"Victor Sack" > ha scritto nel messaggio
.. .
> Giusi > wrote:
>
>> While I have enjoyed very much the few Michelin starred restaurants at
>> which
>> I've eaten, they are not reflective in a substantial way of the local
>> (national) cuisine. They always seem to be a German version of a French
>> restaurant, or an Italian version...

> Michelin has always been considered notoriously unreliable in Italy.
> Yet, not so long ago, it was the only guide available, as there were no
> Gambero Rosso or Veronelli.

> Affettato toscano con crostini L. 2500
> Panzanella alla campagnola L. 2000
>
> Tegamino di zuppa alla contadina (Ribollita) L. 1700
>
> Pulpitielli veraci affogati con piselli L. 6500
> Baccalà alla livornese L. 4500
> Fritto di funghi porcini L. 7500
> Fritto di cervello schienali e fiori di zucca L. 6000
> Tegamino di trippa alla fiorentina L. 4500
> Bistecca alla fiorentina L. 17000 al kg. per due persone
>
> Ah! Now I want to go back there!
>
For those prices the whole country wants to go with you. I try to ask
someone who lives there, someone who is helping me at whatever-- a vendor in
the market if I want a simpler place, a phone call to a friend who lives
there for an upper end place. www.divinacucina.com has a very reliable list
for all the neighborhoods of Florence and is written by a chef friend of
mine whose expertise I know. So far we've disagreed about one restaurant,
but we haven't ordered the same things. One of the best meals I have eaten
in all Puglia was recommended by a cheese stall owner in the Sat market.
Here in my town the Michelin starred restaurant is good, but modern
euro-chow with great wine list. It isn't expensive, but for half the money
you can eat very well indeed, if not drink so well.
I also like to adventure a bit and poike my head into places not mentioned
anywhere. In October I ate a plate of fried chicken and vegetables in a
fluorescent-lit Florence dive that was so good I wanted to eat it everyday--
but it was a daily special.

>> The rest rings true, though. It was difficult to find German restaurants
>> in
>> Meerbusch and Dusseldorf. Pizza, pasta, souvlaki, shishkebab etc. were
>> all
>> you saw ordinarily.

> Not the Weinhaus Tante Anna, by any chance?

I haven't any memory of its name. Lots of sausages, anyway. I had seen
hundreds if them at the supermarkets but none I could get my hands on, so
that's what I wanted. It was in a Medieval part and there were lots of
business travelers in it. A big place.

>> My friend loves the bread and eats
>> various things in it or on it. Neither her shopping nor her cooking has
>> anywhere near the attention given it that someone like her here in Italy
>> would expend.
>
> Why is this so?

I don't know if it is her or something more characteristic of German
attitudes. Your article seems to place it as a German thing.