Thursday, 24 May 2012 - Food Experiences

Thursday is Market day in Montepulciano.  So we decided that we should suss it out.  We also decided that we needed some time to chill out.  So that fitted in well.  To cap off a day of relaxation we had also earlier in the week booked ourselves into a small restaurant in the old town called 'a Gambe di Gatto' (The leg of the Cat!).  We had found it on the internet and it sounded interesting.

Anyway after a leisurely breakfast we wandered off, and after asking for directions we found the market.  It wasn't quite what I expected - I had visions of poverty stricken peasants bringing their donkey loads of vegetables into town.  But actually it was a bunch of travelling stall holders who move around the district.  We know this because we cam across them in two other towns on Friday and Saturday.  Still there was a lot of interesting stuff for sale, not all of it made in China.

We did discover one thing that I had read about on the web.  The famous Porchetta Panini (Pork sandwiches).  Like all of the best Italian food these were quite simple - just slices of cold spit-roasted pork in a good bread roll.  Apart from the vegetarian we decided that these would be lunch.  We picked our vendor, who laughingly corrected my attempt at ordering in pidgin Italian, and got our panini.  These were one of the food highlights of our trip.  Plenty of well-seasoned pork, with real crackling and lots of fat in a good bun.  I can taste it now, and feel the fat running down my chin.  Worth a trip to Italy for sure.

The rest of the day was nice and quiet.

That evening we headed up the hill to dinner.  The restaurant was as described - small (16 seats) run by husband and wife, Emanuel and Laura.  Great food and hugely entertaining service, although it puts a new meaning into slow food.  I think we were in there 4.5 hours.  The food (Laura's) was very good and the service included an Olive Oil tasting and a Wine tasting - all local produce of course.  We had several Olive oils and Mike and I got to try 8 or 9 wines (only a mouthful of each).  They ranged from relatively cheap young wines up to 2 Brunello di Montalcino - the last being very expensive.  It was a great experience and a fantastic way  to compare the wines.  Mike and I chose a bottle of the number 5 wine which was the first of the really good ones and not too expensive.  The service and tastings were a lot of fun, although the two pikers in the group got a bit bored.  It was a great night out.

Emanuel posing with us for Mike's photo

Tricia's summary was:

Went to the local market.  Had a lazy afternoon at villa.  Went out for tea at Leg of the Cat.  Started at 7:30 pm finished at 12:00pm wow!!