Glutton eats with Florence Food Tour

[Disclosure: I received a complimentary tour with Florence Food Tour thanks to Italy Segway Tour. All opinions in this post are my own.]

If you’ve been following my blog for a while (before my RTW), you will know that I love to eat. I even have a series called the Glutton Series where I recap the best food I had in different countries.

Last week, I donned my Glutton cap and joined Florence Food Tour for about 3 hours of non-stop eating (tasting to be exact), walking and learning.

The location of the office is rather hard to find, especially when you rely on Google Maps. It’s not at the junction as labelled on Google Maps, but it’s a lot further inside Via dei Cimatori. So do take note.

My tour was led by Angelina and there were two couples in the group. The younger couple were from San Diego while the older couple were from Holland.

Coffee sipping

Our first stop was a cafe, a perfect place to start since I needed some battery to power through the morning.

Chiaroscuro looked like a regular coffee bar from outside but there are actually seats inside. One very good thing about this cafe is that the Wi-Fi is free and not protected by password. I give this perk an extra 20 points.

But we weren’t at Chiaroscuro to use the internet, let me get on with the tour.

The owner showed us two types of coffee beans–Arabica and Robusta–and also coffees made from the different beans. I think I prefer the mellower Arabica since Robusta was too powerful.

Trivia time! Do you know why Italy is famous for coffee even though other countries (Holland, USA) imported the beans earlier? The owner said it was because the Italians learned how to roast coffee beans well and invented the espresso machines.

Truffle nibbling

Next stop was all about truffles. The staff of Procacci Company was still getting ready when we arrived so we hung around outside for a little while.

When we were in, we each sampled a small bread with black truffle and soft cheese.

There was also a large coffee book about truffles which Angela passed around.

Trivia time! Did you know that the truffle pickers used pigs to sniff for truffles since way way back when everyone in the picture dressed like peasants? Now certain types of dogs are trained to pick truffles because the pigs would eat up the truffles too often.

Wine sipping

We then headed to La Divina Enoteca near the central market to try out some local wines alongside some nibbles.

The shop itself deserves an introduction. Back in the end of the 19th century, the shop sold cod fish and kept the fish in white marble tanks. The tanks are still intact in the shop and now hold yummies such as jams.

For our wine tasting, we had a red and a white wine. Being a wine noob, I’ll tell you all about the tidbits that went with the wine.

With the white wine, we ate the bread decorated with a lace of salty Tuscan ham and Tuscan cheese made from sheep milk called Pecorino.

One of the cheese had a dab of jam, which was oddly matching since the sour/sweet of the jam blends with the cheese.

Central Market exploration

Our Central Market stop was packed with good eats and was a living museum.

There, we had a taste of Florence’s bread which, to my untrained palate, is a bit less tasty than French baguette (maybe because they don’t use salt).

We had a view of the butcher’s fridge which had stuff like cow’s stomach, etc. Of course all these bloody entrails did not surprise me since Chinese meals do make use of them. (And it’s yummy.)

Florence Central Market cow's stomach — Florence Central Market cow’s stomach

At the market, we had a sit down quick meal of fresh pasta with ragu at Nerbone.

Fresh pasta with ragu at Florence's central market — Fresh pasta with ragu at Florence’s central market

The pasta was flat and wide and was curly. The ragu wasn’t dripping off my noodles the way I like it but it was very flavorful with the dash of olive oil.

Everything else but gelato

By the time we’ve finished our pasta, our stomach level was approaching 90 percent but we still had two stops to go.

In the market, we stopped at Marconcini for olive oil, balsamic vinegar, ham and Vin Santo with cantuccini.

Living in Singapore and Malaysia, the olive oil that I eat usually is slightly rancid because of the time it took to ship and sell the oils as well as the tropical weather.

However, there at Marconcini, I tasted an olive oil (drizzled on bread) that had a “green” flavor.

I wasn’t a big fan of balsamic vinegar so I don’t have much to comment. However, it was surprising to find that the balsamic vinegar sold there was so thick it looked like thick soy sauce.

