Trattoria Da Giovanni

TRATTORIA DA GIOVANNI
All right! You are the kind of tourist that loves to try the real local food. The type who doesn’t care about eating in the hotel restaurant, but wants the venture out and discover what the locals eat, the little secrets that most tourists will never know.
You are reading the right review because I am just about to share one of these places with you. Da Giovanni has been there forever, right in downtown Trieste. The place is unpretentious, it’s a Trattoria (in the Italian meaning, which relates to simple, casual but often authentic food, not in the American way that means crappy food, but will overcharge you just because «Trattoria» sounds so fancy and Italian).
The place is small, décor to a minimum. It’s not fancy, it’s not flashy, furniture are simple. At lunch it’s often overcrowded. So why go?
Because it’s one of those places you must go to if you want to able to say you ate in Trieste. This is one of «classic» of Trieste cuisine. You will probably notice as soon as you get in a guy cutting bread and slicing (by hand) a big Prosciutto Cotto (ham); he does that almost nonstop. Yes, because, one of the simple classic in Trieste is the «panino di prosciutto cotto» or «panin de cotto» in the Trieste dialect. Often they would add some mustard and fresh horseradish to it.
But if you want to sit down and have lunch, you can try something else. The menu is limited, they waitress will normally tell you what they have that day, but you can also get in writing. The great news: fresh! How many times can you eat breaded fish and it still smells like sea? It happens to me with the Sardoni Appannati. Sardoni (plur. of sardone) are typical small fishes of the Adriatic sea. In Trieste they are a classic. You can find them appannati (lightly breaded), fritti (fried) or in savoir, which is a special way to make them, marinated, very tasty.
Try the calamari fritti if you are from the USA and you will see the difference: lightly breaded and fried, fresh taste, not chewy, light to digest.
But feel free to try the fish they have that day, especially if they have Branzino or Orata: great!
For a salad, go with a classic of Trieste: «radicchio e fagioli» (radicio e fasoi in dialect), radicchio and beans.
This place keeps it simple, makes it fresh and have very affordable and tasty meals (try also the gnocchi!).
As for the wine, don’t bother with bottle, just get their house wine.
A must visit in Trieste for the tourist that wants to discover the local taste.
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