Florence for lunch at Trattoria Mario. Its a tiny room with less than 10 tables covered in green checkered laminated cloth. We had excellent trippa fiorentina, tender soft tripe in a meaty tomato sauce with the consistency of silk, spiked with pepper. Bollito misto wasn't bad either, slices of boiled tongue and beef, parsley and olive oil sauce, piquant pickles to add sparkle.
The bill, including a carafe of red wine, salad and water came to just 20 euros.
Signs on the wall separating us from the chefs read as follows:
Qui si mangia insieme a quegl'altri dal 1953
Communal eating since 1953
L'osso della bistecca si ciucca con la mani
Eat your steak-bone by hand
La bistecca si coce come ci pare!!!
The steak is cooked however the hell we want!!!
Noi i'brodo coi dado un si fa!!!
Stock cubes have no place here!!!
Noi i'congelatore un ci s'ha!! Qui non s'adopra la panna!!
We don't have a freezer!! We don't use cream!!
Via Rosina 2r angolo Piazza del Mercato Centrale 50123, Firenze, Italia
Tel: 055 – 218550