The last bite at Marconcini was the vin santo with cantuccini. We were told to dab our almond biscuit into the sweet, alcoholic liquor and it was a very delightful combination. (I totally get Orea and milk but biscuit and wine is a different thing to process in my brain.)

Gelato licking

Our last stop was a gelato place called Antica Gelateria Florentina where they served interesting flavors including matcha.

The price here is cheaper than most places with the least expensive costing 1.50 euro. I think this means they are honest people and not out to fleece tourists.

I had two of the special flavors: one was called Buontalenti (the name of the person who supposedly invented gelato) and Ambrosia.

I have to admit that my tongue and stomach were not trained for gelato so most taste the same to me.

More information about Florence Food Tour

For the official listing of what foods you will eat (in case it changes), you can check out the list of tasting and the partners.

The price of the tour is 59 euro, which is about 17 euro cheaper than one competitor–based on my Googling skill.

The quality, quantity of the food and the variety that you can taste makes up for the price. Plus, you won’t need to eat lunch afterwards so you save on a meal.

Have you ever been on a food tour? Where was it and how much did you eat?

Italy day 7: Defeated by a Florentine steak [YQrtw Day 33 May 10]

Location: Florence, Italy

I was a little depressed at dinner today. I felt like weeping but I told myself that I am in Florence and I damn well should not cry.

I suppose it was a mix of the cold rainy weather and my hormones. But mostly it was the gigantic piece of beef steak that caused me to feel sad.

I could not finish my 700gm beef steak. Unlike David who defeated Goliath, I was crushed by a (roughly 350gm) piece of uneaten meat.

Conquering Florence-style steak: Bistecca alla fiorentina

The Bistecca alla fiorentina (beefsteak Florentine style) is a famous dish in Florence. The meat is grilled on wood and served rather rare.

I knew I had to try the dish before I leave Florence tomorrow. I headed to one of the restaurants where I previously had lunch. It was still too early for dinner so I was one of the few customers.

The restaurant waiter told me that the smallest serving for bistecca alla fiorentina was 700gm. I decided to go ahead even though they have a set meal with 550gm steak and a few sides.

The meat that arrived was gigantic. The only company to the meat was one piece of purple lettuce and a wedge of lemon.

I knew I couldn’t finish the whole serving but I took the advice of how to eat an elephant (one bite at a time). I squeezed some lemon juice on the whole slab of meat and started with my first bite.

The skin had a nice burnt salty crispy taste while the meat was tender. Further away from the sides, the meat became rarer and rarer, pinker and pinker.

The dish was quite good since the meat was tender. However, by the time I finished half of it, my body told me to stop or everything else might come back up.

So I stared at the steak for a while. I wasn’t sure if asking for a doggie bag was polite in Italy. I didn’t want the dish to go to waste neither and started plotting ways I could take the piece back.

As I plotted, I felt depressed. The meat that was about a two-hundredth of my weight taunted me, “You call yourself a glutton?”

In the end the waiter was very understanding and helped me get a takeaway box.

I walked in the rain back to the dorm with the steak. In the end, the others in the dorm helped me conquer the slab of meat. That’s where you’re going Mr Meat!

Today’s summary: Natural Museum, Pitti Palace’s various museum, lunch + gelato, Basilica of the Holy Cross, Palazzo Vecchio.

Glutton on a cruise

After the teaser post last week, I’m ready to show you some of the things I ate on my 15-night cruise.

It’s very dangerous to put a Glutton on a cruise, especially a 15-night cruise. I think all the imagined fat that I’ve burnt off getting lost cycling in Sri Lanka were replaced by the food I had been eating everyday on the cruise.

First off, I want to share that I’m quite disappointed that food on board is not free-flowing for 24 hours.You still have room service throughout the night (free food but please tip the delivery person) but that doesn’t really count, does it? Of course, no midnight buffet is actually a good thing as it avoids food wastage and overeating.

By the way, food on board is not fantastic. It’s a bit like plane food (but you know that I love plane food)

On board the Legend of the Seas, there are three main eating places I go to: Windjammer Cafe, Romeo and Juliet Restaurant and Park Cafe.

