Trattoria Da Guido @ via Faenza, Florence

Florence's city center is studded with food and what makes this city tick - it is entirely accessibly by tram or foot which I found the latter extremely useful for digestion. Underground metro is underheard of and perhaps in the next century or so may see some improvement.

The strange thing however is their closing time and tourist traps. Having learnt the hard way, we only bothered with shops that had a significant number of customers. This ristorante was one of those but I was just tempted by their value for money set menus. By a rule of thumb, ristorantes with menus in more than one language i.e. Italian is most probably touristy. The more languages available, the less authentic.



Brick walls aplenty in Europe, too common sight and I wish there were a fireplace to complete the look.



A common way of serving house wine!
 
A number of menus were available and I wish someone was there to advise how big the portions are but since we spoke zero italian and the italians seemingly have bigger appetites, we are till our brims.



Bread straight off from the supplier, cold crusty and hard.

Menu Toscano (15 EUR) 



1/2 litre water or 1 Glass of Wine

Both were attractive options given how every ristorante charges for beverages. Wine it was then - surprisingly in the land where wine is cheaper than water. 

Penne bluecheese and walnuts



Tagliatelle Porcini Mushrooms

Portions were huge enough to feed two and delicious too.



Vegetables Soup Thickened with Bread

This was more of a bean casserole than soup with its thickness, I actually loved the grainy consistency from the beans.



Veal Escalope Florentine Style

Doused in tomato sauce, the veal steak tasted pretty much like pork somehow. A decent dish but an overkill on tomatoes.



Fried Chicken Breast with Fried Vegetables



Home Made Dessert

We tried tiramisu to end the meal since it is authentically Italian.



Actually really decent, loved the light mascarpone cheese layers and the sponge was hardly soggy.



Menu Guido (25 EUR)

Carbonara Spaghetti

Well executed pasta



Beef Strips with Arugula Salad and Grana Cheese



Creamy panna cotta with a bit too much gelatin for the sweet ending.I thought the jam was an overload.

The rest of the ala carte items that came in huge portions as well and made the sets seem so value for money. 



Seafood pasta.



I believe porcini mushrooms were in season then.

While this was located in the tourist belt and mostly tourist patronised this place, we found it rather authentic and hearty.


Trattoria Da Guido
Via Faenza, 34, 50123 Firenze, Italy

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