Trattoria Da Sostanza, Florence

Back to the trip I did a few weeks back to Spain and Italy, this post is about Florence. There was only one thing I had in mind for Florence: Bistecca alla Fiorentina. After doing some research, I zeroed in one restaurant which I heard was one of the better place serving Bistecca: Trattoria Da Sostanza. It happened to be right beside my Hotel so this was perfect.

This is a no frills Trattoria, where you share table with strangers. They do not accept credit cards, and have very very friendly staff. We were sharing our table with 2 Americans, and an Englishman who was born in Italy and lived all his life in London. We ended up sharing stories with them, which was quite interesting.

For starters we had a plate of Prosciutto, washed down with some house wine (Chianti of course)

This was followed by a salad, very simple as you can see, but so fresh (seemed like they had just harvested it a few minutes before serving, with just some Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a dash of red wine vinegar, salt and Pepper. So simple yet so delicious.

Our first main was Torta de Carcciofi (Artichoke omelet). This can look so simple and boring but wow, this was crunchy, and inside, moist and loaded with fresh Artichokes. This is so straight forward cooking, food can't get any better than this.

Next, we could not leave without ordering Peti di Pollo al Burro (Butter Chicken Breast). Again, this can sound very simple and even boring, but this is the best Chicken Breast I've tried...again very crisp on the outside but so moist and tender on the inside. Of course this is probably cooked with a kilo of butter, but who cares?? One bite, and you will forget about everything.

While waiting for our main course, I decide to go to the men's room, which is through the kitchen. There I see one cook, all by himself, preparing the Bistecca. As you can see the kitchen is simple, in fact it looked more like a home kitchen than a restaurant kitchen. All he had was some charcoal, a grill that looks like it was home made and a hole where a simple electric fan would blow air to keep the temperature high. I knew I was in for a treat.

When I got back to my my table, the meat was immediately served. There it was, grilled to perfection. it was served rare as I ordered it. For siding, we had Spinach and Beans. I ate this while sipping the house wine (Chianti), which was not bad at all. It complemented very well the steak.

This is how I like the steak, seared on the outside and rare inside.

Our sidings, Fagiolo e Spinaci (Beans and Spinach), again nothing fancy but loved every single dish in this restaurant.

This was easily one of my best meals during the Italy trip. I will definitely come back for more of the Steak, and the other dishes of course. More posts to come...