The Big Garden Makeover - Day 1 in Pam`s Garden

If you want to get to know the food here in Florence or simply want to learn what to order in a restaurant, you should definitely consider hopping on one of our food tours. I love eating, so I'm going on a food tour now. I'm meeting our guide, Teodora, and she's gonna show me around the city, and we're just gonna make our way eating some different classic Florentine food. ♪♪♪ Ciao, ciao. Yeah, how are you? I'm good. Thanks so much for meeting me. Of course. I hope you're starving, because we're going to have some really good food. I'm always starving, look at me. I'm a big dude, so I love to eat. So tell me, what's kind of the program for today? What exactly are we doing? So we're going to start off by having what we call aperitivo. Okay. So happy hour. I actually got my PhD in aperitivo. Oh, yes? We're going to try some Tuscan wine and some Tuscan bites. Then we're going to make our way on the other side of the River Arno. We're going to try some pasta and some other Tuscan wine. Then we're going to a rooftop bar and have a very nice view of Florence. And after that, it's proper dinner with a Florentine T-bone steak, which is the star of the show. Nice. And Tuscan dessert. All right, let's do it. Come on, let's go. We're going this way then? Yes. If you love food as much as we do, you are going to love this tasty adventure in Florence. Known for its wine, Tuscan delicacies, and mouth-watering steak, Florence offers a culinary experience like no other. But where can you find the best eats? And what should you try? Today, we're spending three hours being shown local spots by our friend and foodie guide to discover Florence's most authentic and delicious eateries. From our meeting point in Piazza della Signoria in central Florence, we'll head to the street named Via dei Neri to try some local wine and have a Tuscan attipasti. Then we'll cross the Arno River over the historic Ponte Vecchio Bridge to get to the Oltre Arno and specifically the Santo Spirito neighborhood to try some pasta, have a rooftop aperitivo, and then the grand finale of our food tour is a proper sit-down dinner to try the king of all steaks, the Fiorentina. Before we get started, hook me up with a like and subscribe and smash that bell so you can find our upcoming content. So we're at our first stop. Where are we? We are at Budellino. Budellino in Tuscan dialect, so Budello in Tuscan dialect, means stomach. It's our first stop because it's like a welcome to the food tour that we have here in Florence and it's a family-owned business. We're going to try some Sangiovese wine that's produced by one of the owners of the place. She's also a sommelier, so I'm really eager to show you. And this is female-owned? This is female-owned. Wow. All right, let's do it. So I'm having a glass of Sangiovese wine. It's a production of the winery that owns this place, of the girl that we saw beforehand in the picture, Alice. And she's also a sommelier, so it's Sangiovese red wine. And you're having a Vermentino, which is also a Tuscan wine, Tuscan grapes, coming from southern part of Tuscany, close to Groseto. Cheers. Ah, so nice. I love a good Vermentino. So tell me about this Budelino. Is it, it's not 100% Sangiovese, is it? No, it's a blend of Sangiovese and other grapes, but it's mostly Sangiovese grapes. That's why we call it a Sangiovese wine. This is her place. Her place. It's a nice little story there. It is, and... And her name is Alice? Alice, Alice. We're having some prosciutto. Toscano. Toscano, okay. So it's Toscano, it's not quite prosciutto, right? It's not, it's not the Palma, it's... It's the Tuscan. It's the Tuscan prosciutto, that's saltier compared to prosciutto di Palma. Because here in Tuscany, and especially in Florence, because it was born here, we have what we call Tuscan bread, and it's what you're having on top. So these are the prostini with some tomato, pomodorini, and some olive paste? No, it's chicken liver pate. Chicken liver pate? Yes. It's my lucky day. Now the bread in Tuscany tastes totally different, and that's because it comes unsalted. I finally learned from Teodora the story of why the bread here has no salt. Tuscan bread comes from the 12th century when Florence and Pisa were fighting against each other. So the people from Pisa decided to stop trading or raise the taxes of salt exchange to the city of Florence. Wow. So the Florentines had to adapt and come up with an idea. They started producing the unsalted bread that actually made them quite famous in Tuscany. Yeah. It's what we call today Tuscan bread. Chicken liver pate on Tuscan unsalted bread. Yeah, it's good. Yes, that's my favorite. If you love food as much as we do, then don't worry, we got you. Jump on this food tour, or one of the many we have in Florence and Tuscany, to make your visit to Italy memorable. The Ponte Vecchio, which you see behind me, is one of the iconic symbols here in Florence, and something that you definitely have to see when you're in the city. During medieval times, it was full of farmers, and as soon as the Medici started to rule the city, they kicked out all the farmers and installed a bunch of goldsmiths. To this day, the bridge is full of different jewelry shops, so it's gonna be very crowded when you visit this bridge. And you see this little secret walkway right along the top of the bridge? That was built by the Medici because they couldn't be bothered to walk with normal people. They had to have a secret walkway between the Uffizi Gallery and the Pini Palace. Pro tip, if you wanna pick up something for your mom while you're in Florence, do it here at Ponte Vecchio. Oh my gosh, this is it. It is. That's one of the beauties of having a tour guide like you, is that you're showing me all the secret spots. I mean, I've been to Florence so many times that I didn't know about this little secret view