Since I first visited Florence in 1994 the San Lorenzo district has always attracted me. From the market vendors and their (often fake) leather goods to the eponymous church and the adjacent Palazzo Medici, this vibrant neighbourhood oozes character.

There are pensione and hotels at the lower to middle range of the market, the Italian equivalent of fast food takeaways--pastries and pizza slices--and then there is Palle D'Oro.

On the edge of the market, located on a narrow and busy street, this family-run trattoria has been feeding Florentines and tourists for more than 100 years.

After 7pm without a reservation, you will queue for 20 minutes before being shown to a table. The wait is worth it.

Before entering the restaurant check the menu outside. Look for 'Lo chef consiglia', (the chef recommends). These are guaranteed winners and you can also guarantee that by 9pm they will be gone.

There is a substantial array of inexpensive pasta dishes to suit the budget traveller, but Palle D'Oro is also the place to try some dishes which, elsewhere, could seriously harm your budget. The antipasti are very good (try the antipasti toscani), as is the insalata misto (mixed green salad).

The arrosto miaiale (roast pork) is delicious, but the most stunning meat dish available on a nightly basis is their simple and straightforward 'bistecca filetto'.

Tuscany is famous for the quality of its beef that comes from the famous Chianina cattle. But increasingly, Tuscan restaurants have been using imported beef for their 'bistecca fiorentina'. At Palle D'Oro you will be served the real thing at a fraction of the price that many expensive restauarants charge for imported Argentinian beef. Here, I ate possibly the most delicious beef steak I have ever eaten.

Palle D'Oro has a couple of other characteristics that make it attractive. Before becoming a restaurant, Palle D'Oro was a fiaschetteria, a wine shop. Same family, same standards, same quality. And the house wine (the red at least) is the finest you will find in Florence and only about euro 6 per litre. It puts house wine in the UK and the USA to shame.

One final observation--the staff at Palle D'Oro stay there for years. Whether they are all family I do not know, but this much I do know. When I return there, year after year, I'm greeted like a returning friend . . . as you will be once they get to know you.