here are some notes from bologna on some pretty decent restaurant meals.

sergei - this place was great: tasty food and very accommodating service. perhaps not quite the grandest room in bologna. between e and i we had tortellini in broth, pumpkin tortelli, baked guinea fowl, bollito misto and some ricotta cake. the bollito was rather to my taste - some beef, tongue and what must have been a boiling hen with green sauce.

diana - nice room, featuring a special trolley for the bollito. we had some cured meat, pasta with salmon and noodles with porcini. ok, but not quite shining. they had only just re-opened after christmas, so maybe momentum not quite there yet.

la greppia (actually in parma) - really a super place. the room and service were great. we had a bottle of lovely old roero with the meal which was in good shape. we ate some memorable and ancient parmesan cheese, some parma ham, pasta with pheasant and buckwheat pasta with truffles. then an orange cake and good coffee.

caminetto d'oro - the poshest spot. rather the curate's egg this. appalling smoked fish followed by best pasta of the trip: tortelli with roast meat juice and tagliatelle with ragu. then we had a fiorentino which was ok, but not really memorable. i wish i had had three plates of pasta.