Cortese Café
Plaza di Santa Maria Novella, 12R, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy
+39 055 024 1691
I went to Florence two months ago and now, looking at these photos, I wish I could teleport myself back there so I could eat at Cortese Cafe again.
Cortese Cafe describes itself as a raw vegan organic and gluten free bakery and ice cream shop. Having tried a few raw and gluten free recipes and restaurants with varying levels of success so, to my shame, I went in with pretty low expectations. I was absolutely blown away - everything I tried was a stone cold banger. I went back twice. I would have gone back a third and fourth time if I'd have been in the neighbourhood again.
There were croissants at lunch, filled with moreishly roasted vegetables, sharp against the savoury wholemeal pastry.
And there are pastries, cakes and biscuits that go on for days - that chocolate dome had all sorts of pistachio delights underneath, and was so fine and dainty, I felt like if emperors of days gone by could have seen me, they would have been jealous of the delights sat in front of me.
If that wasn't enough, there's a whole cabinet of different flavours of ice cream to try. I dived right in with an affogato. Turns out the coffee is just as good at the ice cream - and both were pretty great.
The cafe itself is a really nice bright-and-airy spot and it's right in the middle of a lot of Florence's tourist attractions, so it's worth getting yourself down there if you're heading to Palazzo Pitti or the Boboli Gardens. To be fair, it's also worth getting yourself down there even if you're not!
Vegetarian-but-vegan-friendly Ora is a little outside the main tourist centre of Florence but it's worth the (slight) extra walk.
If you want to eat outside Ora, there's a great little terrace. If you want a more dark, sleek vibe, eat inside. The service is brisk and efficient.
The dishes are simple, classical, mostly Italian fare: pastas, risottos, aperitivo-type sharing boards, with a few international classics like burgers to round out the numbers.
Mr Flicking the Vs and I opened the meal with a vegetable tempura which was lovely, crips and light. Then, there was gnocchi.
There's something delightful about the bounce of gnocchi between your teeth that's happy-making, and Ora's gnocchi did just that - made me happy.
Il Vegano
Not every vegan or veggie restaurant can be a stone cold banger, and Il Vegano is a bit of the proverbial curate's egg - only good in parts.
First, the less good parts.
Mr Flicking the Vs' ordered a lasagna. I really like lasagna. A lot. It would probably be up there on my death row meal list. I see a lasagna, I have a Pavlovian reaction - my pupils dilate, my heart beats faster. It's love.
So when I tucked into Mr Flickingthevs' lasagna, it made me sad - it was a bit bland, a bit soft, with that vegan cheese that sticks to your teeth in a weird immovable layer.
I opted for the chick pea omelette.
It was fine, a bit one note. It would have been so much better folded with a more interesting filling. The undressed salad and the tomato sauce on the side really didn't bring a huge amount, and the plain, stale rice cake was a bit of a choice. I'm not quite sure how that made it onto the plate, but I wish it hadn't.
And the good bits - the service was good, the drink pours were generous and the tiramisu was glorious - a pillowy, sweet indulgence with spiky coffee to balance it out. If I was passing by Florence again, I'd certainly drop in for a three course meal, as long as the starter was tiramisu, the main course was tiramisu, and the dessert was tiramisu.
Santo Falafel
Via Santa Monaca, 7R, 50124 Firenze FI, Italy
+39 055 1998 2050
Not every meal when you're on holiday has to be a sit down, pull up a chair, unfold your napkin affair. Sometimes, you just want to grab something, find a pretty square, and pull something lovely out of a bag for your lunch. If you're in Florence and feeling that way, please let me recommend Santo Falafel - all-vegan falafel joint with all the Middle Eastern classics that complement the Florentine sunshine. (It's also a nice, chilled out spot to eat-in if that summer Tuscan heat is too much!)
You can work your way through a menu of classics - hummus, baba ganoush, tabbouleh, falafel, wraps, halva and baklava. Or you can try something that blends Arabic flavours and Italian breads, and choose from a range of focaccia with fillings like zatar or muhammara.
Or, if you're me, you can pick up one of the lunch combos that has a bit of everything, and congratulate yourself on your excellent decision making.
Panini Toscani
Piazza del Duomo, 34/R, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy
+39 335 572 5544
If you're by the Duomo and you're in the market for a quick sandwich, I reckon you should head to Panini Toscani.
If you can make it past the Robert de Niro-esque entrance boss, whose main job seemed to be harassing tourists to move faster in picking up their sandwiches, you can stand at the counter, picking our your preferred bread and all the veggie fillings you'd like, of which there are many. When I stood there ogling the options, I asked for "all the vegetables". "Vegan, you mean?" asked the lovely soul making the sandwiches. "Here, let me choose you the biggest bread." And she did. And it was great.
The sandwich was great - lots of silky roast vegetables and a sharp agrodolce sauce to set them off, in a ciabatta that easily fed to. There's some seating outside, where you can enjoy your lunch and some great cathedral views. For the location, the size of the sarnie and its quality, I left feeling fuller than expected in both stomach and wallet.
Shake Cafe
Various locations across Florence
How hungry are you? Really hungry? And it's too late for breakfast, and too early for lunch, you say? May I suggest you head to Shake Cafe? And make sure you have a belt that can be loosened a few notches, because this brunch is going to be immense.
Shake Cafe is a chain with a handful of branches across Florence. They're not vegan, but they do have a good range of vegan options, with plant milk for coffee, as well as pastries and cakes for a light breakfast.
But if you're after a massive brunch, the Shake Cafe vegan brunch is an absolutely banger. Take a look at this:
There is a really huge amount of food. You could easily share this plate between two. I say could, but I didn't. I ate pretty much everything myself, with the exception of the vegan feta, which I didn't love, and passed on to Mr Flickingthevs, who did.
The plate has a mix of sweet and savoury. There's avocado toast, a hearty chick pea omelette with vegetables, some salad leaves and marinated tomatoes, and sweet potatoes and harissa mayo. For the sweet side of the plate, there's a choice of chocolate chip pancakes or banana bread - I went for the former and got a bucket of maple syrup to top them with.
I love a generous plate, and this was exceedingly that. I was particularly happy to see some non-obvious elements on vegan brunch plate. Although I love both, there's more to life than avocado toast and scrambled tofu and Shake Cafe showed that. Bonus points for making sweet potato fries that are crisp rather than soggy, and pancakes that are bouncy and the right amount of sweet.
Brac
Of everywhere I ate at in Italy - and there were loads of amazing restaurants with memorable meals - the place I'd love to revisit above all others is Brac.
Brac is a lovely space - a book shop out the front, with chairs inviting you to sit down and leaf through pages while the afternoon drifts away. Out the back, an airy courtyard and a cosy restaurant that invite you to sit down and pass the evening too.
The menu changes regularly, so I can't quite say what will be on offer when you go, but there seems to always be a mixture of salads, pasta, and dishes from around the world, available on their own, or as a plate of three dishes for €20.
The next time I went back, I ordered the same plate again, and the tempeh was different - black beans rather than soy beans? - and the accompanying veggies had been switched up. It was still an absolute joy.
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