Customer Reviews

Eating and Drinking in Italy: Italian Menu Reader and Restaurant Guide, Second Edition

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I speak no more than 8-10 words of Italian. I used this book on a recent trip to Italy, and was able to understand almost every menu item I saw, and to order with confidence. It's a marvelous book! The alphabetical organization makes it really easy to use when you're sitting in a restaurant faced with three pages of Italian on a menu. (This review refers to the first edition of this book.)

We saw a review of this book in the New York Times. At ($), this book is a great bargain. The comprehensive Italian menu reader helped us eat at restaurants that don't have menus in English (which are most restaurants that are worth eating at). We ate at restaurants listed in this book - both expensive and inexpensive - and had good meals at all of them. The best part of this book, other than its price, is its size. It fits comfortably in your pocket or purse.

And you can use this book to find out just what speck is. We took this guide with us on our trip to a small town in Italy, where we could not count on finding English speakers in all restaurants. The large print and generous spacing made it easy to read even in low light, and the descriptions were all spot-on. We ordered a few things we might have skipped over without knowing what was in them, and were able to avoid things that trigger allergic reactions. And since we've gotten back, it's nice to page through and remember some of the fabulous meals! (This review refers to the first edition).

Ahhh, you are off the plane, you are jet-lagged and you are hungry. You want a good meal, but you don't know what to eat and the menu is in another language. Do you just pick something and hope for the best and pray it is not brains or something else that may be tasty but not really what you had bargained for? No, you get this guide, and you read through the commentary that these food loving authors with a sense of humor wrote for people like us.

In this guide you will get an introduction on the guide and travel, info on mealtimes, tipping, types of eating establishments, budget dining, specialty dining, a pronunciation guide, English to Italian words and phrases, a menu translator (this you will use!). Also there is a page for your own notes. This is where I noted that "servizio incluso" or compreso means tip is included already and "Cosa ci consiglia" is "What do you recommend". I have found phrases such as the latter to be a nice conversation starter and has often provided us with a little more than if we just sat down and ordered. The Italians love their food, are proud of their regions and are very happy to explain and bring you things that you will like.

I highly recommend buying the guide early, jotting down some notes and getting familiar with the names for the meats, cheeses, pastas, etc. So that you can know a bit before you go. This guide is small enough to fit in an ample purse or a deep coat pocket.

Enjoy one of the many joys of Italy and buy the book that will help you navigate through all the many pleasures that eating in Italy will bring.

Oh, and my personal recommendation....diet before you go, because the gelato is absolutely the best thing ever (trust me here).