I flew all the way to Tuscany, Italy for San Miniato’s famous White Truffle Festival last November!  Now, while the San Miniato White Truffle Festival is very well known and totally amazing, there is a surprising lack of information on the festival and San Miniato online!  I tried to remedy that with my previous post on San Miniato!  However, I did not review the most delicious restaurant – Osteria L’Upupa!

As I previously described, San Miniato is a tiny hill top town, and, not surprisingly, does not have that many restaurants.  Of the restaurants it has, most are small, family run, and only opened certain hours on certain days.  To further complicate things, many of San Miniato’s restaurants that are catered toward tourists are located outside of San Miniato proper at agriturismos, which is quite annoying if you don’t have a car!

In any case if you find yourself in San Miniato, especially during white truffle season (basically, November), you should absolutely have a meal at Osteria L’upupa!  Osteria L’upupa is a very small, authentic restaurant located on San Miniato’s main street.  Osteria L’uppa is open everyday (except Thursday) from 12:30 to 15:00 and 19:30 – 22:00.

Like many restaurants in San Miniato, Osteria L’upupa is small and most of the tables will be reserved.  Osteria L’upupa has a wine/car racing/truffle theme and is quite adorable.  During white truffle season, special white truffle dishes are added to the menu and oh, are they special!

Our meal started with a a chianti from Fattoria Campigiana and a plate of Italian meats, cheeses, and mushroom pate.  The appetizer was delicious but it was nothing compared to the white truffle dishes to come!

After the appetizer, we proceeded to our white truffle dishes!!  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  First up, the below dish, which consisted of polenta in a cream sauce and soooo many white truffles!  It was as amazing as it looks!

After the polenta, crespelle with white truffles.  This may have been my favorite dish of the meal!  A trio of crespelle, which is a very thin Italian crepe, smothered in white cream sauce and douced in white truffles!  SOOOOOO good!!

And finally, white truffle pasta! This dish was amazing, huge, and I could seriously eat it every single day!  

Although I ate all of that pasta (it was split between six people!), I still ordered this amazing chocolate cake topped with chocolate drizzle and powdered sugar for dessert!  I certainly did not need this cake after all of the pasta that I ate, but it was terribly delicious!

Osteria L’Upupa is an excellent choice for sampling white truffles when they are in season, and I would absolutely eat here again whenever in San Miniato!  Pro tip – definitely make a reservation in advance.  The restaurant really cannot accommodate walk-ins as it is so small and locals and tourists alike clamor here during white truffle seasons to taste that magic.

STEAL OUR TRIP

Osteria L’upupa: Open Friday – Wednesday 12:30 – 15:00 and 19:30 – 22:00.  Closed Thursday. Recommended to call and make a reservation. Special white truffle dishes during white truffle season.

ON A BUDGET

Osteria L’upupa is not exactly budget friendly, but its also not the most expensive restaurant in town.  I would call it a splurge for budget travelers, except during white truffle season when it would be considered a splurge for almost everyone!  The white truffle dishes ran between €30,00 and €50,00 per plate.

Pizzeria Cinema Vecchio is a much more budget-friendly option in San Miniato proper. Pizzeria Cinema Vecchio specializes in (what else?) pizza, but also offers other dishes, including pastas and salads.  We made a reservation online via thefork.com but you probably can walk into Pizzeria Cinema Vecchio almost any day.

Pizzeria Cinema Vecchio: Via IV Novembre, 30, 56029 San Miniato PI, Italy. T. +39.057142518. Open daily 19:00 – 24:00. Reservations can be made here but are probably not necessary.

If you are set on having white truffles on a budget ,try the food stall in the wine tent.  That stand usually offers us small plates with white truffles at much less the price than a blow out meal at Osteria L’upupa.