Windjammer Cafe has buffets for three meals while Romeo and Juliet has sit-down meals for the same three meals. Park Cafe serves snacks and opens when Windjammer is closed but only until around 1:00am.

Windjammer Cafe food

I prefer Windjammer over the dining room of Romeo and Juliet because you get to pick and choose only what you want to try.

At breakfast, you can order omelettes with fillings of your choice. My favorite types are ham, bacon, mushroom and cheese.

For lunch and dinner, I usually eat like a carnivore with loads of meat on my plate.

Generally speaking, the ship doesn’t do Asian food well. All the Chinese-inspired soups were filled with MSG.

Romeo and Juliet restaurant

For the dining room, there’s fixed seating at dinner and free seating at lunch and breakfast. For free seating, you’re usually guided to a shared table and everyone makes small talk.

I met a lot of new people at the free seating which is really good since I don’t go out and mingle about too much.

The dining room offered a menu with food that appeared more than once each week. The main dishes were alright but the desserts were usually rather good for cruise food.

During dinner, everyone has fixed waiters for the table. My two waiters were Jenny and Valent who keep the conversation going when I sit alone. There were two Indian couples who now live in the US at my dinner table too.

On the last night, the staff stage a singing show to bid us farewell. It made me a little sad to leave the ship.

Self-squeezed orange juice

I found out about self-squeezed orange juice from a blogger who was on a transalantic cruise. She made her own orange juice because freshly squeezed orange juice was too expensive on the ship.

On Legend of the Seas, freshly squeezed orange juice is US$4. There is also juice made from concentrate–which I love–but it’s different from drinking orange juice just freshly squeezed.

I make mine by cutting the orange with cutlery snagged from the buffet table. The inside can be crushed easily using a spoon. It’s a rather messy business by the end is worth all the effort.

Have you been on a cruise? How was the food?

Italy day 6: Florence Food Tour and David’s bum [YQrtw Day 32 May 9]

Location: Florence, Italy

Today was the day for my Florence Food Tour, something I’ve been waiting excitedly for. Taking Google Map’s direction advice, I took the C3 bus, hoping to drop near the office.

The bus that came was very crowded. I stuffed myself in the front but more people came on. I was stuck between the legs of one lady and the arm of an older lady, (Lady! Why do you need to hold on to the handle when you are already sitting? Why?!)

As the bus turned, I balanced myself on my feet, afraid that I might crush the brittle arm of the old lady. I decided to get off at the next stop because the old lady seemed to be quite pissed with my bum being on her arm.

The next bus that came was rather empty but I still missed my stop. I hopped off at the next stop and started walking to the office with Google Map’s help.

The problem with Google Map was that it listed the office at the other end of the street. It took me a while before I actually reached the correct spot.

Our guide was Angela, a Sicilian. The other tour members were a young Iranian couple from the US and an older couple from Holland.

I’ll give you a quick summary of what we have, the full post will come next Friday. [Disclosure: Italy Segway Tour which operates the food tour gave me a complimentary tour in exchange for a blog post.]

Our stop included coffee, wine, truffles, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, bread, pasta and gelato. Everyone on the tour was stuffed to the brim before our last gelato stop. Of course we still managed to wolf down our gelato since desserts are processed in our other stomach.

Halfway through the tour, my digital camera suddenly grew a wound-like slash in its lens. Every photo came out with a blotch. I thought this was the end of my camera but luckily it went back to normal later in the day.

I did a whirldwind tour of the Medici chapel and the Palazzo Medici Riccardi with my Firenze Card. The chapel’s fresco were really impressive but we couldn’t take photos so it wasn’t that exciting.

Seeing Michelangelo’s David in the marble

Next stop was Michelangelo’s David. When I got to the Accademia Gallery, there were two lines for those with reserved tickets. (Firenze Card holders count as reserved ticket folks.) Instead of queuing at the second line, I visited the Archaeological Museum to pass time.

