Go into any
café in Italy on a Saturday or Sunday morning and you’ll find it packed with
neighbourhood locals standing at the bar ordering their daily cappuccino e brioche. Giorgio’s is no
different, but listen closely and you’ll find that there are not only locals
from Isolotto in this place. In fact, Florentines from across the city and the
surrounding suburbs flock to this pasticceria for their morning dolce because the
pastries and cakes behind the counter simply don’t come any better.
With six
full-time pastry chefs, the products emerging from the flour-filled kitchen are
famous throughout the region. House specialities include the light-as-air schiacciata alla fiorentina with an
unexpected orangey tang, and the millefoglie,
a melt-in-your-mouth combination of creamy and crunchy, as well as carnival
favourites like the doughnut-like fried pastries called frittelle and the crispy Tuscan carnival speciality, cenci. All of the pastries are made from
the house chef’s original recipes, or better said, from his best-guarded
secrets. Indeed, the house schiacciata is so well known that during carnival over 400 are sold daily.
In an
unexpected combination, Giorgio is renowned not only for its pastries, but also
its fish. In fact, next to the bakery is a restaurant, open at lunchtime, which
expands onto a beautiful terrace in summer, and it is here that you can find
some of the best fish dishes in Florence. Crates of still-twitching gamberoni (king prawns), tentacular calamari (squid) and scaly mullet are
delivered fresh from Viareggio every morning. They are immediately battered or
boiled, fried or grilled and ready for lunch. From crustacean salad and baccalà mantecato alla veneziana (creamy
codfish) to homemade fresh pasta, lobster stew and seafood risotto, the food on
the constantly changing menu is traditional, seasonal and as fresh as it comes.
For those looking for a lighter midday meal, the café offers a range of
seafood, meat and vegetable sandwiches and primi
piatti, alongside their popular cakes.
Focusing
exclusively on fish, the restaurant is best known for its Friday aperitivo. It is not recommended,
however, for timid eaters: its highlight is a selection of raw fish, which
includes scampi and Scottish salmon, though a variety of cooked dishes are also
offered for the less adventurous.
Giorgio
Bernacchioni opened the pasticceria with his wife in 1972, focusing on high-quality pastries and homemade gelato, which won several national
prizes for its quality and taste. When his son Andrea took over the business,
which he now runs together with his younger brother, he opened the fish
restaurant and downsized the gelato sales (their artisanal gelato is still sold during the summer months).
The shop has
also always been known for its tea selection, and a traditional English
afternoon tea in the beautiful café, accompanied by slices of cake or
jam-filled pastries that go equally well with Earl Grey as with your morning macchiato, makes a relaxing and
delicious break.
Pasticceria
Ristorante Giorgio
via Duccio di Boninsegna 36
Tel. 055/710849
