Il Ghiandaio - AREZZO

A very cosy place, very hospitable people and delicious food. It was the best lunch that I had in Tuscany till now.

I found the name of this place on the internet last month when in Arezzo. We were looking for something new and different to do, so I called and made a lunch reservation for two for the next day. Don't let the humble exterior fool you, THIS WAS ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS of our two weeks in Italy. I actually wrote a blog about it, so I'm just going to cut/paste my blog here. IF YOU ENJOY THIS REVIEW, PLEASE LIKE IT. Today, after scouring Trip Advisor for new adventures, we found ourselves traveling a much-too windy two-lane road over the mountains to Pieve Santo Stefano for a porky lunch. By porky lunch, I mean to say that we found a pig farmer who makes his own salumi, sausages, etc, provides a tour of the place, AND (most important uses his swine to provide a lunch for his guests. Little did we know, our bellies were in for a real (porky treat. Keep in mind that Giovanni, our host, was the nicest man and doted on us hand and foot (or hoof at Il Ghiandaio Salumi Tipici. I'll try to list all that we had, but I know I'll forget something. Anyway, here goes. We started with: -Fried pork skin. I used to hate this growing up. My brother, Phil, loved it. These, however, were out of this world... and nothing like the cheese-puff style in the US. -Regular sausage -Special, spicy sausage -Smaller, fresher sausage -A board-full of prosciutto -Special prosciuto (I forget the name -Capocollo -A plate of carrots, cippolini onions, and the longest capers I've ever seen -Crostini with lard (that's right folks! -Crostini with prosciutto and EVOO -Crostini with raw mashed sausage and a thin lemon slice. We were scared at first, but this crostini was go-od! Then he brought out: -Salad -A platter of pig parts that he brought in from the grill out back: ribs (the BEST ribs ever! , porkchops, fat back (yum , liver (we grossed out rolled in a bay leaf, two types of sausages, and another pork product that was a cross between a chop and fat back....like a fatty chop. All smokey and grilly... hot off the grill. He had plenty of wine and water on the table for us to wash it all down. I mostly had water since I was going to drive us back to Arezzo over those mountains on that stupid road. We topped it all off with an espresso that he brought from the stovetop. That helped get the porky taste down, but were are still (4 hours later trying to get that pork taste out of our mouths. Now we're on a beer. At least that will help us burp any residual pork findings. If you are ever in Tuscany, I strongly recommend visiting Giovanni at Il Ghiandaio in Pieve Santo Stefano. This is a meal to remember for a LONG time. Oh, and the cherry to this pork pie is that it only cost 20 euros per person for all of that. That's the cheapest meal we've ever had in Italy (with substance .

We visited Il Ghiandaio as a family of 8 and had a wonderful tour of their deli. They took us through their process of how they prepare traditional Tuscan deli meats including salami, prosciutto and and sausage- all of which were delicious. Our tour had arranged a lunch for our family. The owners prepared an amazing meal, very traditional. The owners, a father and son, could not have been more hospitable. They make the best deli meats and the best BBQ pork in Tuscany. The tour was a great learning and eating experience. I plan on returning the next time I'm back in Tuscany.

We went to lunch to celebrate my birthday with my family and I have to say that better than so you could not all very good and excellent price quality ratio to try absolutely

Good morning today sett came with my partner and his family to have lunch in this small but cozy restaurant where we ate the specialties of the area made by them artisanally. All very good and congratulations for the friendliness of Mr. john.ci will definitely return