FGF&WBW in Toscana
Chill Out Time
Montecatini Terme, 8th August
Ok, so I'm not actually going to mention any food from Montecatini Terme, since the only thing we ate was a toasted sandwich type thang, whilst sheltering in a cafe and hoping the absolute deluge would stop some time that day. I just wanted to publically sigh a big satisfied sigh, because we went and treated ourselves to a spa chill out.
Montecatini Terme became famous for its spa waters back in the late 1800s, with quite the list of famous clients, and beautiful Art Deco architecture. The architecture is actually why we went, for a break from Baroque, but the spa was a fine idea too. Excuse me, I need to go and look smug...
Buca di Sant'Antonio, address
Lucca, 8th August
We first came to this restaurant back in 2005, when we were here with Simon, Kerrie, Julie, and Derek. It's apparently one of the most well known restaurants in the area, with people visiting Lucca specifically to dine there. Who knew? We just remembered a really tasty meal last time, thankfully dropped by on the tuesday and booked a table, and rocked up on wednesday just as another couple were being turned away due to their being fully booked. I don't really know what the restaurant looks like upstairs, but downstairs it's all cream walls, old arched ceilings, masses of copper pots hanging from the ceiling, and bizarrely a large selection of old irons, alongside several old brass instruments. Which works a lot better than it sounds like it should. Suffice to say, tis very nice, and my view is not at all coloured by the glass of complimentary sparkling upon arrival. The service is also great, but absolutely everything is topped by the food...
We decided to go for antipasti, secondi, and then possibly dolce, which was a very good idea - the pasta are well sized here. Sam definitely won with the antipasti - I had a plate of finocchiona (Tuscan fennel flavoured salume), another type of cured ham and crostini with chicken liver (and possibly spleen) pate. Sam had a gorgeous salad (you can make friends with it) of cold sliced rolled stuffed rabbit with pine nuts and rabbit food (lettuce). Gorgeous, and perfectly complemented by our Chianti Classico Riserva. We then moved on to several minutes of me waving my hands happily and making 'mmmm' noises loud enough for the next couple to look at us strangely - roast capretto (baby goat), cooked to beautifully-browned and tasty perfection, accompanied by roast potatoes and an artichoke 'pudding' (actually surprisingly good). Sam had swordfish with marjoram, but the goat was just divine, so I didn't really pay much attention. Dessert was equally good; crunchy nougat semifreddo with hot chocolate sauce (yum!) for Sam, and a reluctantly shared dark chocolate mousse, impossibly velvety, for me. Suffice to say, I would highly recommend eating here.
Fishy Fresh Fun
Livorno, 11th August
Today, we decided to go down to Livorno, which is 15 minutes down the coast by train from Pisa. Adding that to our two minute walk to the train station did make for an arduous journey, but we somehow managed it.
Livorno was, once upon a time, a tiny little insignificant port with less than 500 permanent residents. Sometime after that, it became a rather busier, more bustling, and important port, with around 80,000 permanent residents and a good line in taking money from Dutch and UK merchants travelling through as merchants did in the 1800s. And sometime later still, it was an incredibly important target for WWII Allied bombers, due to its strategic position as a naval base. So, sadly, pretty much all of the old town has been lost, except for the walls of two forts from the 1600s, and the beautiful late 19th century market. But how lucky we are that the market survived...
We decided to head to the market along the top of the walls over the river- shaped mooring/quay (not a naval expert, sorry!), choosing a large door partway down the long side of the stunning rectangular building, pausing of course for photos. There then followed a period of complete confusion on our part, as we wandered aimlessly and in vain, looking for the fish. Livorno is right on the coast, but we couldn't find any fish! Tons of prosciutto of course, wonderful cheeses, more slabs of potential steak than you can shake a stick at, but no fish... In the end, following our noses at one end of the hall led into a side hall, with the most amazing selection of fish that I can't name. How is it that foodstuffs that I don't even recognise can make me so hungry? My favourites had to be the prepared/marinated stall, which may provide the base of a picnic later this week, and the large tub of completely mixed fish, lots of them small red and spikey, labelled simply "Minestra Mediterranean" (Mediterranean Soup).
