Originally Posted by
philwupdx
I have a trip to Florence and the surrounding area in late April/early May and have been told that the second floor of the Mercato Centrale is loaded with fabulous food stalls where the focus is on quality rather than environment. That probably doesn't match your requirements. I plan on checking this out because it sounds like Mercato Centrale is on par with the great food halls in Paris, Barcelona, and elsewhere.
Yes, it does match my requirements, thank you very much for the tip.
I'll report back.
I don't much care about the environment or ambience - I care about the food.
My interest in high end restaurants is that it is a nice allround experience - once in a while it is fun to eat food that's arranged very artfully.
But generally I only care about the quality of the food so food stalls are fine by me if it's good food.
On my last visit to Italy, I happily ate food from plastic plates and with plastic cutlery (had a very nice salmon tatar and beef burger in a food market in Milano and a brilliant lobster roll at the EXPO).