A tasty and cheap lunch break in Florence, the Ghianda is the restaurant with interesting prices and quality dishes that awaits you between visits or Florentine shopping, read the review.
La Kitchen of the Acorn has been open for a few months but now a Firenze everyone knows him. At least the Florentines, at least those who work in the center, at least those who want to have a meal (quick for lunch or more relaxed for dinner) eating very well and typically Tuscan without the wallet crying.
Even if it is located in the center, to be precise in via dell'Agnolo, this restaurant does not overlook the typical tourist lines, yet we are a few meters from the Verdi Theater and a few hundred meters from Piazza Santa Croce. The restaurant is located on a corner, it is spacious but not very conspicuous from the outside, there is a sign but the thing that will make you recognize it are the tin cans used as flower pots that are hung outside. The interior is all in wood, the tables are rustic, the straw chairs, the simple equipment, some really interesting details, like the lamps made from duly adapted wine bottles.
The characteristic of Cucina del Ghianda - or simply The Acorn as everyone calls it - it is the showcase counter where to choose what to eat. Someone defines it as a company canteen style, in reality everything is based on practicality: you look at what is available, you choose, you pay. Some girls serve in the dining room, arranging and setting the table for the customers, but the food is taken by yourself. The water is free, of the naturalized one, the bread is on the table.
The kitchen prepares delicious dishes every day Tuscan tradition, from baked pasta to ribollita, from farinata to legume soups. The second courses are also varied, of meat, fish, without missing the vegetarian options with flans and seasonal vegetables. The cuisine is not only typical but also attentive to the use of raw materials. THE prices are exceptional: € 4.50 for a first course, € 6 for a second course with side dish. The dessert counter is also interesting, even in this sector seasonality wins: in autumn the schiacciata con l'uva (a typically Florentine baked cake) or persimmon semifreddo, in winter the castagnaccio but also the creme caramel made in home. Desserts cost 2,50 euros.
For the lunch break from work or for a quick meal between visits to the museum or between a shopping spree on a shopping day, the Ghianda is perfect. There is a lot of turnover of customers, employees and students, some rare (for now) tourists, but no one will send you away if you linger at the table a little longer.
Personally, I only experienced it during the lunch break - I happened to eat there even around 15 pm and to find availability and kindness. I have never tried it in the evening version, where the type of food is basically the same but the service formula changes, in fact the service is only at the table according to the card of the day.
Also interesting is the history of this place, so different from the - numerous - restaurants found in Florence, where you often risk bloodletting. The owner is a doctor that after years of work in the main hospital of the city he decided to try an alternative and so, taking a leave, he opened this place with the help of his wife. Who knows if, after the success he is having, he will decide to dress the shirt again.
The Ghianda is open every day for lunch, for dinner only on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Sunday rest.