After Sam managed to extricate me from the market, which sounds deceptively easy, we headed for the waterfront, just to see the water. En route however, we were distracted by finding a restaurant that good ole Lonely Planet had recommended. Choosing our lunch was simple - the main reason for coming to Livorno was to try their "cacciucco", a Tuscan fish stew which is apparently legendary, and is made with at least as many types of fish as there are 'c's in the name. Paired with a good chianti classico, we figured it would be good.
We weren't wrong. I returned from washing my hands to find Sam grinning at me over two large shallow oval bowls heaped with ex-sea dwellers, and a separate plate with some massive critter on, which the waitress had apparently offered to prepare for us. Having prodded cluelessly at the large critter a couple of times, we accepted her offer and then set about devouring this wonderful 'stew', which is tomato based, with a bit of garlic, chilli, sage, and so on. I say 'stew' in quotes because the word stew tends to conjure in my mind an image of something liquid based. Cacciucco however, is served on beautiful garlicky bread, which soaks up any liquid to form a gorgeous dense, rich, flavoursome bread-shaped gunk in the base of the bowl. Which leaves you with just the fish to eat, which in this case included: whole prawn, whole small crayfish-type-creature, another whole shellfish type creature, but elongated and with lots of spikes, making the small amount of tasty flesh to be had almost not worth it, the large gormless critter, octopus, squid, mussels, some other slab of really tasty firm fish, and the bread, which by the time we got to it was sufficiently fishy to count as its own species. So, including the bread, I make that nine types of fish, and two big grins. Absolutely delicious, and very highly recommended, in a slurpy, sticky- fingered, would be happy to have a food coma now kind of way. Once I find someone willing to give us a recipe (probably google since our waitress remained tight-lipped), I'll stick it up here for all to try...
Fishy Fun Revisited
Livorno, 15th August
Having quite enjoyed it the first time, and spotted some Pescheria stands that Sam fancied trying, we decided to return to Livorno, on a Wednesday. It turns out that Livorno is quite shut on Wednesdays in August, which kind of sucked. All the Pescheria vans were shut, so no tasty easy quick fish for us, oh no. Fortunately, we managed to find one open fish restaurant, and dived inside, practically wasting away. Apart from the fact that this particular place charges both cover charge and a 10% service charge, which I find rather rude, it was a great meal.
We shared a mixed antipasti plate, including the delights of a fish-themed panzanella and mare caldo, literally 'hot sea', a generously sized bowl of lightly steamed, full of flavour, mussels, clams and octopus. Oh, and a zucchini flower stuffed with a massive prawn, and then battered and deep fried. Very yum. Our main courses were just as tasty, even if not quite as simple as our intended pescheria fare. Sam's grilled swordfish resulted in my not being able to take a picture with his hands still, and my selection of fried fish was just fantastic. The highlight was easily the calamari though - so different to our recent pasta-fest diet, and perfectly cooked.
La Torre di Gnicche
Arezzo, 16th August
We nearly didn't go to Arezzo at all. Certainly wasn't on the original Tuscan itinerary, partly because we'd never heard of it, and partly because Lonely Planet reckons it's not one of the prettiest places in Tuscany. We actually quite like it - it's a bit more funky in places than a lot of the classic tourist towns, plus it's got some great food, which is possibly why Fred mentions it as worth a stop.
In particular, this place, La Torre di Gnicche (still don't know what a gnicche is, will look it up soon) is fabulous. It's just off the Piazza Grande, with kind of tiered seating up it's steep street, from which you can see the piazza, if you crane a bit. We were greeted with small, simply made menus, and a big grin from the owner/waiter. Alas, we were not greeted with a wine list, so, when he came past again, we asked for it. To my great concern, he said that they did not have a wine list (huh?), but instead invited us to come inside, and browse the shelved walls of the restaurant, which are stacked with priced bottles, including a large selection from Arezzo itself. Fantastic. I used my tried and tested method of finding a bottle with a nice label, and the letters DOCG, and we had ourselves a beautiful Chianti Riserva. We're suffering here, and no-one seems to care.
