Tuscany - The Basics - Part 9

Tuscany - The Basics - Part 9 cont.

The menu and the bill

If you want to save money then the best way to eat in a city is to go for the set-price menù turistico. Normally this gives you a first course of pasta or soup, main course and a dessert which is usually a piece of fruit. You also get a half a litre of water and a quarter litre of wine per person. The only word of caution I have here is the prezzo fisso menu. This is starting to popup in more restaurants to catch the unwary; it excludes cover, service, dessert and drinks. After you have had the meal it can come as a nasty shock.

An Italian menu is pretty straightforward. The antipasto translates literally to “before the meal” and is often cold cuts of meat, seafood and cold vegetable dishes. The second course, il primo, is normally soup, a risotto or pasta dish. You then come to the main course il secondo, it’s usually served alone, and will be a meat or fish course with maybe a wedge of lemon or tomato. The thing to be careful of is when ordering fish or steak, this will usually be served by weight. A serving of 250g is usually enough for one person if you are uncertain what to order. It is also perfectly acceptable to ask to have a look at any fish before it is cooked.

Anything on the menu that is marked with S. Q. or hg indicates that you will be paying for this item by weight. The hg stands for a hectogram which is 100g which is about 4oz.

Vegetables il contorno and salads insalata are usually ordered and served separately on side dishes. The dessert course will most often be a choice of fresh fruit frutta and other desserts dolci which are often ice cream or homemade flans torte.

When you come to the end of the meal you will need to ask for the bill/check il conto. In the past this could be a tricky area as tax evasion was a national pastime. The government attempted to stop this by passing a law that restaurants and bars are legally bound to provide a receipt ricevuta. You should note that not getting a receipt is as bad as not providing one. Often in trattoria’s this will be an illegible scrap of paper.

It is standard to pay a cover charge pane e coperto or it’s often shortened to just coperto on top of the cost of the food. This will normally be €1– 2 per person. However as well as the coperto there is also a service charge servizio that will be added, generally this will be ten percent. If this has not been added then you should tip about this amount if you have had a reasonable meal.

Continued in Part 10