here of the Ponte Vecchio, and this is so nice. So this place is pretty cool looking. It's got a nice vibe. I see concrete walls, some art on the wall. Okay, so what do we have here then? We have some fried ravioli. Fried ravioli. Two different kinds? Two different kinds. So one is with spinach and ricotta cheese, and the other one is potatoes, mint, and pecorino cheese. Okay, so which one should we try first? My favorite is the one with potato, mint, and pecorino cheese. They're both so good. That's this one here, right? Yeah, they're both so good, but I always start with spinach and ricotta cheese. So this is the kind of place where you can come, have a glass of wine. Have some pasta or a pizza because everything is freshly made. It's handmade. Ooh, I'm getting my vegetables in. Wash it down with a wee bit of wine. Yeah. So we're up for some more aperitivo. Is the Pope Catholic? So one of the reasons why I love coming up here to the Hotel Guadagni, to their loggia, is because of the vibe. I mean, I just feel like a Roman patrician when I'm up here. There's beautiful columns. You have views of Santo Spirito, and of course, they make these classic cocktails. So I'm having a variation of a Negroni, and I'm gonna give it a go. That's where you've been. Come on. This is traveling. So we made it to the last stop, right? We're gonna go out with a bang. What can we expect here? Well, we're having the ribollita soup, the Florentine T-bone steak that we've waited so much for. The Fiorentina. The Fiorentina, the Fiorentina, and then Tuscan dessert. And we're eating at a traditional trattoria, right? We're eating at a traditional trattoria. It's been open since 1958. Please. Thank you. All right. Allora. Is this house wine? Yes, it is. Can't wait to taste it. So here's to Jupiter. Here's to Jupiter, yes. Good. For house wine. I mean, that's the thing about Italy. You can't go wrong, even with the house wine. It's so inexpensive. Great way to save money. Always good. I still haven't had a bad wine. And we got a mezzolitro? Yes, we got a mezzolitro, and we can order more, of course. Okay, so you suggest that I put some olive oil. Yeah. All right. And usually, places that produce their own wine have their own olive trees as well. So they produce their own olive oil, and this is their own production. Okay. So this is house-made olive oil. And do I sprinkle a little bit of cheese on this? Yes. Okay. Is this pecorino? This is parmesan. Oh, parmigiano, yeah. Well, we're in Tuscany, right? Yes. So that was a dumb question. We got some ribollita, actually. So this is the traditional Tuscan stew that's thickened with this Tuscan bread. And you can see that it's totally cucina povera, right? I mean, who makes a soup with bread? But the Tuscan- With bread, exactly. And it's like the two main ingredients of the ribollita are bread and kale. Bread and kale. Yes, because this is a region very rich in different types of cabbages. And kale- Kale is one of them. Is one of them, yes. I love kale. That's good, it's very flavorful. It's much more flavorful than it looks. I think it doesn't look like much. It looks very thick, but the flavors are certainly there, which is quite nice, actually. It tastes more like a vegetable soup, right? Yes, it is, it is. So this is the main event. Yes, the star, the star. Part of the show, for sure. As you can see, this is the perfect way to cook it. Medium rare. It's rare, medium rare, yes. And it's actually frollata, what we call here. Frollata. So it has to hang inside the refrigerator at a temperature of zero to four degrees. It's female Pianina cows. And in this place, they leave it to age, let's say, for at least three weeks. So it's genuine and it's for sure one of the best steaks that we will ever have. The crust on this, you can see the grill marks for sure. And so when I want to order a steak, medium rare like this, how would I say that in Italian? Well, when you order the Florentine steak, voglio una fiorentina. Voglio una fiorentina. They are not asking how you want to cook because it's one way only. The Florentine way, it's one way only and it's this. Okay. And you know what else they say? That it has to be at least four fingers high to be considered. This is many, this is many. Look at that, I mean, wow. There you go. And it's never for one person only. It's at least for two to three people. So by the way, these potatoes are very crunchy on the outside. Yes. Very soft on the inside. I don't know if you've ever had them before, but they're very good. If you can pass me the oil. Olive oil. Okay, teach me what you do, because I want to see this. So the way we do it here in Flores, on the side of the plate, we pour olive oil. We have to put some salt and pepper as well. So salt and pepper on the olive oil? Yes. And what I would suggest is that you have a bite without it. Sure. And then with. Okay. So you can tell the difference of how flavorful it gets. Okay. You see how tender it is? All right, so in true Florentine fashion, I have to pick up this bone here and just have at it and gnaw away. The closer to the bone, the sweeter the meat, right? Oh my God. So good. Nothing compared to the cancucci or what you guys call in the U.S. biscotti. This is legitimate. And the word santo is actually translated to holy wine. So there are different versions to why we call it holy wine. One version says that there was this Orthodox priest visiting Florence and he liked the dessert wine so much that he made the toast saying santos, which means holy. So then we dip. It's like a boozy biscotti. Traditional flavor is with almonds. You will find them with chocolate filling and raisins as well. Good stuff. Cheers. That's a wrap. Well, that concludes our time here in Florence. I'm Angel Castellanos for the Tour Guide. Don't forget to comment, like, and subscribe and ring that bell so you can find our next video. Happy travels.