Alle Murate is a beautiful place. Simple modern furniture underneath an ancient, frescoed ceiling. The tasting menu that night was based on both flavors and aromas. Every dish smelled amazing as it came out of the kitchen and made you want a taste. Obviously water, spumante, breads, and breadsticks came out first. The basket of baked things was so good it was hard to resist eating them and spoiling the appetite. Tara and I both had the tasting menu, but they tailored hers to fit her non-mammal diet.
- First course, Sarconi white bean and shrimp soup. The shrimp were perfectly cooked. As moist and fresh as possible without being undercooked. The soup also had hints of sage and thyme.
- Second course, bay-leaf-scented seared tuna (and fried pork chop for me) with an apple sauce and potatoes. This was a successful play on the classic pairing of pork chop and applesauce, but this apple sauce (notice the space in between the words) was very different and delicious.
- Third course, paccheri pasta with prawn, mussel, seabass, and cuttlefish. All four of the seafood ingredients were the right texture and chopped to a pleasant size, the pasta was clearly homemade and done to the right level of al dente, and the sauce was tomato based. A wilted sage garnish and a bit of spicy heat accented it all to the perfect finish.
- Fourth course, a pumpkin soufflé, with a chestnut on top and black cabbage sauce underneath. This was a perfect example of letting ingredients speak for themselves. The flavor of each component was clean and distinctive, the combination of three in-season ingredients proves we should eat the freshest things nature provides.
- Fifth course, Casentino lamb three ways – stewed in tomato, fried cutlet of rack, and baked leg stuffed with black olives. These were all fantastic and so different, the fact that it was all lamb and the roast potatoes in between tied them all together. (Tara’s fifth course, baked seabass over vegetable caponata. The seabass was tender, buttery, and flaked if you just ran your fork across. Perfection. Caponata is a Sicilian preparation of eggplant, zucchini, and pepper. The veggies were the crisp-tender consistency that all cooked vegetables should have.)
- Dessert course, a pear tiramisu over a chestnut pancake, topped with fresh pear cubes and chocolate shavings. Tara had said she was tired of tiramisu, but this was a refreshing and much lighter version. Once again with the argument in favor of using seasonal ingredients.
Via del Proconsolo, 16/Rosso
50122 Firenze, Toscana, Italia
+39.055.240618
Alle Murate Website
