Last NIght in Florence - Dinner in La Piccola Corte

We left the cool of the hotel at 6.30 and wandered out into the Florentine heat. Unlike last night the air was fresher, and this allowed us to walk around some of the streets we had not ventured into to date. Out in the sun it was still boiling, but in the shade it was comfortable with a light breeze moving the air.

We read the menu of eight or nine restaurants as part of our wandering about, but were particularly caught by the menu of a modern looking restaurant called La Piccola Corte, which translates as 'The Small Court' and though the restaurant was in doors it had the look and feel of a central court in a building. 

We sat down at 8.10 and looked at the menu. As I mentioned I'm quite good at restaurant Italian, but some of these dishes were so complex I was glad Drew had an English version of the menu, as I would not have got them all.

I was OK with the meaning of the antipasta titles, Drew had Carpaccio di manzo con catalogna, I'm not sure what made it catalonian but the meat had clearly been soaking in a vinegerrette dressing as it had a strong, but not overpowering tanginess of vineger about it. I opted for Tagliere del fattore con sottoli. This 'farmer's plate' was four meats each with a distinctive flavour - the waiter explained each of them to me in turn. They were all excellent. The sottoli were some lovely large olives and an artichoke which had been soaked in pepper and vinegar, they produced a nice sharp balance for the meat.
 
At the pasta course I would have been stuck with translation I had not heard of Caramelle di ricotta con erbe aromatiche al sapore di salvia, I got that the herb was sage, but not what they were going to do to the ricotta. You can see what they managed in the photo to the left. Drew let me have a small taste of this, and it was filled with flavour with the safe offsetting the ricotta well.  You can see what they managed in the photo to the left. My own pasta course was also a surprise.  Gnudi all'ortica burro e salvia - I'd not come across gnudi, but I will certainly make friends with it if I see it again. The sage provided a fizz on the tongue which complemented the nettle perfectly. Nettle is a strong taste, but it did not overpower the dish, if I'd been making it I'd have used less butter - it was to buttery for me, but with that minor complaint I would say it was excellent.


For secondi piatti Drew's Petto d'anatra alle erbe aromatiche con pere caramellate was easy to translate, the duck was cooked a little more than I would have it, but it still had enough blood to make it tasty. Drew is a lover of duck, so this went down really well. I had Guancia di Vitello arrosto con spuma alla salvia e alloro. Whereas I know what veal is, I've never had sage and bayleaf as a combination and certainly not a spuma of them to worked well as a complement to the soft, tasty, meat. As a contorni we had what the menu called: Patate Sabbiose. which the Englishj meni translated as "Blasted Potatoes" they were actually very lightly sauteed potatoes.

Drew finished the meal with a cheesecake al limone which looked very pretty and I'm told was delicious. We had coffee and were back to the hotel by 10.30. For the second night in the row we were the only English speakers in the restaurant, given the numbers of Americans in Florence this is worth commenting on.

A nice night of a tastes of Florendence flavour that worked wrll together. A big thank you to the chef of the restaurant of La Piccola Cortre.