La Ménagère 1896 restaurant review - Florence, Italy

One look at La Ménagère, a new restaurant in the heart of Florence, is enough to know that history lurks behind each crumbling corner. A celebrated marketplace at the end of the 19th century filled with tableware and other goods for the home, La Ménagère has now been transformed into a restaurant, with areas for flowers, fragrances and a home accessories boutique to boot. Reimagined by the architecture and design office q-bic and filled with Karman lighting, La Ménagère’s interior has been carved into ten different spaces. A relaxed café, decorated with vintage furniture, doles out pastries and coffee, while the more glamorous bar offers up experimental cocktails. Adorned with fiberglass lanterns and concrete pendant lights suspended from its vaulted ceiling, the main restaurant is the space’s focal point. Helmed by the same team behind La Prova del Nove (another Florentine faithful) and operated by the Saffi hospitality training institute, the restaurant serves fine Italian fare with a reverence for ingredients.