To evaluate a restaurant in Florence, we usually use a three point checklist: how close is it to the center? How is the location? What’s good about the menu? Three simple questions able to make us immediately understand everything about a restaurant: maybe it’s far away but you eat well; or it’s central, the food is good but the location is awful; or again, and this happens in most cases (thankfully) the restaurant is central, has a fancy location and also a nice menu, original, light but good. The latter is the case of the Quinoa restaurant.
Located in the heart of the center (practically a minute walk from the Duomo and Piazza Repubblica) and yet with the advantage of being in an internal courtyard completely separate from the chaos of the city, Quinoa stands out among the restaurants of the center for its 100% gluten free proposal, the first of its kind in the city, and a menu that combines tradition and oriental suggestion to propose a truly original conception of gastronomy, all thanks to the vision of chef and patron Simone Bernacchioni.
In addition to seasonal menus (given the freshness of the ingredients and the great predominance of vegetables, the cuisine of the restaurant necessarily follows the rhythms of nature), you will find a different lunch menu every day, with five or six house specialties prepared with the freshest ingredients, but which also includes traditional options such as burgers, pizzas and salads. Absolutely not to be missed, then, is the gluten-free bread always fresh, which the kitchen team churns out every morning.
The arrival of novelty is constant given that the menu changes about once a month, and this makes Quinoa a place that must be rediscovered every time, where one never ceases to be amazed and experimented on both sides of the stove. The choice to create a completely gluten free restaurant, then, gives the chef first and then the kitchen staff interesting challenges to be faced constantly, all exceeded with excellent results.
During the warm season it is a pleasure to sit in the open air tables that occupy the inner courtyard, among large clusters of aromatic plants, and feel a thousand miles away from the city and the swarms of tourists. But also the interior, all windows and columns, is gorgeous in every moment of the day thanks to the fusion of period architecture and modern elements.
For every occasion and, more importantly, for every taste or palate, the Quinoa restaurant will take care of you with a conscious, refined cuisine and, above all, created to be enjoyed by everyone, without limitations and without worries.