You might be wondering why I am talking about Bavarian food living in the gastronomic heaven that is Florence, Italy. Of course, when you live here and enjoy the fruits of the mediterranean diet on a daily basis – and trust me, you know I do, you sometimes crave a little something else. While I have never been to the famous festa that is Oktoberfest, I have however, visited the Birreria HB Hofbrauhaus on via aretina at least twice now – and I felt it worth sharing with you all.
The location is about 10 minutes by bus outside of the center of Florence on a street I wandered down on many an occasion, the extrememly long – via aretina. Make reservations since it does get pretty packed on a daily basis. I was impressed by the sheer amount of Italians looking to get lost in the culinary bomb that is Bavarian food.
This is not the kind of place for someone on the paleo diet ;-). Embrace the carbs!
They have outdoor seating and the inside is cozy and cute. Plus the staff on both occasions has been super nice, which in Italy, I really appreciate. I highly recommend ordering the pane fritto {fried bread} with a beautiful garlicky cheese as a starter, it is so good, you might even suddenly speak German.. sehr gut!– at least for a nanosecond. I just don’t recommend a make-out session after ;-).
When I tried that dish, I knew this place was onto something. Also lets discuss beer {which normally I am not a huge fan of}. Though I giggled at the misspelled ‘snackbite’ (supposed to be snake-bite, a mix of beer and cider) on the menu, you better believe I ordered one. You can indulge in huge beers, order a couple, and I promise you, no one will even blink twice.
The first time I went, I ordered the ‘maxi wurstel’ which you can just use your imagination to figure out what it looks like. While somewhat awkward to order – it is super tasty if you are into German sausage. This second time around, I was hungry as a beast since for some reason I thought it would be fun to walk from the Oltrarno to via aretina {masochism is my middle name} to earn my meal.
By the time I got there, pretty much everything jumped out to me on the menu. I insisted on the fried bread and cheese, a few ‘bretzels’ (huge pretzels that are served warm) and the Bavarian platter with potatoes, cheese, wurstel and topped with a cheeky fried egg. Saying it was good would be an understatement, and I think I even preferred it to my maxi wurstel. There is quite a variety on the menu and I might just order a different platter each time to see all that this place has to offer. You can tell I love food right?
This place is the perfect spot to go with friends on a night out and get lost in your own version of Oktoberfest. I was thrilled that the food was actually good since some of my previous forays into Germany cuisine in Italy was less than impressive.
Have you been? What did you think?
Birreria HB Firenze, Via Aretina 133/ 135r, Florence, Italy.
Related articles
- November events in Florence, Italy (girlinflorence.com)
0 Responses
Wow! Looks like a crazy place.
Just amazing!
Thank you, it was really good and fun as well, can’t wait to go back!
There used to be a German restaurant just off Piazza dell Independenza called Octoberfest.
It was one of the few places in Firenze where we could find a hamburger in 1985. Hamburgers and Mexican food seemed to be the food most missed by students from the US after a year in Italy.
Interesting! There is another German restaurant/pub near piazza della liberta but the food is not memorable at all. I think that these sort of restaurants actually seem populated by more Italians than anything, there wasn’t a foreigner in sight at HB Birreria 😉
Great post, my american hubby love German food, I bookmarked this place for our incoming visit to Florence in early January. He is booked at the embassy to get the paperwork done for our wedding 😉
enjoy and don’t forget to let me know how it goes! you’ll need the garlic cheese and big beers after a trip to the embassy ,-)
Wow, snakebite – that takes me back. It was the drink of choice for teenagers in my hometown! Hope you enjoyed it!
I did! even if it was spelled ‘snackbite’ on the menu ;). Good stuff!
I’ll definitly go there one of these days, thanks!
then let me know what you think 🙂
for sure, I’ll definitEly do it… 😉 sorry for the spelling 🙂
no biggie, we are all human, i make spelling errors look like a second job (sadly) enough