The museum had a rather impressive collection of mummies. The mummies didn’t look very appetizing and made me worry about the day when they would arise from the dead.

After about an hour of the museum, I headed back to see David. The line was much shorter and I got in quite soon.

The marble statue of David is rather impressive. It is really tall (14 feet plus the pedestal) and carved very finely.

Since we could not take photos of David (many people still do), I drew a few sketches for you. Of course I wasn’t born a drawing genius, nor was I trained in drawing, so just be happy about what you see here and don’t complain too much please.

In case you are wondering, the second photo is David’s bum, not a picture of the Elephant Man.

I listened to Rick Steve’s audio tour for the Accademia and David. It’s good enough if you (like me), do not want to spend money on the official audio guides.

After looking at the rest of David’s companions in the Accademia, I headed back to the square to my favorite cafe for a cappucino and tiramisu.

It was about 6:00pm when I was done with my cake. I looked at my map and realized that I need to check off a lot more places today with my Firenze Card so I have more time tomorrow.

I had the crazy idea to climb the bell tower of the Santa Maria delle Fiore church. It was 414 steps, divided into five or so spiralling staircases. I was very out of breath by the time I reached the top.

The view was very nice from the top but I didn’t think it was worth 414 steps. If the Firenze Card didn’t cover this site and I’ve paid cold hard cash, I think I would have found all the stair climbing a refreshing exercise.

The sky was still light by the time I walked back at about 7:30pm. I dropped in the restaurant next to my hostel and ate a humungous plate of seafood pasta.

That was all for the day. If you haven’t added me on Twitter, please add @yqtravelling. I usually spam that account since it’s less intrusive compared to spamming Facebook or the blog.

Ciao.

#FoodFri Sneak peek of cruise food

Hello all, I’m still be floating on the sea today so I’m giving you a sneak peek of my post next Friday’s Glutton on a Cruise.

This is a medium rare steak I got at the Romeo and Juliet Restaurant on Legend of the Seas. It was OK since the meat was a bit…clingy.

I’ll see you the next time I have internet in Italy. Ciao!

Glutton in Dubai

I have to confess: I didn’t eat three meals a day while in Dubai. I was either too lazy to get out for food or too stuffed from tea time.

Still, I did eat some lovely food.

I love you chicken shawarma

I fell in love with the grilled meat and bread combination while in Dubai. It’s just so yummy!

What got me started was a chicken shawarma set from IKEA. The plate had a few sides and even french fries in the bread. The chicken was tender and seasoned so well. Drool. [28 dirhams]

I had a cheaper shawarma from the roadside stall near where I stayed. It was good too but the pickles were urgh. [10 dirhams]

At Mom’s Cafe, shawarma wasn’t served yet so I got the taco version with grilled chicken. [16 dirhams for two of this.]

Tea time

I had a coffee break everyday while in Dubai since I was mostly in shopping malls. It was also the best time to use the cafe’s Wi-Fi to send my mom and sister snapshots of my day. (By the time I reach my accommodation, it’s 12 midnight for them so not a very good time to send stuff.)

Water

It’s very rare that water gets an entry of its own in the Glutton Series. But water in Dubai is more expensive than other places so it gets a special place.

The most expensive water I bought was a 2 dirham bottle of 500ml water at the Pinoy restaurant. The size is usually only 75 cents in supermarkets.

Lesson learned: Don’t buy water at restaurants.

Surprisingly, there’s also free water around too. I was surprised to find water fountains at Dubai Mall. I repeatedly filled my water bottle while walking aimlessly.

Cheap breakfast from supermarket

Cobbling together pre-made food from supermarket is a trick that works in other countries as well. I bought a butter croissant and a bottle of milk from the supermarket before the tour at Jumeriah Mosque.

Milk fills up the stomach really easily so it’s something I like to buy for breakfast when travelling.

Do you have a favorite food in Dubai? Share them in the comment section below.

Glutton in Sri Lanka

It’s Glutton time again! Each time I visit a new place, I share with you the yummies (or not) that I ate. Previous editions include Indonesia, east coast of Malaysia, Singapore.

