The gourmet's guide to Europe

An artist in England once told me that if I did not see Lapi’s I should miss the most picturesque res- taurant in Florence. I asked the hall ^ ,,g porter at my hotel where I should find this picturesque house of refreshment. He held up his hands in horror, and told me that it was an eating place to which I could not possibly go. This naturally whetted my curiosity, and after looking about for some time I found Lapi’s. It is just off the Piazza Antinori,in a-house shared between a banking establishment and the museum of a dealer in antiquities. You go round one corner and you see a door with u Lapi ” inscribed on either side of it. At first all you can perceive in the dark entry is a man standing in shirt sleeves behind a counter with a background of wine flasks ornamented with vine leaves. Then you notice a staircase going down into the depths of the earth and ending in semi- darkness of a fine Rembrandt brown. There are tables in this place of shadows, and two swinging lights supply the only illumination there is. I could see that the colour and the dim light must appeal to any artist, but I mentally agreed with the hall porter that this was no place for me, and in spite of a pressing 256 The Gourmet's Guide to Europe invitation from the gentleman in shirt sleeves to descend, I turned and went on my way. The Gambrinus, in one corner of the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, and its more gorgeous rival just opposite to it, are places of revelry after dinner. They are both brasseries. Paoli’s is a place at which the young Florentines amuse themselves with good oysters and bad company, as they also do at Picciolo’s. A travelling gourmet who has written me an interesting letter on the restaurants of Northern Italy asks me to mention in this book the cook at the Villa Trollope, the pension at which he stayed. This chef is an enthusiast in his art, and was always ready to give not only information concerning, but also practical exposition of the cookery of Italian dishes. It is not my custom to mention pensions in this book, but I make this exception. There are not many dishes distinctively Florentine. Stracotto , braised beef with tomatoes, is one of them ; and Fegatini di polio , giblets stewed in wine sauce, is another. The Tuscan fowls are especially esteemed, and are roasted before a wood fire ; and there is a special Florentine salad of haricot beans generally served with caviare. The figs, of many kinds, are delicious ; and Presciutto con fichi , fresh eggs and ham, are eaten all over Tuscany. The chestnuts from the Apennines are some of the best flavoured in Italy. Chianti and Montepulciano are the best of the half- dozen local wines. The Florentine Club, Via Borgnosanti, is hospitable to travelling Englishmen properly introduced. At one period there was an English Club in Florence, and it was modelled in miniature on the Naval and Military Club of Piccadilly, so far as its interior arrangements were concerned. The honorary secre- tary of those days was a retired officer, a member of the Naval and Military, and the form of the bill of Italy 257 fare, the livery, and many other matters of interior economy were copies from the London club. AFTER DINNER