Ristorante Il Latini Florence

Ristorante Il Latini is located in the centre of Florence.

The restaurant was recommended to us by a hotel. We went there because the last recommendation from this hotel was also good. This was more than a year ago. We did not stay at this hotel because we went to Florence from another location, just for the day but I called the hotel and they recommended this restaurant. Upon arrival, which was around 2 p.m. on a Sunday, we saw that there was a big queue in front of the restaurant which seemed to be our destination after we had been using (iPhone) maps to find the place, which was not as easy as expected. Things unfortunately do not work as well in real life as in Tim Cooks presentations... At first I thought of leaving because the queue seemed quite long. Then I saw that a lady was giving out some wine in very small glasses and cheese for the people waiting. I thought that this was quite nice actually. Later on, I understood that this was part of the show. We waited for about 15-20 minutes to get in. This was supposed to be the best Fiorentina restaurant in Florence so we bothered to wait that long. When you think about what people in New York do to get into restaurants, this is still ok.

Pearl barley starter

The restaurant has a website: http://www.illatini.com. I must say that the website strongly differs from actuality. This is the case here, much more than it is usually in such cases.

Interior of the restaurant

Freshly cut prosciutto

The place was packed. We sat tightly next to another table. That did not bother us though because we understood that this happens sometimes in popular cities. 

House wine and bread

The waiter rushed towards us and asked us what we would like to have. We did not really read the menu in detail because we new that we were going to try the Bistecca alla Fiorentina anyways and the waiter was rushing from one table to another. After waiting so long we just quickly wanted some starters, some water and some wine. We ordered the house wine, which was ok.

Salami

We ordered mixed starters, prosciutto, salami, cheese and some chicken liver ragout.

Chicken liver ragout

Some of you might be a little scared of trying chicken liver ragout. I am not a fan of liver dishes unless they are very good. This was ok. I tried one of these breads. For the main course we ordered the Bistecca alla Fiorentina. This was 1 apparently. We had it between the four of us.

Bistecca alla Fiorentina

I would like to note that the Fiorentina costs 50 Euros. This is a lot of meat though, definitely enough for four people.

Bistecca alla Fiorentina medium

With the Fiorentina we ordered some potatoes and 'vegetables' which turned out to be beans. We also ordered a salad with the meat.

White beans with olive oil

Rosemary backed potatoes

The Bistecca alla Fiorentina with the side dishes offered was more than enough for us all. When we finished, before we thought about desert, we were offered something again.

Fresh cantuccini

The waiter brought us some cantuccini and Vinsanto wine in small glasses.

Vinsanto

We still decided to try a desert. We ordered Panna Cotta with fruit and chocolate sauce. What we received was Panna Cotta with chocolate sauce. This may have been 'lost in translation'.

Panna Cotta with chocolate sauce

The Panna Cotta was very good. When we had finished our lunch, the place was starting to clear out a little. This was the first time we could actually hear each other talk.

Overall, this was a fun experience. This is definitely not a place for a romantic dinner. If you want to try the meat and see people coming from everywhere, also locals (Italians, probably not real locals) being happy to be in the place, this is an experience one must once have. The service is mediocre. You feel like you are at a train station. We knew the deal before and still decided to wait and find out for ourselves. It was all fun until I received the bill. For the food we had and two bottles of wine as well as one grappa and coffee and the mediocre starters with the Fiorentina they charged us 180 Euros. I paid cash. For Italy, this was too much for what we had received. In Italy one should generally usually only order according to menu and not just let the waiter bring you everything he suggests. I made that mistake and paid for it. One the whole, I would recommend a visit with caution. The Fiorentina is worth it. If possible, try to get a reservation.

Landhaus Bacher, Mautern Austria

Landhaus Bacher is an Austrian Gourmet Restaurant about an hours drive away from Vienna. It is located in one of the most famous Austrian wine regions, the Wachau in Lower Austria. This is a good location for a day's trip or more. There are various other nice small traditional restaurants in the area. When going there for lunch, one can choose the lunch menu, which costs 45 Euro per person.

Seafood amuse bouche

We ordered the menu with a glass of champagne as an aperitif. There was a variety of amuse bouches to start with. 

Filled cheese balls

Butter and cream as well as lentils in mouse

Carrots with curcuma and basil

I am a great fan of the little things which really tickle your taste buds. The variety of amuse bouche and home made bread was very generous. 

Beef bouillon with 3 different types of dumplings

As a starter we had the beef bouillon with semolina dumplings, a sort of liver dumpling and bacon dumpling. The combination was interesting and the portion was not to big, which was convenient.

Fish with vegetables

There was also a cold fish dish with vegetables as a starter.

Beef cut with potato balls and vegetables

I had the beef cut with potato balls and vegetable in a sauce they poured over when serving. The beef was good, the combination interesting but not extraordinary. I had a glass of an Austrian cuvée from the region with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Blaufränkisch. The wine (by the glass) was ok but highly priced for one glass.

Trout with Krautfleckerl

We also had the trout with "Krautfleckerl". Krautfleckerl is cabbage with onions in small Austrian pasta. Everything was delicious as expected.

Pancakes with apricot jam and ice cream

When in the Wachau region, one has to try something with apricots. During the season, they sometimes have apricot dumplings which are a signature dish but I guess the season was not now. We had pancakes with the menu. The jam was fresh and the pancakes were good. I do not consider pancakes a special dish when in a gourmet restaurant but they were very good of course. 

Sweet variations from the house

After the desert, with coffee or without we were also offered some sweets variations. They offered some home made Cointreau chocolates, a peach soup, a caramelised plum as well as some delicate small chocolate breads/crackers.

The small surprises in between were a highlight of this restaurant. Overall it is a very nice place with good service. The wine menu is expensive, you could say overpriced. The restaurant is on the higher price range, especially for this area, I do have to reiterate that. If you consider that the evening menu is about 100 Euros per person without drinks, this is quite a lot. Value for money is not at the top notch of my personal ranking. Overall, we had a very nice experience and were satiate after this quite generous lunch menu. I would definitely recommend this restaurant but would like to warn everyone about the high prices especially when thinking about having aperitif, wine and digestif which we did not have as we one would usually because we were there for lunch and were driving back to Vienna that day.