, precisely to the city of Batumi, a seaside resort on the black sea. Trip was lovely all along the coast and it is incredible to see how simply and poorly some people can leave. Once we pass the border you can still feel that we are in an ex Russian republic and some ruins of ex Russian Army camp can still be seen. The city is weird, mixing new and incredibly modern building to some ex Soviet Union style huge building almost falling apart. Foodwise the experience was interesting. We went to one of the nicer restaurant in town and food was, I would say, pretty good. Some differenf little fish as appetizer and a very nice Batumi Kebab as main dish, consisting in very tasting meat mixed with some beautiful yogurt. The thing I loved more of the whole lunch experience then was the bread. Just ouf from the oven, warm and absolutely delightful. This world is full of surprise and that's why is so exciting (even if a bit tiring) travelling so much.
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| Lovely Georgian bread |
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