The La Loggia restaurant, located in the beautiful Belmond Villa San Michele, is housed in a fifteenth century room which may have been the monk's dining hall when the villa was a monastery.
The room, although featuring original stonework and wooden panelling, is light and airy, furnished in a mix of periods, with large and dignified chairs, tapestries on the wall, and yet an overall feeling of modernity.
The views over Florence at night... we are just running out of ways to explain how magical they are. Imagine a cross between fairyland and heaven, and you are somewhere close. We were shown to our table immediately, and service was faultless throughout the meal. I do hate to be continuously asked by staff how things are, especially because I never quite have the courage to say, “Awful” if they are. But of course, this is as far from awful as you can possibly get.
We loved the sumptuous napery, the small but pretty fresh flower table decorations, and the sparkling stemware and china. Although we expect nothing else in a restaurant of this reputation, it’s still nice to see that things are done “just so.”
“A masterful classic meal in almost fantasy surroundings”
The menu is unashamedly based on classic Tuscan cuisine and local ingredients, and we welcomed this greatly, there comes a time when instead of modern Barcelona inspired haute cuisine, you just want to eat good down to earth food in ample portions. This is what La Loggia offers; but don’t run away with the idea that the food is unsophisticated - it’s far from that.
For my first course, I decided to go very traditional indeed, and chose Tuscan thick vegetable soup made with bread and cabbage. This was a bowlful of flavours, the cabbage being I suspect the finely flavoured negro, or black cabbage of the region. Satisfying yet not overwhelming. My companion selected traditional large macaroni pasta with lobster and cherry tomatoes. You know that moment when you wish you’d had what your dining partner has ordered? This was (from the little I was allowed to taste) sweet and delicious, with some of the most highly perfumed tomatoes I have ever tasted, just perfection.
To drink we had respectively a Tuscan Terre di Tuffi, and a Grattamacco Bolgheri Vermentino 2012, both wines presenting a delectable glassful of fruit flavours, nicely matching our food choices.
For our main course we chose charcoal grilled Florentine beefsteak with grilled garden vegetables. A conservative selection perhaps, and only available for two, but the steak was magically cooked exactly as we both like – I had no idea Italian beef could be so good – and the vegetables were a veritable cornucopia of colours, the flavours beautifully rendered by the smoky grilling.
To drink we chose Castello di Fonterutioli 2000, a Chianti Classico. With a good nose of oak, juniper and berry, this deep plum coloured wine was a great accompaniment to our steak, and is still drinking well.
Having dined excellently, we decided against a desert, and instead sipped excellent coffee, watching the moon come up over the city. Altogether a standout experience amongst the many standout meals we have eaten recently.
The Bill: £96 per head
