The Italian pantry in a restaurant next to the Ponte Vecchio
Running away from overcrowded, pretentious, touristic and multi-starred restaurants has its price. By moving away, yes, we will also say goodbye to the extensive menus sometimes without head or tail, to the bustle, to the fashions and to those dishes that do not marry at all with the place and its spirit, with the energy of who runs it, with the city where they are installed... We selected three. No more no less. Because almost always much less is much more : an Italian, a French and a Japanese in Spanish lands.
Cacio Wine Trallallà
The region of Tuscany is a fertile orchard of this type of premises. But if someone is at the top of the lists of charming places in Florence, it is this one, next to the Ponte Vecchio. You will never discover, no matter how many times you go, if the owners or the place itself are more pleasant. Its only three tables will make you feel that you are in the living room of a friend's house . Don't expect an extensive menu, try their wines, their local sausages, their cheeses, the craft beer they make, the carpaccio, the mozzarella... Ask for their ribollita (a delicious Tuscan stew made with vegetables and beans) or the lasagna or the ragu tortellini.
The Tuscan Micro-Restaurant
Chez Marcel, Paris
Between Montparnasse and Saint Germain des Pres you will find this jewel resurrected by the owner –the place is from the roaring twenties and you can feel it– who recovers the authentic Lyonnaise cuisine based on good work and back to the origins (which is what really triumphs). The atmosphere is so authentic that while you wait for your order, glass of champagne in hand, you will be in tears. And that you have not yet begun to die slowly with their dishes. Do not leave without trying the foie gras, the scallops, their Bourgongne escargots , its smoked herring, the casseroles, the sausages, its cochon carpaccio, the entrecôte with Roquefort...
Naomi, Madrid
Probably the best, or the most authentic, Japanese restaurant in Madrid is this one that seems to have been teleported from some street in Tokyo and cut-pasted here, in the Tetuán neighborhood, a short distance from the Bernabéu. The most surprising thing about this Japanese tavern is not its entrance sign (shabby but genuine to die for) nor its tremendous decoration... you will have to book days in advance n, but the living stamp of Yurico, the owner of the cotarro and cook that gives life to this place that is already an institution. Everything is delicious: misoshiru (miso soup) , yakitori (chicken skewers) , oshitashi (asparagus with dried tuna shavings) , asupara miso (asparagus with miso cream) , sobakarei (soba noodles with curry sauce) , namateri (loin red tuna with teriyaki sauce), hamachidon (lemon fish tataki with teriyaki sauce and rice) ...
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The most authentic (and flirtatious) Japanese in Madrid is in Tetuán