Reviews, Guides & Maps
Cagliostro was a real find in a town that is definitely not known for its food. It is a rather arty venue, tucked away in a back street.
Marks out of 10
Food 6.4
Service 6
Ambience 7
UPDATE – Feb 2011 : The Ristorante La Clessidra is now at this location. Its chef is ex Enoteca Pinchiorri, so might be interesting.
Cibrèo is a very cosmopolitan venue – we had a Chinese couple on the left of us and some Russians on the right.
The staff are geared up to handle multilingual customers, they have to be, as Cibrèo has no formal menu. Instead the waiters will list and describe the food on offer. I had pigeon which the waiter carved and then presented to me a massive “so called” pigeon bone. It was actually a glorified bread stick, but this just reflects the fun approach that is typical of Cibrèo.
Marks out of 10
Food 7
Service 7.5
Ambience 8
Omero has lots of positive reviews, I would definitely ignore them, this place is not worth the taxi fare to get to the foothills of Florence. One noisy guest could be heard at the top of her voice saying “the arugula was to die for”, she must have been a Vegetarian, as nothing we ordered was worth shouting about.
We could not get out of the place quickly enough, we did not even bother with dessert, instead we struggled to get a waiters attention for the bill and a taxi back to civilization.
Marks out of 10
Food 3
Service 3
Ambience 3
Beccofino’s Ristorante on the south bank of the Arno, just west of the Ponte Vecchio is another restaurant that was great on the first visit and mediocre on the second. No wonder the Michelin Man is so keen on checking for consistency.
The room is very cold, more New York than Florence in style, but on the first visit due to the quality of the food that could be ignored.
Marks out of 10
Food 7 then 5
Service 6 then 5
Ambience 4
LAUSANNE
OUCHY
If you fancy a trip to Lake Geneva, Lausanne is a great place to use as a base. Here is a list of some useful restaurants and bars in Lausanne and nearby Ouchy.
Beau Rivage Palace Hotel – in Ouchy, do not bother with any of the hotels restaurants*, instead have a relaxing drink or two and some bar snacks on the terrace overlooking the lake.
*Update: Anne-Sophie Pic is now running the Gastromic Restaurant here, so maybe it is worth trying the distinct food of France’s only female 3 star Michelin chef. Especially now the Restaurant has been awarded 2 Michelin Stars.
Alternatively you could have lunch on the Beau Rivage’s paddle streamer while it makes its way across the lake to Evian, dessert is served on the return trip.
Charlies Place – comfortable bar and restaurant in the centre of Lausanne, good cocktail list and free wi-fi. CLOSED
Click here for more information
Diva – pleasant bar near Lausanne station that does superior bar food.
Click here for more information
Pur – trendy restaurant, bar and club in the Flon.
Return to Index for No Expert Guides
We spotted the Bistro de I’Hotel de Ville when we were exploring Vevey. It is situated in a small square next to the town hall and I would go back to Vevey just for this place. It was perfect, tasty inexpensive food, nice local wines, friendly staff and fabulous pastries for dessert.
This is one of the few “non Gourmet” restaurants to find its way into the Best of the Best category.