Trattoria Mario; Worth every hype

A trattoria that doesn't take any reservations. You come, you wait, you eat, you leave. And its open only for lunch as the owner wants to balance work and family life. Its been around for ages and is frequented by the locals. No wonder, Mario is a revered institution in Florence.

I would have loved to have the Florentine Steak, Bistecca alla Florentina, but since I was by myself, I wasn't sure if I could finish the 35 eur dish, so I asked for their house specialties. The waitress promptly suggested the Ribollita, a thick veg soup and their beef stew, so I went with those.

Bread was served first with some salad. A thick crust, but the inside was totally fluffy. Having encountered a variety of breads in Italy, this was another one that I quickly learnt to love. The olive oil drenched salad helped the bread on its way while I waited for the soup and the stew.

The Ribollita, a sort of thick soup, actually for anyone used to any form of soup, this dish will appear to have an identity crisis. Thick, like really thick vegetables that have been reboiled (and hence the name), and reduced to becoming mass, you can EAT this soup with a FORK! Yep. But all the reboiling intensifies the flavours so much that this is a comfort food for those in the region.

The beef stew, served with bread was at the other end of the spectrum. Yes, the full bodied flavour of the stew with beef that simply fell of the bones, the stew was not only awesome by itself, but a spoonful of Ribollita with  the stew was my own (I'm pretty sure a number of other souls have tried it, but hey....) way of enjoying the stew even more.

I decided to have my desserts at the Market so skipped it here.