trattoria sergio gozzi - florence, italy

Rating:  6 / 10

You can't come to Florence and not eat Ribollita right? Right...

Having said that, there are many examples of "must eat" foods around the world that are more an experience than a culinary revelation, this was one of those.

If Trattoria Sergio Gozzi was to be judged on it's interiors, this would knock it out the park. The vibe in this "time hasn't touched" restaurant just breathes old skool. The family run establishment is friendly and accomodating, prices are definitely on the kinder side considering it looks out onto the Medici Chapel steps where groups of goth kids hide in the shade discussing Robert Smith.

I probably made a faux pas by ordering the soup. I admit, in hindsight. If I hadn't eaten a good beef stew the night before, i'd be more inclined to have ordered that, but having limited hours left in Florence I felt I had to at least have one version of their famous soup.

Let's get things straight: This wasn't a bad soup. It was hearty and had some pretty good flavour. The problem was it wasn't great. I could eat a Turkish red lentil soup any day of the week, or a moroccan vegetable soup or even a vegetable consomme, but this just offered me an insight into the local staple, and quickly shut the door.

It had the texture of baby food, heavy and thick. The kind of texture bad dal has. There was very little in terms of brightness or acid, so it felt like a bit of a slog to get through an entire bowl of glorified "veggies in a blender". Whilst i'll bestow nothing but the highest praise for the atmosphere and family vibe of the restaurant, i'll have to come back another time and try that goddamn beef stew, because the ribollita was an experience i'd struggle to repeat.

These recommendations are just personal opinions based on my palate, things change, chefs get fired or replaced, places open-close, relocate, so take it all with a pinch of MSG  and discover your own gems too. But please do try a few of these, they have been researched exhaustively.