Ristorante Vivo
Where? Ristorante Vivo (Florence, Italy) Map Menu
When? Thursday April 6, 2017
Who? Me
Food Style? Italian Seafood
I saw this recommended by a local so I thought I'd give it a go. It's not too far out of the city centre, very close to the library in fact, but what's encouraging is the menu is all in Italian. It doesn't have the cosy family vibe that I Riffaioli had but that's okay. It's more modern and upbeat, and they're currently playing a lounge cover of "All About That Bass". The very helpful waitress has translated everything for me and I've gone for the mix raw seafood platter with the bavette gamberi e zucchine, which is similar to tagliatelle and with shrimp and zucchini. I also have a single glass of white wine, as opposed to a carafe. Things are looking good. I arrived right on opening time and the restaurant was empty, but 30 mins later, it's starting to fill up.
Antipasto
Mix Crudo - Platter of raw seafood with oysters, clams, mussels,
sea urchin and sea snails
The seafood platter arrives and it looks SO GOOD that I don't have time to write about everything. The oysters and shellfish are sweet and fresh, the mussels...are okay but will never beat the green lipped species from New Zealand. The sea snails are my favourite on the plate. A little smudge of the spicy mayo and a sprinkle of lemon juice and they're so tasty. The prawns I am happily sucking the roe out of the heads and eating the flesh and licking my fingers (and then typing on my phone). Wow. I'm impressed.
While waiting for mains, I peer into the kitchen just behind me. I love watching chefs in action, running a restaurant is no easy task and they make it look so coordinated and disciplined. The dishes being brought out look amazing and I'm looking forward to mine. The waitress catches my eye and apologises for the wait but I tell her I'm happy watching everything. She says that the fisherman and restaurant operate under the same umbrella and I say it definitely shows in how fresh the produce is.
Primo Piatto
Bavette Gamberi e Zucchine
The mains arrive. I can smell the shrimp and onion, but there isn't a lot of zucchini. It tastes great though, and I'm willing to forgive the strands of shrimp antennae strewn through the pasta. I'm glad I'm in the corner of the restaurant where no can watch me barbarically tear these shrimp apart with my fingers and then suck the roe out of heads.
I want dessert. There a lot of choice. Do I go for the Tuscan almond biscuit with wine or the Italian icons tiramisu and panna cotta?
Dessert
Dolci del Giorno - berry cheesecake
I've decided to go with the berry cheesecake, just to see how the Italians do it. They do it damn well. The cheesecake is soft and smooth, with lots of berries adorning the top, adding that lovely tartness to balancing the sweet vanilla filling.
That was an amazing meal. I'm smiling from ear to ear and I instruct the waitress to pass my compliments to the chef; for some reason she is impressed with my terrible command of the Italian language when I magic up two words to sum my experience: molto bene!
Posted by Jeremy at 9:56pm on Friday April 28, 2017 :: 0 comments :: 