Last week I’ve shared the wonderful rice and curries of Sri Lanka so today I want to show you other food!

Chicken kothu

My friend M left a comment in my past post that I need to try kohtu roti. I wasn’t really sure what it was but I ordered one anyway when I got back into Colombo.

It turned out to be my favorite dish during the entire trip. Maybe I was really hungry when I ate it but every bite tasted like chicken heaven.

Kohtu is sort of like stir fried noodles but with prata instead of noodles. This gives the dish an interesting texture.

Egg hopper

The hopper is a thin batter cooked on a little bowl shaped hot plate. The batter has toddy (palm wine) in it so there is a sourness.

I didn’t like my egg hopper as much as the kohtu. Despite the abundant pepper on my hopper, the taste was still a little flat.

Unknown noodle dish. I went back to the hotel where I had the hopper and kohtu, hoping to get the same for breakfast.

Unfortunately, it was too early so the shop only had this unnamed noodle dish. I ate the noodle with a serving of daahl and some chicken innards.

It was alright.

Drinks!

Can you believe I didn’t have any tea in Ceylon until my fourth day? Even then, the tea was from tea bags.

When I got into Colombo, I ordered a milk tea to go with my kohtu and hopper. The drink turned out to be too fabulous for words.

Sweet with no hint of tannin as other red tea do.

Despite my love for tea, my favorite drink in Sri Lanka has to be ginger beer. I was introduced the drink at my last lunch in Sri Lanka. The brand EGB claims that they are the only ones who use real ginger in their drink. In any case, I love the mix of gas and sweet ginger.

New year munchies!

These new year goodies were prepared by the hostel in Kandy. I’m grateful that I was able to have a taste of traditional Sri Lanka new year food.

What is your favorite Sri Lankan dish?

#FoodFriday: The many rice and curries of Sri Lanka

[I know it’s Saturday now (and probably Sunday where you live), but I had mild heatstroke on Friday so the post is only up now. Bon apetit!]

When I first heard of Sri Lanka’s rice and curry, I thought it was a plate of rice accompanied by a bowl of thick curry (like Chinese curries in Malaysia).

Even after looking at pictures of rice and curry online, I still had the same old impression.

So I was kind of surprised when I was served my first rice and curry at a hotel (a “simple restaurant” in Sri Lanka, not the usual definition of hotel) next to Colombo Fort train station. It looked very much like a regular rice and side dishes served at Chinese places back in Singapore and Malaysia.

The vegetarian rice and curry I had in Colombo had a huge heap of rice with four sides: chickpeas, fibrous vegetable, dhaal and another veggie.

The rice was not the usual Thai rice I have back home, but small barley-like grain that were round and fun to chew. (Later I found out that other rice were also used in different places.)

The best rice and curry I had was in Anuradhapura. It’s a small shop called “Highland Cold Spot” (or is it Cold Station) that gets its packets of rice and curry from another vendor. The best part about the place was that the rice and curry along with a glass of papaya juice cost only 160 rupees (~S$1.60).

Other rice and I curries I have cost less than 250 rupees and every one of them had too much rice. I wonder how the locals manage to keep all that rice in their stomachs. I usually can’t move after having one. (Maybe because I also drink while I eat and this expands my stomach by a lot.)

Ii’ve made it a point to have one rice and curry dish each day but I have a feeling I have had too much of it and my stomach does not want any more.

While we’re at the topic of food, I am ashamed to say that I have not tried a hopper yet. Uh oh… It’s just that I’ve only seen pre-made hoppers at a food counter and that didn’t look too appealing.

Anyone knows where I can get hoppers in Colombo or Kandy?

What other food should I eat in Sri Lanka?

#FoodFriday Samsui Ginger Chicken in Singapore

My favorite meat is chicken so I want to introduce a chicken dish for today’s Food Friday: Samsui Ginger Chicken.

The chicken is served cold (versus steaming hot). You can wrap the chicken inside a sheet of cabbage, dip it into ginger sauce before eating it. (I would prefer inhaling the whole large plate of chicken.)