Back to the menu, and I was barracking for the degustazione of three different olive oils, followed by most of the rest of it. We settled instead for just two of the 30-40 different crostini, delaying ordering the rest of the meal until after them. The olive oil degustazione arrived first, as a large bowl of freshly toasted very tasty bread, and three large bottles, which were left for us to help ourselves from. Can't remember the details of the oils now, just that they were all a bit different, and very tasty. My memory loss is mostly due to the crostini that followed. Sam's choice of prosciutto (crudo) and mozarella was indeed a good choice, however, ever modest, I have to say mine was better - taleggio, speck and almost-caramelised cooked onion. Taleggio is just the best cheese in the world, and melted over delicious bread, and then smothered in hammy onions - how good can something so simple get?! Excuse me whilst I drool at the memory and have a bit of a look at the Tuscan countryside - we're on a bus to Siena.
Knowing that we have a responsibility to you, our dear readers, we decided we should plough on to a next course - secondi of Fred's recommended grifi, braised veal cheeks, and also roasted pork with white tuscan beans. The beans were really tasty (I think we're craving fibre), the pork was beautifully roasted and flavoured with fennel, and the grifi? Well, neither of us were entirely sure at first. To start with, it looked like a stew of veal cheek and potato. But the 'potato' was in fact also veal cheek, to be precise, great lumps of fat from said cheek. And disturbingly tasty as it turned out - the texture was sticky and more-ish, rather than the usual icky-fat texture that neither of us have ever liked.
Sadly, we had in fact run out of room (and wine) by this point, and so did not indulge in a choice or two from their selection of six different pecorino cheeses, but instead sensibly headed to a local bar for a little after dinner drink or two...
Yep, we're Australian
Montepulciano, 21st August
Take a wild guess at our chief interest, activity-wise, in a town that is famous, and has been for centuries, for the quality of it's wine? Cantina Contucci is a cellar door, or cantina in the middle of the actual town, rather than way outside somewhere. It's apparently been in operation in this building for several centuries, and you can take a tour around the seventy or so massive barrels stacked throughout this slightly maze-like layout. After which, of course, you can head into the tasting room.
We wandered in, lurked until the several people monopolising the tasting table had dispersed, and then made a beeline. Starting on the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2005, we vowed to always believe Fred when he insists certain wines should be tried if at all possible. Knowing the right questions to ask when tasting, we found that this was aged in oak for two years, and made from a blend of grapes from several of their vineyards. Tis very good, and reminded me of the big tasty reds you can find in Coonawarra. We then worked our way through the two 2003 single-vintage Vino Nobile, the Pietra Rossa being the pick of the two, both aged for three years, and also the aged-for-four-years Vino Nobile Riserva.
During all this, a Pommy family came in, he was apparently driving, she accepted a taste of the Riserva, and apparently thought it to be "quite nice". They then left, ticking the "taste the wine" box on their holiday itinerary. We debated which two bottles we should take with us to enjoy elsewhere, probably over a picnic, and checked out the shipping costs. Unfortunately, shipping a case of €15 bottles of vino to Australia more than doubles the per-bottle cost, even before Customs get their sticky little fingers into the ole wallet. So, sadly we're going to stick with getting our big reds from Coonawarra.
Anyway, we eventually chose the 2005, and the Pietra Rossa, having decided we couldn't quite justify the Riserva, and took them to the counter. Shortly before the Pommy family left, ???, the chief vintner, had come into the room. He had a look at what we were buying, and was apparently pleased. He quizzed us on where we were from, all in Italian, and praised us for being good capitalist Aussies buying wine, unlike the recently departed Pommies. I then decided to explain that we were there because we'd seen the cantina in Fred. There ensued some random flirting from our lovely little old friend, and then him happily granting my request for a photo of the two of us with him.