An Italian Tasting Menu at IO Osteria, Florence

If you eat at one place in Florence, make it IO Osteria Personale!

I did a lot of research into restaurants that offer tasting menus in Florence, ruling out anything too 'showy' and too 'stuffy'. We love modern twists on local classics so for that reason we settled on IO Osteria.

Every dish was a surprise, from the starter of pea-flavoured ice cream in a sauce of smoked herring to the black-crusted veal that sliced open to reveal a bright pink middle.

My favourite course, though, was the super delicate salmon ravioli carefully garnished with caviar and dill - tasted as good as it looked.

We chose the 6-course menu, which currently costs 57 euros and gets you two starters, a first course, a main and two desserts. Unlike some of the tasting menus we've tried, there wasn't a single 'average' course - every one of them is available on the a la carte menu and therefore is a beautiful dish in itself!

Pictured below:

-Pea ice cream with smoked herring

-Beef tartare with amaranth popcorn, powdered porcini mushroom and garlic mayo

-Ravioli of wild salmon, ginger, herring caviar and dill.

-Pork with roasted corn cream and coffee

-Crusted veal with tuna sauce, endive and lemon

-Fennel ice cream with toffee meringue