Fusion Bar & Restaurant Florence
My favourite Asian restaurants in Florence are Momoyama, Kome and this one – the Fusion Bar & Restaurant in the Gallery Hotel Art. You’ll find it on Vicolo dell’Oro, just moments away from the River Arno and a short stroll from Via Tournabuoni.
The Fusion Bar is divided into two modern spaces. One bar inside the hotel and the restaurant which is in a year-round covered outdoor space. Thankfully, and undoubtedly due to Google reviewers complaining that there is no pasta in this Nikkei restaurant, the restaurant isn’t teeming over with the usual mish-mash of tourists and students. Instead, the clientele is slightly more laid back and local. The prices are a little higher than average but well worth it for the tastes and ambience alone. The eclectic menu of cocktails is a reason to go back even if the food isn’t your thing and I’ve visited often for events such as Florence Cocktail Week and Fashion Night Out – where the bar’s mixologists shined with the kind of creativity that Florence’s cocktail scene is becoming known for.
The food here is eclectic and often quite daring. The menu teems with a delicious mix of sushi and Japanese dishes that sparkle with a Nikkei flare. The flavours flirt between the refined umami of Japanese cuisine and the fiery vibrancy of Peruvian cuisine, while the use of some distinctly European and Mediterranean ingredients helps to enhance everything from simple anchovy sushi to tuna steaks, perfectly seared and served with bottarga roe.
The Sushi set menu is served delightfully as a bento, with two Sake variations, as in the image above, and is delicious. The fish is wonderful and fresh, sauces are light but thoughtful. I’ve eaten tuna here on two occasions, the latter of which was served as a steak, lightly battered and paired simply with radish and a light soy reduction.
The sushi menu, on the other hand, is possibly the Fusion Bar’s least interesting menu. Some of the flavours are good, and in general, the sushi is fresh and interesting, but it often feels a little tame when compared with the main courses and Nikkei tapas. Some will undoubtedly find the use of foie gras, quail eggs and exotic flavourings (the Indian spicy tikka for example) to be more than enough reason to try it, but I find the flavours a little too tame.
Everything is beautifully presented, from the sushi to starters served on mountains of ice to the accompanying sauces served in test tubes, as in the image below.
The highlights at The Fusion Bar & Restaurant are often the cocktails. My favourite of the ones that I’ve tried remains the Miami – a Stolichnaya Vodka cocktail shaken with St. Germain liqueur, lemon juice and a spicy finish of chilli pepper, the Mezcal Margherita and the Violetta Valery. Drinks are often served with small bites, of which I recommend the Temaki sushi, which is served as a kind of Japanese-inspired aperitivo, though light Thai-spice flavours crisps and wasabi nuts are served freely from the bar too.
2016 saw the first ever Florence Cocktail Week, and with it, bars such as this one and the excellent Il Locale, created a one-off cocktail (several in The Fusion Bar’s case) to compete. I’ve already written about that and a little more about the bar here.
The Fusion Bar & Restaurant Vicolo dell’Oro, 3, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy
