I’m sure some of you must have thought I was finally done with my vacation series to Italy and Paris but guess again! I had almost forgotten about this myself in my haste to post about all the restaurants I’ve been visiting lately. Our lovely stay in Cinque Terre was about to come to an end so Jenkins and I decided to celebrate our last evening by going to a nice place for dinner right by the harbour. Our guidebook noted that Bar del Capitano offered the best value out of all the restaurants by the harbour so we decided to check it out. Bar del Capitano had limited inside seating and the majority of its seats were outside on the main square so we snagged a table on the edge for optimum people watching opportunities.

As I probably mentioned before, the tap water in Cinque Terre was not recommended for drinking by our guidebook so we ordered a bottle of mineral water to share. I always choose the “gassy” version because I like the fizz and bubbles.

One of Capitano’s specialties was the antipasto misto, which was an appetizer platter of seasonal, fresh seafood. Although it was for the two of us to share, it was so good that I could have easily called this a main course and have eaten it all by myself! The seafood was very fresh and most of the items were prepared in ways that I had never tried before. My favourite was the buttery stuffed mussels, which were slightly crispy on the outside and stuffed with a saffrony, aromatic mixture that complimented the mussels themselves very well. I also really enjoyed the cold salad of squid with olives and tomatoes.

Along with our antipasto came two fresh prawns that were half de-shelled but basically presented whole. Jenkins remarked that they looked a bit scary but the prawns were simply divine. They were served cold and were prepared with a bit of lemon juice, which seemed to cook the prawns a bit. This really brought out the sweetness of the prawns and I wish they had given us a few more with our dish.

The menu at Capitano is seasonal and we noticed that there were quite a few mussel dishes so we figured they must have been in season. I decided to order the steamed mussels with white wine, shallots, and lemon juice. It probably wasn’t the most original dish but the fresh ingredients really highlighted the mussels’ sweetness and how it was complemented by the wine and lemon juice.

Jenkins decided to order the spaghetti chitarra, which came with mussels, clams, and prawns. It was chock full of seafood and I think there was more seafood than there was pasta. The pasta was lightly tossed in a tomato-based sauce with a lot of parsley, which went really well with the seafood.

Jenkins and I were really glad we could end our stay in Cinque Terre with such a fantastic meal. Even though we ate around 8PM, it was considered early in Italy so the restaurant was quite empty and we had the full attention of our server. Even though we were quite full at this point, I convinced Jenkins to cap off our meal with a dessert of gelato and affogato. I would post pictures but greedy little me gobbled up my affogato and gelato before I remembered to take pictures.

Details:
Bar del Capitano, Vernazza (harbourside), Cinque Terre
Wed-Mon 12PM – 3PM & 7PM – 10PM
Closed Tues except in August, closed Dec-Jan

Summary:
Food: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Price: $$$

Right around lunch time in Corniglia, Jenkins and I first stopped in Enoteca Il Pirun, which is a small, homey wine bar right on the main street of Corniglia. They had quite a large variety of both local Cinque Terre and Italian wines.

On shelves in front of the enoteca, there were several different wines all lined up with various pictures of dictators and revolutionaries. I’m not sure if these were for sale but they were definitely effective in drawing curious tourists to the store front.

Jenkins and I stopped in to try the locally acclaimed wine of Corniglia. According to our guide books, the wine from Corniglia is one of the best of all the Cinque Terre towns. We figured this must have been true since there were quite a few vineyards amongst the hills.

We chose a locally made white wine and even though neither Jenkins nor I are wine connoisseurs, we really enjoyed the fruity and dry wine. We were also served some complimentary olives and cheese crackers which went quite well with our wine. I especially liked the olives, which were not too soft and were just the right amount of saltiness. Before we left, I also bought a couple packets of home-made limoncello candies.

After we finished our wine and snacks, we were surprisingly full so we wandered down the street to the local grocery store, where I asked the grocery store owner to prepare a small take-out of seafood antipasto (about 4 euros). The storekeeper picked a little of everything, which included anchovies, roasted peppers and eggplant, squid, and mini octopi. I especially liked the slightly chewy squid and octopi but what surprised me the most were the anchovies. They were slightly salty and pickly and went very well with the small loaf of bread we also bought. We carried our antipasto to a small viewpoint at the end of Via Fieschi, where we happily munched on our light lunch.

Details:
Enoteca Il Pirun
Via Fieschi 115, Corniglia, Cinque Terre, Italy

Butiega shop
Via Fieschi 142, Corniglia, Cinque Terre, Italy

Summary:
Food: 3.5 out of 5 stars (for both)
Service: 3 out of 5 stars
Price: $

To work off all the tasty food we had been consuming thus far on our trip, Jenkins and I took advantage of the great weather by hiking from our home base of Vernazza to the hill town of Corniglia. Of the five towns in Cinque Terre, Corniglia is the only one that is not directly on the water and is about a 90-minute hike from Vernazza.

