Every once in awhile, a confluence of factors come together to turn a meal into something special. Last night’s dinner at Tre Soldi, a tiny trattoria outside the walls of Firenze was one of those. It was the end of an amazing day in the city, seeing Michaelangelo’s David (truly, truly magnificent and amazing how the veins in the arms of the marble statue look like they’re pulsing), strolling through the Uffizi and getting lost on the streets. Patrick and I were feeling relaxed after an aperitivo at a wine bar near the hotel, followed by a second cocktail in the hotel bar. Everyone had time to recover from the exhausting day and we were all hungry after a light lunch of panini (first lunch on our vacation that didn’t involve multiple courses) and gelato. We were also ready for a more local experience after a dinner the previous night at a restaurant, in which every nationality seemed to be represented except for the Italians.

So when we arrived at the small and elegantly decorated restaurant with no English menu (the first since we entered Italy), we were ready for a small adventure. Kathleen and I planned on sharing the one salad in the antipasti menu. How risky can salad be, we thought. As it turned out, it had shredded horse meat on it. I hesitated, but Kathleen suggested we go for it, so went for it (it tasted like bacon). Patrick, who doesn’t eat meat, especially pork, was suggested a typical Florentine dish of braised pork neck with white beans, so he went for that. The four of us (including Patrick) ended up sharing the Florentine beef, which came with a range of slices from rare to medium well — something for everyone. We topped it off with various gelato and sorbetto. I ordered the white peach sorbet with bergamot. Amazing. Ending the meal came coffee, limoncello, and vin santo.

We loved it so much, we went back for lunch two days later (11 euro for the Fast Lunch with a primi and a secondi).