Italy: Day 5, Part 2

One of the things I was looking forward to the most in Italy was the food. I had dreams of cheesy pasta and amazing bread. You know, like at Olive Garden. Boy was I wrong. Italy is NOT like Olive Garden. Or if it is, we never ate there.  Instead, I'd say Italy is more about simple flavors that go well together.  It wasn't until Day 5 that I had a meal that I would eat again. Before we left the USA and the Internet, Matt did some research and found some restaurants that he wanted to try. One of them, was called Cibreo. Now, there are two Cibreos. One is a Restaurante and one is a Trattoria. The Restaurante is super-fancy and super-expensive. The Trattoria is less expensive and less fancy. But not really. We still spent almost a hundred euros. Eating in Italy is not cheap. Even for sandwiches.

Anyway. On to the food.

First, the menu. Handwritten. Everyday. In Italian.

Naturally, we had no clue what it said. There were a few words we could make out, like the section titles and some of the foods but for the most part, we were clueless. We called the waiter over for help. He asked us if we spoke Italian (in Italian). We said no. He asked us if we spoke French (in French). We said no. He asked us if we spoke Japanese (in Japanese). We said no (though, I would have thought that was obvious as neither of us look even a little bit Asian). He asked us if we spoke Spanish (in Spanish). We told him no. He sighed. And then sat down and explained the menu in English. The rest of the restaurant was laughing. At us.

The restaurant. We were sitting against a wall. There was one table beside us. It's super small. 

For antipasti, we ordered tripe. That's basically the lining of the stomach of a cow. We were in Italy and it was a delicacy so we went with it. Will I eat it again? Not for a thousand bucks.  The taste wasn't bad. It was lemony and fresh, but the texture was awful. Like chewing the lining of a cow stomach, really. Not my ideal.

Next, for priimi (the first course), we decided to order two separate things so we could taste more. I got polenta. Matt got swiss chard flan.

You see two plates there of the same thing. The waiter brought us, well me, a gift. In fact, he said, "a gift for you!" and then placed a serving of flan in front of me and later brought my polenta. The flan was amazing. Yes, it's green. It's a vegetable after all. It was served on top of a tomato-based sauce with olive oil and parm. Delightful. I ate all of mine. The polenta (the plate on top) was smooth, creamy, and perfect. I could eat that everyday.


For secondi (like the meat course) and contorno (sides), Matt and I again ordered separately. Matt got the beef cheek and potatoes. I got an eggplant dish with beets.

The beef cheek. It tasted like a mellow roast.

Potatoes.

Eggplant

Beets

For dolci (dessert), we decided to split something because we were both so full. Naturally, we ordered the chocolate cake. I mean, it's us. Our multi-lingual waiter, again brought me a gift of the torta formaggio or cheesecake. As you can see, we didn't get a picture before we started eating, but we did get one before we demolished our desserts. Delish.

To drink, we got a bottle of wine and a bottle of water. We finished off both. Eating took about three hours. After we were done and paid our bill (with a credit card!!), we left to waddle back to our hotel. The streets were no where as crowded as they were during White Night, but there were some strollers. We enjoyed window shopping and the crisp night air. When we finally made it back to the hotel it was about 11. We ended our day with happy bellies and excitement about getting to explore Florence the next day.