Mario in Florence

Lunch in Florence - Trattoria da Mario!

So I had gone round and round Florence visiting Uffizi (in line for 4 hours!!!) then strolled around the center to get in touch with the contemporary world again. It was a nice June day and small place filled with people sitting at their table and apparently enjoying each other in conversations like I had rarely seen in other Italian restaurants.

So I gave my name and was asked how many people. I said "one" and thought I would be told "sorry sir, you're gonna have to wait a long time!" Not at all! I was sitted right away ahead of a lot of people in groups. Puzzled, I was looking for my lone table set for one. To my surprise I was sitted at a table with total strangers (which I thought were friends) and given a brown paper placemat, a paper towel, , and I saw myself as the other people I saw at the other tables and understood that here everyone sits with anyone. Good idea, I've never seen anyone enjoy a homemade meal like this.
Yes because here Tuscan food is at its most original of all Tuscany. To compare you have to eat at an old Tuscan lady house.
The Fiorentina steak, oh so delicious, thick, tender, jucy, big, with a healthy bone, cut and cooked at the moment at your shoulders (you can check if you want, the kitchen is right there, enclosed only by glass walls. You can talk to the chef and negociate with him the dimensions and the weight. The rest of the food is just a s good. The menu changes everyday (as I returned here four days in a row before leaving Florence!) and you have the choice of three four dishes for each course and side dish. But be early! The best dishes go fast! And they delete them from the chalk black board.



After the lunch was over I greeted my acquaintances, and after exchanging emails, I paid the very inexpensive check (20 Euro without steak, 50 Euro with a two pound steak), and went on my way to discover Florence some more. Good choice!

Trattoria da Mario
Via Rosina 23r, Piazza del Mercato
Firenze