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ITALY FLORENCE ENOTECA PINCHIORRI
The establishment occupies the ground floor of an 18th century palazzo. As you would expect at a restaurant with three Michelin stars, the environment is a model of good taste and style. Tablecloths of the finest damask, gorgeous flower arrangements and some seriously desirable oil paintings create a setting which is both luxurious and welcoming. I certainly felt welcome as I was greeted by the delightful Maitre d’ Alessandro Giagni (pictured) and taken past the statue of Apollo to my table. I was soon comfortably settled in one of the new grey armchairs, and happy that – of course – there was no canned music. In my battle to drive recorded music from dining rooms, it is astonishing how often I am told that restaurants must have this noise in the background. The very top places, such as the Enoteca Pinchiorri, consistently prove otherwise.
For my own imbibing, I placed myself in the hands of sommelier Junnosuke Yoshimura, pictured. His knowledge and expertise led me to some really enjoyable drinking from Burgundy and from Tuscany. Into the gleaming glasses – a mixture of Riedel and Spiegelau – he poured first the elegant, vanilla-laden 2008 Meursault, ‘Les Charmes’ from Comtes Lafon. This being the Enoteca Pinchiorri, this fine wine was available by the glass (50€). Then came what we might call a truly super super-Tuscan. This was my first drinking of Tenuta di Trinoro, but I hope it will not be my last. The main grape of the 2001 vintage is cabernet franc (48%), with lesser contributions of merlot (22%), cabernet sauvignon (19%) and petit verdot (11%). We decided against decanting. This wine (675€) yielded a beautifully complex and enticing nose – a gorgeous amalgam of ripe damsons, black cherries and blackcurrants. In the mouth it was silky, rich and caressing, and the residual sweetness made each swallowing a real and lingering pleasure. This was a magnificent bottle of wine.
I began with fried egg with celery root and white truffle. This sounds so simple, but I must try to convey to you the brilliance of its execution. Here was subtlety, harmony and perfect balance on a plate. The combination shone a spotlight onto the truffle and the truffle responded by singing the song of the heavens. And my pasta course was equally brilliant. The agnolotti was filled with polenta and black cabbage and served with a parmesan cheese fondue and more shavings of truffle. By this time I was beginning to feel that this rich and luscious eating was almost too good to be true. But it was true; and each spoonful bore testimony to the Truth which results from the application of culinary genius to the bounty of the Earth. Then I returned to that earth (for one must not spend too long in the clouds) for excellent, tender, strongly-flavoured fillet of venison, with red cabbage, bacon, chestnut purée and... more truffle. This was robustly good. At the time of the pudding, my notes become rather confused. I know that I had intended to have a confection of coconut – with coconut icy powder, toasted butter cream, liquorice toffee, fresh basil jelly and an almond biscuit. But I think someone decided to pull my leg with regard to my obsession with the white truffles, and the pudding which arrived looked exactly like a white truffle – but it was a confection with cream and ricotta cheese. It made me laugh, and it tasted delicious. And it proved that humour and great food can, indeed, go together. I was still smiling about it the next day. In fact, every time I think about my meals at this famous place in Florence I smile. I smile at the remembrance of so many gastronomic delights in the past and I smile at the prospect of many more in the future. For of this I am sure: the Enoteca Pinchiorri will remain one of the great restaurants of the world.
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ENOTECA PINCHIORRI
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© Francis Bown 2003
If I were ever to compose an annual list of the best ten restaurants in the world, there is an establishment in Florence which would always be included. In the city which down the centuries has made the pursuit of beauty the very essence of its being, there is a dining room which reflects the Florentine craving for perfection so startingly that every gourmet worthy of the name longs to eat at its tables. It is famous and it deserves to be famous. It has given to me moments – indeed, whole evenings – of the purest pleasure. I always look forward to my visits with the keenest anticipation, and I can honestly say that not once in the years I have known it has it provided me with a scintilla of disappointment. It is an example of what humankind can achieve when intelligence, skill and dedication combine for the advancement of the culinary arts. It is, of course, the wonderful, the enchanting, the magnificent Enoteca Pinchorri. 
Allow me to dwell on a little relevant history. The Enoteca Pinchiorri is located in the via Ghibellina, and this is a very significant street in the history of gastronomy. Here was the Benedictine convent of Le Murate, where Catherine de Medici, great-grand-daughter of Lorenzo, learnt to cook. When she married the Duke of Orléans (later Henry II of France), she took with her to the French court her chefs, her pastry cooks, her sommeliers and her family recipes. Thus was laid the foundation of great French cuisine. How appropriate, then, that at the Enoteca Pinchiorri one of the most talented of French chefs should come to Italy to apply the culinary techniques of France to the gastronomic culture of Tuscany.
From Nice, her name is Annie Féolde. She is one of the most charming ladies ever to grace a restaurant, and I am delighted to be able to present to you a picture of her with your correspondent. She is also a splendid advertisement for haute couture, for I have never seen her dressed other than wonderfully. How can a chef be dressed wonderfully? Well, nowadays she is the creative force behind the food and the actual cooking is done by two exceptionally talented male chefs, Italo Bassi – on the right of the picture – and Riccardo Monco – on the left – and the fine pastry chef, Luca Lacalamita. Annie Féolde is thus able to spend time in the dining rooms, where she spreads happiness and good cheer to her guests.
I was amused by the 32 items on the water menu (including Bling H20 for 150ε). But my real interest was in the two volumes of the wine list. It is one of the most interesting you will ever see. If you have a couple of weeks to spare, you should study it. Giorgio Pinchiorri (the husband of Annie Féolde – my picture shows the two of them, next to Apollo) has built up a cellar full of liquid treasures. Of its 150,000 bottles, 50% are Italian, 40% are French and 10% are from the rest of the world. Ponder for a moment the legendary 1945 vintage in Bordeaux. Here you can choose from Pétrus (21,000ε), Mouton-Rothschild (18,000ε) and Lafite (9,500ε). These sorts of riches are repeated on page after page, although it is also possible to spend just 40ε on a bottle of white Lambrusco. To my mind, the pinnacle comes with one of the pages of red burgundy. I always blink at the 17 bottles. These are not the usual bottles, but Methuselahs, each holding the equivalent of eight ordinary bottles. They include the most expensive bottle of wine I have ever encountered in a restaurant. On a tour of the cellar I have seen this legendary bottle. It is a Methuselah of 1985 Romanée-Conti and was the only Methuselah of Romanée-Conti made by the Domaine in that vintage. It is therefore irreplaceable, and I suspect that the establishment would be very hesitant to sell it, even if you were prepared to pay the amount on its current price tag – 700,000 euros. (Yes, that really is seven hundred thousand euros.) 
Thus we come to the food. Here I must make the confession I have made before. I love white truffles. And for those of us who are fungophiles there are few better places on earth during the white truffle’s short season (from October to December) than the Enoteca Pinchiorri. Famously, they come from Alba, but on this occasion, because of a difficult season there, they were from San Miniato in Tuscany. Of course, the smelly dears are expensive – always. The prices of the restaurant’s set meals – 175ε for 6 courses, 200ε for 8 courses and 250ε for 9 courses – seem relatively modest when compared to those dishes which are blessed with the addition of the famous fungus. My own four course meal from the carte (with three of the dishes having truffle) came in at 365ε. But this was a bargain in the light of the wonders it offered.
