Pranzo a Degli Orti

After lunch (pranzo) I’m walking to St Francis’ hermitage, Eremo Delle Carceri, which is a steep one hour walk.

That’s enough for me to justify a big lunch. Italian is my favourite cuisine. When I was small, I wanted to marry a French woman so our kids would be fluent in French. (Beautiful language.) Then I got older and smarter, and figured if I married on ethnic lines, I should choose an Italian for the food! (Tongue’s in cheek, for the record!)

Anyway, here I am in a family run restaurant in the back alleys of Assisi, on the unsolicited recommendation of the hotel concierge. (Related, probably.)

This isn’t the sort of blog which normally gives an account of meals, but then again, it’s not normally a travel blog either. Hence I’m indulging my love of unadorned Italian cuisine, and dragging my readers along. (All three of you.)

Also, never in my life have I sat down for a restaurant meal by myself. So what else am I going to do? Better to blog, than to stare at the other patrons!

Antipasto

The antipasto in the set menu is some pretty uninspired bruschetta. But it’s accompanied by great beer. I wasn’t counting on such a lot of beer, but the mountain air will fix that … I hope.

Primo

The first course is a delicious pasta. (It reminds me why I’ll never strictly observe the paleo diet, even though it works wonders on your gastro-intestinal system.)

Stringozzi con i funghi, including local black truffles. Yum! Truffles are my favourite food in the world, and they’re yours too if you’ve tasted them. St Brigid dreamt of a heaven with beer-filled lakes. (She’d like this meal.) I dream of a heaven which abounds with truffles.

Secondo e contorno

The second course is a truffle omelette. This isn’t so good. Is it possible to get bad truffles? By which I mean truffles with no flavour, not bad flavour. Also, folded eggs do not an omelette make. It’s the roast potatoes which redeem this dish.

Here’s an interesting fact: just last month, the world’s largest truffle was discovered right here in Umbria. (If you follow the link, you’ll learn why the price tag is both underwhelming and edifying.)

Dolce e caffè

For dessert, chocolate ice cream and an espresso. Great finish.

I thought I’d better finish the beer before that. Beer and ice cream don’t mix. Beer and blogging probably don’t mix either. So I’ll stop now, and walk off this fog!