Marilyn T.
Yelp
We had a lot of casual Tuscan food but wanted to see what a fancier Michelin Star version would be like. Borgo San Jacopo is located right by the water, which gives a nice view.
First off, they were extremely understanding about us running late as tourists. Once you enter, it's a very relaxed feel, and everyone is super polite. Most diners were American, but there were some Italians.
They started us with some red wine focaccia with olive oil, which is a nice change from the standard bland and dry traditional Florentine bread.
They offer a la carte and 3 tastings (€120 each). It's nice that they had a vegetarian one! We ended up both getting the potato one, though I regret not getting one of the traditional menus since the chef does interesting spins on traditional things like ribollita.
The wine list had a lot more French selections than a lot of the other restaurants we've been to. As a result, prices can run higher, but we found a great Sangiovese blend that I really liked; it was biodynamic/ organic and really reasonably priced.
The potato tasting:
1. Negroni: I kept saying how I should have a traditional Italian cocktail, and I got one! It was served on a plate out of a mini repurposed Campari bottle, poured into a cute glass with an "olive" and "orange." The olive was actually a green peach with truffle that tasted like an olive (slightly different texture), and there was orange ice. On the side was a mini fryer basket with paper thin Campari marinated chips. I thought this presentation was awesome
2. Fossil: a potato that it looks like it's covered in ash and looks like a grey stone. It's meant to be eaten by hand, and you dip it in a beet root mayo
3. Flourless: potato "noodle" carbonara with pecorino, pancetta, and a soft sabayon - like a real carbonara but a different texture
4. Potatoes with foam: there was one with Roman cabbage and a pasteurized egg (egg of the land), topped with shaved Tuscan truffles. The other had roe (eggs of the sea) and was topped with cayenne and paprika. I really enjoyed both. They're both rich, and it was nice to switch back and forth between the two
5. Game of textures (piglet): pork with nicely crisped skin, topped with scampi and a savory gelee, with shiitakes and a pork jus reduction. This course was great with the wine, and I soaked up the leftover jus with focaccia
Before the final courses, they changed us it to fresh napkins, which was a nice touch.
6. Below zero: purple potato with mango, coconut, and a yogurt foam: this was like an Asian dessert - with flavors of coconut, taro, mango, and mini tapioca. It was super pretty with orange and purple and had lots of textures
7. Potato pralines: chocolate and potato truffles in a box. These didn't taste like potato at all and were nicely bitter sweet, not too sugary
We were the last diners, but they were nice about letting us linger. Service was very gracious throughout the meal.
In the end, I was a little surprised that espresso and water prices were more like US pricing (€5 for espresso, €7 per bottle of Pellegrino) - different from the other Michelin starred places we had gone to in Alba on this trip. However, overall, it was still a really nice dinner experience and a great final meal/date night in Florence.