Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura is a must for fashionable fine dining in Florence. Adjacent to the Gucci Gardens and the Gucci Boutique, the Osteria features a beautiful dining room with pops of bright green and teal, and a fabulous outdoor terrace adorned with Gucci everything – from dishes and wine buckets to the paper used to serve their delicious pork buns.
Chef Massimo Bottura is not only a famous Italian chef, but was also childhood friends with the Gucci family, so it’s only natural that his name is behind the restaurant at Gucci’s Florence flagship. You’ll find a few of his signature dishes on the menu, like tortellini with Parmigiano Reggiano cream, but you’ll also find unique items from Chef de Cuisine Karime López. She is the first Mexican woman to receive a Michelin Star and she runs the kitchen here.
With her experience in the kitchens at Osteria Francescana, Pujol in Mexico City, and Noma in Copenhagen, she brings a worldly and contemporary twist to the menu. At Gucci Osteria, you’ll find one of the best tostadas in Europe, as well as Asian specialties like the pork belly bun (Taka bun), a nod to Karime’s husband Takahiko Kondo, Massimo Bottura’s sous chef at Osteria Francescana. If you’re in search of simpler cuisine served in an equally fabulous fashion, you can order a burger served in a Gucci-pink takeout carton. It looked so good we wanted to go back and try one.
The Sea Deepness is a pasta dish that is packed with depth of flavor and was one of our favorite things on the menu. You can find the recipe for it in Issue 4 of The Taste Edit digital magazine. We paired it with a bottle of Pelaverga from one of our favorite Italian wine producers – G.B. Burlotto.
The dessert was just gorgeous. A sugar-blown shell that resembled Murano glass. Almost too pretty to eat. Overall, a lovely evening on the Piazza della Signoria.
Read about our visit to Massimo Bottura’s Emilia Romagna countryside estate in Issue 5. Get access by becoming a Premium Member.
Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura, P.za della Signoria, 10, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy
Note: Gucci Osteria provided support for the reporting of this story.