"Set on a residential street in the southern reaches of the Oltrarno, Il Guscio is a new-generation trattoria where the kids have inherited and updated their parents’ traditional restaurant. At the front, you’ll find a small bar area with a hissing coffee machine and shelves stacked with wines; in the back are two cozy rooms with stone-topped tables. It’s a real neighborhood hangout that’s always buzzy and always packed. Menus are based on the tried-and-tested local cuisine (both meat and fish) with the odd variation. Depending on the season, the menu might include tuna tartare with avocado and ponzu; grilled eggplant with mint, confit tomatoes, and soft goat cheese; risotto with vin santo pears, gorgonzola and chives; or house-special spaghetti alla trabaccolara (a mixed seafood sauce). Mains could be ossobuco or grilled octopus with grilled seasonal vegetables; carnivores have options like the super-rich house special filet of beef cooked in vin santo wine and topped with liver pâté." - Nicky Swallow