The chicken is slightly oily but very soft. The chicken skin melts in your mouth too.

Samsui Ginger Chicken from Singapore's Soup Restaurant — Samsui Ginger Chicken from Singapore’s Soup Restaurant

Soup Restaurant explains what is Samsui Ginger Chicken:

A traditional Samsui dish consumed by the Samsui women in Chinatown. Due to their low income, the Samsui Ginger Chicken was only consumed once a year, during the Chinese New Year. Chicken was steamed without much seasoning after which, dipped in ginger sauce before consumption. The ginger sauce is a fragrant and tasty compliment to the chicken. Ginger and sesame oil, as believed by the Chinese, removes excess wind from the body. You may wrap the chicken in lettuce to achieve that crunch when you bite into the popular Samsui Ginger Chicken.

I suspect this dish was an invention, and not really a Samsui dish. Or it could that the restaurant hyped up the dish.

The price of Samsui Ginger Chicken at Soup Restaurant is a little expensive for what is simply steamed chicken.

Do note that the Samsui women were real people in history and they played important role in the literal “building of Singapore”. The wiki for Samsui Women has a very good explanation of who they were.

Glutton in Singapore

Best iced kopi I've had in Singapore. At Koufu Sengkang Sculpture Park

It’s funny how I’ve been in Singapore for so long but I have not had a Glutton post on the food here.

Since I’m leaving Singapore next week for the world, I thought it would be apt to have a post on food in Singapore, especially food that I love.

To be honest, food in Malaysia (especially those served at dingy restaurants) are a lot tastier than food in Singapore.

In Singapore, I usually eat at food courts where the cook is someone hired to put everything together and get it out of the stove as quickly as possible. This leads to disappointing meals.

Why don’t I go to nice places with nice food? Well, I don’t have a car and I don’t want to pay too much money for nice food. However, I have been having a lot of nice food this week as part of my many farewell parties.

Anyway, here are a few dishes and food places which I will miss if I leave Singapore:

Chicken rice

When my friends were organizing a farewell party, one asked what food I would miss from Singapore. It took me a while to think about which dish but in the end, I chose “chicken rice”.

When I was a kid, there was a chicken rice branch called Singapore Chicken Rice. I loved that place. The chicken was tender and the soup that they served always had bits of chicken feet and vegetables.

While there are famous chicken rice stalls in Singapore, most of the time I just have it at a regular food court. The chicken rice comes with a bowl of rice decanted onto the plate and a few bits of chicken. That said, it’s one of the cheaper (less than $4) dishes around so I go for it frequently.

Kopi

I love coffee. Even though local coffee in Singapore and Malaysia are served similarly with condensed milk, I like how easy it is to just get a papercup of kopi to go.

In Malaysia where I live, I usually have kopi when I am out at the kopitiam, not as a pick me up in the late afternoon.

Mee hoon kueh

A stall at Compass Point serves really good mee hoon kueh. It’s a noodle dish where the noodles are flat and squarish.

Ayam Penyet or ayam anything!

Near my old workplace, there was a Malay stall which served ayam penyet (fried chicken hammered flat and served with rice) every Tuesday and Thursday. I loved that place but having fried chicken almost every week wasn’t such a good idea.

Eateries I will miss:

Saizeriya

Saizeriya is a Japanese-Italian family restaurant. The food is quite cheap for a restaurant environment. If you pay a few dollars extra, you can have unlimited drinks from the drink bar. I love drinking non-alcoholic drinks as much as eating.

I usually go to Saizeriya with friends and we chat over our glasses and glasses of cordial orange. I don’t have a favorite dish there but I do like their seaweed.

Check out the list of Saizeriya branches.

Botak Jones

Botak Jones have branches serving affordable Southern US food. When I was in university (that was 4 years ago?), their portions were crazy large (or what is considered normal-sized in the US) with fries that spill over the table if you accidentally bumped into a plate.

Now, the size has shrunk but I do like their cajun chicken. I had a Botak Jones branch near my old workplace and I usually pick that spot for online dates (less walking for me).