Italia......mangare

Mangare.....to eat.....of course i am talking Italy....you might think why "of course"....well i love Italian food and thats the one kitchen i cannot get sick and tired of.....if i had to choose only one kitchen/ food for the rest of my life....it would be Italian....i think that says a lot...

So....first day we arrived....Thursday....we had lunch in Montepulciano....it was pretty much the first restaurant we saw when we entered the old town....it also has a salami shop and a wine shop that belongs to it....kim and dad had the special....tagliatelle carbonara with asparagus....they loved it....mom and me shared the caprese and proscuitto e melone....very nice...unfortunately i did not take any pics cause we were so damn hungry....

The table behind us must have ordered bistecca fiorentina cause suddenly the waiter brought out three vacuum packed bisteccas and allowed them to choose...our mouths started to drool.....so guess what...one evening we ended up going back there.....

The night we went there, we ordered a tuscan cold cut and peccorino to start with.....pienza (one of the neighbouring towns of Montepulciano) is famous for their peccorino...but all of tuscany is famous for peccorino....it is a sheep cheese....now i am sure you are wrinkling up your nose....but trust me....it is delicious....i do not eat goat cheese, but sheep cheese one honestly does not realise the difference to cow cheese...you get them semi-hard or hard....and they are "aged" in ash, or wine or straw or with peppercorns etc etc....simply delicious....now let me share a pic of our cold platter....

Cold cuts, peccorino, fig jam and honey

Mains....well three guesses....bistecca fiorentina....rare....they brought three different vacuum packed to the table....1.5kg, 1.7kg and 2kg.....we picked the 1.7kg....it looked amazing.....and when it came....it tasted so bloody good....wow....let me share a pic.....

Bistecca Fiorentina at Osteria Porta di Bacco

We also ordered a tomato salad and roasted potatoes as sides....the pic does not really do justice to the size....but it was big....and we ravaged it all....let me share a pic of the Almost finished item.....

Almost finished bistecca

As you can see....simply delicious. The men had cafe coretto con Grappa to end their meal and they loved it, so definitely a restaurant to visit again....osteria porta di bacco....

Now, another food experience, this time in Chianciano...ad you might remember from my last blog it is a pasticceria, but they did not only have pasteries....so Kim and dad each had a pozza, Kim the Capriciosa and dad the Napoli....I tasted some of Kim's and I must admit it was not bad at all, not the best, but not bad, Kim in fact would give it an 8/10....me, i wouldmprobably five it a 7/10...i think Kim just wa so excited about pizza and he was also very hungry...and hunger definitely contributes to higher points. Mom had the bresola carpaccio (dried beef carpaccio) and i had the bufala caprese, the mozzarella was delicious, the tomatoes could have had some more flavour, mom's carpaccio was very nice....now time to share some pics....

Kim's pizza Capriccosa

Mom's bresola carpaccio

My bufala caprese

For dessert some coffees were ordered, as you know already I ordered some cappuccino and dad and Kim both had espresso. We also received some desserts on the house..torta di chiancianese....man, it was so good, somehow a marzipan filling,mwe were fighting over it cause everyone loved it so much, the biscuits wre dry and no one liked them....of course i have a pic...

Desserts

I also read that the Ricciarelli biscuits were traditional, so of course I had to buy a box...and again...marzipan taste to it...so verdict...simply delicious....would i buy them again....most definitely yes.....let me share a pic with you.....

Ricciarelli biscuits

Now to my last food sharing of our Italian venture....foodies in Cortona....unfortunately I did not take a business card nor do i remember the name of the restaurant....but guess what...i remembered that it had a 4.5 on trip advisor so i sta rted to google...and guess what...i figured out the name...tempero....mom and i shared a tuscan cold meat platter and a caprese, Kim and dad both had the picci cinghale ragu....it all was very nice....mom and i also had a glas of prosecco and we were impressed that a glas was not like 100ml (like everywhere else), but the bubbly glas was actually completely filled up whoch was probably around 175-200ml per person...Kim and dad had the house wine....when dad asked what blend it was the waiter answered with "in all honesty, house wine normally is all the left overs from the various wines from different vineyards. They get all mixed together and it becomes the house wine". Dont you think thats a funny story, i definitely do....now let me share some last pics with you....oh...wait...i almost forgot....we also had a truffle souffle to start with...that was actually a recommendation from waiter and it was a good one....it even had truffle shaving on top which was great....we all shared and enjoyed....now it's time to share some pics...

Truffle souffle

Picci cinghale ragu

Caprese and tuscan cold meat platter

House wine and prosecco

So these were our food experiences in Italy...oh wait...i have one short one...then I am done...aperitifo in Italy is great, normally between 5 and 7 and then with your drink you will also get some chips, peanuts or olives...always something to nibble on....but this one place in Pienza like a gelateria and bar we sat down for some aperitifo and guess what...we got this small platter of local peccorino cheese and some tuscan cold cuts....very yummie...i actually took a pic...so ill share this pic with you and then I am off to go meet my sister and family....so cheers from me...till next time....

Aperitifo platter

 

Posted with Blogsy