I had not intended to come here. I only found the place while waiting for Da Il Latini to open for evening trade. But I certainly don’t regret my visit. As it was, it was a great introduction to Florentine cuisine.

The osteria is located on the ‘Street of Beautiful Women’ (strange how I gravitated here, isn’t it?). It has one cramped room, the bar piled high with marrows, magnums of Vino Nobile de Montepulciano, and an inflatable Spiderman sat in an ‘Emmanuelle’-style wicker chair. One wall was coated thickly with postcards that must have been there for 25 years. I guess that it could seat around 36 people at the adjacent tables at a real push. It is certainly not the place to come if you value your privacy or personal space.

In Florence you are used to menus in practically every language under the sun; Osteria delle Belle Donne has one menu, written in Italian on pink paper. A pair of poor Japanese students didn’t have a clue – they just pointed hopefully at pictures of meat in their guidebook. Fortunately I had an actual phrasebook in my pocket. As such I showed no fear in confidently ordering Porchettino al’Olio al Fromaggio del Grutto.

If I have ever said that pork is my least favourite meat, then I hereby apologise. This was strips of suckling pig (I don’t know if the diminutive ‘porchettINO’ meant either little strips or little pig – i.e. piglet). But my God it was good – marbled with fat, crispy on the outside, but totally melt-in-the-mouth. I didn’t chew, just pressed with my tongue and sucked. It says something that just writing this I can remember the taste coming flooding back to me some five months later. It came with a collection of different mushrooms and artichoke hearts preserved in oil. I had never had artichoke before. Turns out I like it. I know, I’m surprised too! And mushrooms are always to my taste. The final bits of the plate were four firm, slightly rubbery bits of cave-aged cheese. In terms of taste the cheese didn’t really add anything other than a change in texture.

It was a good thing I had decided that I liked artichoke, as my main course was lamb stuffed with artichoke, served with roast potatoes. Frankly, after that starter I was a little disappointed with the size of my main course. The three lamb chops were on the small size, bulked out with spuds. The lamb was tasty though, and the potatoes were freshly cooked and almost scaldingly hot. They were a touch more salty than I make them, but I decided that this was not necessarily a Bad Thing (over-salted food turned out to be something of a leitmotif for my dining experiences in Tuscany for some reason).

I finished off with a panna cotta. This was not over-salted. I suppose I was expecting a wild-berry sauce (in March! What was I thinking?) and so I was a little put out by the chocolate sauce I got, which I’m sure would have been prefectly good if I hadn’t had odd expectations.

And so, the bill. €10.00 for the porchetta (an absolute bargain by the way!), €14.00 for the lamb, €4.00 for panna cotta (which is a pretty decent price), two bottles of beer (Nastro Azzurro) at around €3.00 each (again, a good price for a restaurant), €1.50 for being there (i.e. cover charge and bread – which incidentally wasn’t up to much), and 10% service charge. Personally I think it is cheeky charging cover AND service. In total is amounted to €40.30 (around £30). Which on the whole I have to say was an acceptable price for three courses and beer. I would certainly return, if only for the porchettino, which I think was the nicest single course I enjoyed in ten days in Tuscany. And also next time I’ll try to use the condiments. The balsamic vinegar on the table was practically maroon in colour, and it seemed to have nettles growing in it!

I almost don't want to tell you about Osteria delle Belle Donne (the bistro of the beautiful women, named for the street it's on), as I'm afraid of what will happen as it gets more popular. It's just perfect as it is.

But then again, everyone deserves the kind of special "only in Italy" Italian meals you've been hoping to find in Florence (and probably haven't).

I found it for the first time on a college February-break trip to Florence with my parents and brother years ago. We found this place on our first night, when the owner of our B&B recommended it to us.

Walking inside from the cold we were greeted by a blast of warm air from the kitchen. The 12 or so tables inside were packed; the walls were adorned with old movie posters, art, and antique farm implements; and the rafters were hung with herbs and vegetables. The menu was written on a chalkboard, all in Italian. My dad translated, and soon my brother and I, embarrassingly anti-veggie at the time, were fighting over the last bites of some delectable winter pulse accompanying the osso bucco we'd ordered. My family and I went back four or five times during the rest of our stay.

When my husband and I arrived in Firenze in the height of summer on our honeymoon, we wanted to find it but had never learned the name. We had a number of really terrible meals (we're not that picky; we'll rarely call something "great" but often give our stamp of so-so approval) so pricey we'd almost have done better to go to a fancy restaurant, and were still looking for one, just one romantic, fun dinner before we left the city.

One Friday night, exhausted and starving after spending the day walking all over the city, we were frustrated when almost every restaurant we came to was full. Instead of waiting, we kept walking. We finally sat down on a stoop across from a restaurant with an awning out front, too tired to walk any farther. And can you guess where we were?

The food was just as great as I'd remembered: rustic, plain, and delicious. The atmosphere was even better. And the prices were the best of anywhere we'd been.

If you go, try the osso bucco and a pitcher of the red. And make a toast for the honeymooners-at-heart who can only dream of being there, too.

The Via delle Belle Donne is a narrow street running south east away from the cathedral piazza of Santa Maria Novella. The small but perfectly formed restaurant Belle Donne can be found about halfway down the street.

There is nothing showy about this little place. The single room interior is reached through a low doorway. It is crammed with long tables - patrons get seated wherever they can find space. We took the last table on the narrow terrazzo – an intimate space to say the least. The outside seating consists of low, unforgiving wooden benches with a table that’s only slightly higher. If you have any thighs to speak of whatsoever you will not find these tables a comfortable choice! If you squirm round a bit you’ll be just fine.

This isn’t a restaurant geared towards the tourist market – it is an authentic, ‘local’ kind of place. The menu comes on a photocopied piece of paper and you’ll have to do without a handy English translation. I find this adds a degree of pleasant trepidation to the ordering process ever since ordering a plate of tripe adorned with a boiled potato in Barcelona. There are plenty of things that aren’t in the average phrasebook but sound a bit like shellfish or ‘some kind of meat’. In preparation we ordered a large carafe of the vino del casa just in case some anaesthetising was needed later.

We shouldn’t have worried, our meals were delicious. The safely translated mozzarella and tomato salad was as fresh and delicate as you would wish while the Blonde’s gamborinetti were as prawn-like as anticipated. I followed up with some cheeky little polpettine (meatballs) in a spicy tomato sauce – very tasty although the accompanying pattatine took some patience to wait for. The Blonde was slightly less impressed with her cuttlefish and spinach and I caught her gazing longingly at my meatballs on more than one occasion. Newlyweds, huh?

We lingered late into the evening over crème caramel and coffee. It is the sort of place that makes you want to do that sort of thing. I really loved this place: bustling, atmospheric and authentic. The staff makes you feel at ease through the language barrier and it won’t break the bank either.