Prettaly – Pretty Italy

A few years ago I lived in Frankfurt, Germany. A great and quite international city, often referred to as «Mainhatten» due to the skyscraper skyline and the city being located at the river «Main»!
Gennaro’s is a very nice restaurant in «Sachsenhausen», which is the name of the city district. Gennaro, an Italian himself, is the owner of the place and he is usually present in the restaurant. He just makes the place wonderful with his open and warm-hearted attitude. It is cosy, but also modern inside, with lots of small nice details, like the napkin holders, that are made of old wine corks with a cord (great to copy!). We have tried various starters, main courses and deserts over the years and all of them were absolutely delicious and can be recommended. My personal favorite are the Tortelloni filled with prosciutto and figs with a lemon-leek-sauce. The fillet of beef carpaccio is a classic. The fish and meat dishes are very good. Usually they have a chocolate fondant (lava cake) as a dessert – but you need to let them know in advance, when ordering the main dishes, that they save one for you! In the summer they have a nice terrace with a few tables outside on their porch.

And here goes my second wine & dine feature for Venice: Trattoria alla Madonna. Or seafood, seafood and more seafood! The restaurant is family owned and was opened in 1954 by Fulvio Rado. The last 35 years his son has been managing the place. The whole scenery is special here, lots and lots of waiters in white jackets and bow ties are busy running around and serving the guests! The walls are decorated with contemporary art from Italian artists. The trattoria offers a huge variety of seafood dishes and the must-have is the «Granseola», a traditional spider crab, served cooked with lemon and olive oil! The sea fruit risotto is also very delicious! Finish off your lunch with a tasty tiramisu! Yummy yum yum!!

During our last trips to Tuscany, we never left out a dinner at this delicious restaurant. nitens has a very cosy, but modern inside. A window at the end of the restaurant allows you to peek into the tiny kitchen, where the cooks prepare the wonderful meals! The waiters are very attentive and friendly and recommend good wines from the region, without trying to sell you the most expensive one!

In the summer they have a small terrace with a few tables outside on their “porch”. Even though the restaurant is not directly located at the ocean, you still feel that it is close.

We have tried various starters and main courses over the years and all of them were absolutely delicious and can be recommended. The fresh seafood platter is spectacular, but also the millefeuille branzino e patate is great and the tonno in crosta di pistacchi is just mouth-watering. Great, now I’m hungry and craving for the millefeuille!

We usually never stay for desert, where the waiters are at first irritated, but when they hear why we are not staying, it’s the best and only excuse they allow: Cremeria Emma – the best ice-cream parlor in the whole of Tuscany (at least for me) which is just around the corner. Try the pinoli flavor (pine nut)! A perfect finish to a perfect day.

A real insider tip: the restaurant La Piazetta (steakhouse e winebar) in Gualdo di Massarosa. Gualdo is a tiny town on top of a hill, that actually mainly only consists of a church, where you can have dinner on the churchyard (careful: take a jacket or scarf, it can be quite windy) with a great view and it is just very Italian. Not fancy, but fun and original. The bistecca alla fiorentina is pure goodness and enjoy the “panzerottis” (delicious pizza dough bits) as an appetizer. And wait until you hear the first sound of the church clock – it might kick you off of your chair! La Piazzetta