Sicily - Ortygia food

Ortygia was so busy and it's full of restaurants and shops, but we have to say we preferred the atmosphere in Ragusa.

We decided to eat right in the middle of the busiest spot, Piazza del Duomo, in order to do some people watch. At a spot like this we didn't expect excellent food but at the end we thought it wasn't bad at all.

We began with some local wine - the Regaleali estate is probably the most famous estate in Sicily and I could see why. The wine was heavy enough to withstand our strong food.

I wish we could take some grissini home. They were being served everywhere we went and they were simply tasty!

Just thought I'd take a picture of the world's biggest box of matches.

B ordered prawn cocktail to start - she said it was OK but I'm never too keen on the dish and that big dollop of dressing looked scary to me.

She liked my sardine pasta so much from the day before she wanted to have one herself. This version had breadcrumbs, a traditional Sicilian cooking ingredient because of poverty and starvation in the past, which made the dish so much more filling. It was enjoyable but not as good as the one we had on the previous day. This one was salty and lacked the fennel aroma.

I decided to go for spaghetti with mussels since everybody else was having it. It was simple yet nicely seasoned and the mussels were fresh. I could eat this everyday. If I had to pick on something it'd be the the level of salt but by then we already got used to the very salty food on the island.

My entrecote steak. Nice meat, could use some side dishes. Mind you I was pretty full at that point so perhaps it was just as well.

Lunch came to 40 euro. Not bad given the restaurant's location. And although we expected much worse food it was actually not bad!

Gran Caffe' del Duomo

Piazza del Duomo, Ortygia.

Sicily - Ragusa food

We totally maxed out our food intake in Ragusa. We found a local restaurant (think tv by cashier, locals all laughing at some Italian version of You Think You Can Dance). We began with with a local wine -it was very "unstructured" but it went very well with the strong tasting food.
We were not 100% sure what we were ordering as the menu was in Italian. B went for some sort of pasta dish made with aubergine and tomatoes. It was tasty but very salty.

My all-time favourite: bresaola with parmigiano-reggiano and arugula. The beef was soft and moist and the arugula was probably the freshest I ever tasted.

B then tried some pasta dish with tomato and chili sauce - a Sicilian speciality. Tasty but once again extremely salty.

There was no way I could have a starter, a pasta dish then a main so I dived straight into my main (B as a result had no room for main but hey). I asked for some manzo (beef) and that's the extent of Italian I could manage. I was quite happy to see what I got at the end though.

It was some kind of very homemade-looking stew and I thought it was very nicely cooked. The beef was succulent and I could still taste the broth it was cooked in. Somehow the potatoes were once again really salty! We were beginning to wonder when travel guides speak of strong tasting food in Sicily do they mean salty?

We had no room for dessert but we were happy. Dinner came to 55 euro.

Ristorante Orfeo

Via S. Anna 117, Ragusa. Tel: 0932 62 10 35

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The next day we decided to indulge once again. We found a place in Ragusa old city and ate ourselves silly. In order to try eating a 3-course lunch we cheated by sharing some of the stuff.

To start we got some soup but it was more like warm and starchy hummus. It was so thick (but very tasty) it sat on our bread nicely and we didn't even need spoons.

My sister B went for some tomato-base pasta again, since Sicilian tomatoes are renowned throughout Italy for their rich favours. The sauce was very zingy and refreshing but it was very salty!

I thought it was time to try the famous Sicilian dish pasta con le sarde. Ingredients: sardines, wild mountain fennel (unique to Sicily), pinenuts, raisins, and strong (and wonderful) caciocavallo cheese. We LOVED this dish (although it was salty once again)!!! The sardines were infused into the sauce and pasta so perfectly to begin with. Together with the aroma of fennel it was out of this world. I wish I had bought some fennel back with me!

As full as I was I moved onto our third course (we were kind of sharing this one). The seafood mixed grill was recommended by the very friendly waiter. It was simple yet fresh and delicious.

Our scrumptious lunch (probably the biggest in my life) came to 32 euro. Bargain! Will definitely go back again if we ever have a chance to visit again.

U Saracinu

Via del Convento 9, Ragusa. Tel: 0932 24 69 76

Sicily - Taormina food

Our Sicily trip kicked off with a pretty delicious chicken fettuccine.

You wouldn't have guessed that it's an airplane meal if I don't show you the full picture. We were impressed! Go BA!
The warm and sunny Sicilian weather made our drive from Catania to Taormina very pleasant indeed. Too bad we didn't make it to the Greek theatre on time but we did find a wonderful restaurant located on the side of a very quiet stairs near the theatre.

To start I tried some fish cakes with pinenuts. To be honest I don't really remember what they were like so they were pretty average.

My sister B picked octopus to start and at the time I thought wow. Her adventurousness paid off! The octopus was divine! They were not at all chewy like I expected. Instead they were very soft (but not pappy) and the rich tomato and herbs sauce was out of this world. Two thumbs up!

Then I had fish again with picked red onions and 3 citrus jams. It sounded very strange but I was determined to find out (especially about the jams). The result was surprisingly nice! The flavours and combination were so unusual they were almost stimulating. The tangy jams totally woke my taste buds up and they went very well with the fish.

B went for homemade meatballs and was surprised to see battered and fried ones (I guess we were all expecting meatballs in tomato sauce). They were very tasty and again the lemon leaf and lemon rosemary garnish provided an unusual twist to the dish.

It's a shame we didn't have room for dessert. We did get to enjoy some singing - very touristy but hey.

I believe our meal came to around 60 euro. Not bad consider Taormina is the most expensive place in Sicily.

La Tavernetta

Via Timoleone, 22/24, Taormina, Sicily. Tel: 0942 23378