Osteria Babazuf Siena — Restaurant in Siena

A small place, we ate outside. Unfortunately it is on a busy street so not the most relaxing meal. Seeing bus and taxi mirrors inches from your head while eating is not particularly comfortable. It is somewhat the fault of the delivery restaurant across the street where the delivery people park their bikes in the busy street, forcing the buses to come within inches (not exaggerating) of the people sitting at the tables.

The food was a mixed bag. A few dishes like the suckling pig and rooster were quite good and tasty, although very small portions. Probably need to order two. The eggplant starter was just ok, a bit muddy in taste, and with just one small tomato for accent, came up a bit short. The octopus was tender, but overly so, and not crispy as described. I really liked the cabbage that came with it. The mixed cabbage and Jerusalem artichoke sides were both quite nice and worth a re-order.

The desserts were both bad, with the cheesecake being dense and dry to the point of being inedible - even the kids wouldn’t eat more than a bite of it. It claimed to have saffron and Szechuan peppers but we tasted none of that. It was dry bread like cake with a layer of dried out cheese on top. The buttermilk curd was better, but just ok. Almost forgot - the pappardelle with fresh truffles was not great. The truffles were quite bland, and the noodles basically dry with no sauce. They were out of the porcini mushrooms, so didn’t get to try those.

Service by the wait staff throughout the meal was fine, but the owner seems a bit put off when we asked to sit outside since our reservation was...

The Babazuf has a different menu than everyone else, which is what attracted us. It started very well; the service was nice, made good recommendations for wine, and the appetizers were very good. But the main course were not very good; my wife had the duck on grapes and I had the laces with pistachio pesto. The pastas tasted good, but they were definitely undercooked. But my wife could not eat the duck; it was too hard to cut! We told the server and his response was that duck is a hard meat! We returned it and did not take another dish; they were nice enough not to charge us for it.

So in general; not a bad restaurant, but stay away...

Menù che ho degustato: primi piatti: Trine alla carbonara di carciofi & tortelli ripieni di salsiccia e fichi con salsa al cavolo nero secondi piatti: Costoline di maiale marinate alla senape, guancia di vitello brasata con pure di fave. Sheep Slow cooked with beer dolce: Mousse al caramello salato Acqua, vino Chianti Castellare, caffè Se potessi dare 6 stelle su 5 glie le darei a mani basse. Uno dei posti, se non IL posto, dove ho mangiato meglio in Toscana. Ogni piatto era una lode al palato, tutto perfettamente bilanciato e studiati. I tortelli sono una e vera sinfonia dove tutti gli ingredienti che vengono utilizzati con le proporzioni giuste si sentono tutti senza coprire gli altri , le carni sono state qualcosa di sensazionale e se dovessi paragonarle a qualcosa direi burro, il dolce molto buono ma a mio modesto parere niente di troppo esaltante dopo tutto i piatti precedenti. Personale molto cortese e cuoco molto attento, veniva a chiederci se ogni piatto andasse bene e fosse di nostro gradimento Voto 9.5/10 . Menu I tasted: first courses: Trine alla carbonara with artichokes & tortelli stuffed with sausage and figs with black cabbage sauce main courses: Pork ribs marinated in mustard, braised veal cheek with broad bean puree. Sheep Slow cooked with beer dessert: Salted caramel mousse Water, Chianti Castellare wine, coffee If I could give it 6 stars out of 5 I would give it hands down. One of the places, if not THE place, where I have eaten best in Tuscany. Every dish was praise to the palate, everything perfectly balanced and studied. The tortelli are a true symphony where all the ingredients used in the right proportions are all felt without covering the others, the meat was something sensational and if I had to compare it to something I would say butter, the dessert very good but in my humble opinion nothing too exciting after all the previous...