It was late in the morning by the time we arrived and a bit too early for lunch so I made the decision to have some gelato instead. If you’re wondering why there haven’t been any gelato recaps during this trip, it is mostly because I am in such a hurry to eat it that I forget to take a picture of the gelateria and the gelato itself.

I’m not sure if this small gelateria in Corniglia has an actual name but it is the only one in town and is on the main street, Via Fieschi, and is across from a wine bar called Enoteca Il Pirun. Although some other shops in town have gelato, Alberto & Cristina’s tiny shop is the only one that makes it right on its premises fresh every day. Being the only gelateria in town, it was bustling with people choosing flavours inside and people happily enjoying their gelato outside.

I decided to pick two flavours (cone on the right in the picture below), one being the miele di Corniglia, which was made from fresh local honey. For my second flavour, I picked the always reliable pistachio. Fresh Italian gelato is really in a league of its own and is nothing like the gelato available in Vancouver. Better yet, because the standards are so high and there are so many gelaterias, you can always find one with quite reasonable prices. For example, the gelato here with 2 scoops was 1.75 Euro when we went (about $2.80 Cdn).

The honey flavour was very mild but had a nice sweetness and flavour to it. Its mild taste was complemented by the light and creamy texture of the gelato itself. I would have liked the pistachio flavour to be stronger but in terms of texture, it was right on the spot. The gelato was creamy with all the nut bits strained out and not over-frozen.

Jenkins decided to go fruity with a combo of cantaloupe and pineapple (cone on the left in the picture above). He is not usually a big fan of fruity flavours when it comes to gelato but he felt that he had really picked a winner that day. The pineapple was slightly tangy and actually went well with the sweeter and more mellow taste of the cantaloupe.

The gelato here was actually so tasty that Jenkins and I stopped by again a few hours later before we left Corniglia. We learned early in our trip to feed our gelato cravings whenever possible because if you think about it, who knows when the next time you’ll be back in Italy and when you’ll be able to have such delicious and well-made gelato!

Details:
Alberto & Cristina’s Gelateria
Via Fieschi, Corniglia, Cinque Terre, Italy

Summary:
Food: 4 out of 5 stars
Service: n/a
Price: $

Remember the delicious pizzeria/focacceria that Jenkins and I visited in Vernazza that I couldn’t remember the name of? Well, you are in luck because Jenkins and I went back a few days later for some take-out pizza and I remembered to take a picture of the restaurant this time around. We had been eating at some nicer and more expensive places the past few days so we wanted to temper it with some cheap eats. Since we enjoyed the focaccia at Flli.Basso so much, we decided to go back and try their pizzas. We went for the take-out option and brought our pizzas and some wine to eat/drink on the harbour facing the Ligurian Sea.

Jenkins and I decided to order two individual-sized pizzas to share. Jenkins’ choice was the pesto pizza. This came fresh Cinque Terre-style pesto generously layered on top and a thin layer of tomato sauce and a little bit of cheese. I was afraid that the pesto would be too overwhelming but it turned out to be just right. The pizza had a nice earthy taste to it and although I normally like my pizza with meat, the pesto pizza was very tasty.

I ordered the weiner pizza because it seemed to be quite a popular choice with many of the restaurant patrons. It normally wouldn’t have been my first choice for pizza but I decided to go for something different. The weiners actually tasted quite bland and with the exception of the crispy crust, the pizza itself did not have much taste to it.

If I had to choose between the pizzas and the focaccia at Flli.Basso, I would stick with the focaccia for sure. The pizza was tasty but I just found the focaccia to be made very well and unlike any focaccia I had tasted before. The pizza was good but similar quality stuff could be found in other parts of Italy.

Details:
Via Roma, Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy

Summary:
Food: 3 out of 5 stars
Service: n/a
Price: $

For our first dinner in Cinque Terre, Jenkins and I decided to eat by Vernazza’s small harbour so we could enjoy the sea breeze and view. There are a few options by the harbour and we chose to eat at Trattoria Gianni, which was owned by the same family that rented our room to us. It was fairly bustling with people but we were able to score a table right by the main square.

To start off our meal, we ordered a bottle of the house white wine. According to our guide book, white wine is a Cinque Terre specialty and very tasty. Jenkins and I aren’t huge wine connoisseurs but the wine was fairly dry and had a nice crisp taste to it, which we enjoyed. The table next to us, who professed themselves to be big wine people, seconded our amateur opinions.

I knew I had to have some type of pesto-based pasta since pesto originated from this region so the trofie with pesto was exactly what I was looking for. The dish did not seem to be very large but it was the perfect size for a light dinner. Although the helping of pesto was generous, it was just enough to lightly coat the trofie and was not over-sauced at all. I really liked how the flavour of the basil really came through and was not overwhelmed by too much garlic nor cheese.

Jenkins chose to have a seafood ravioli stuffed with cheese and anchovies and tossed in a tomato-based sauce. The fish stuffing had a very mild taste and blended very well with the cheese. The ravioli was cooked perfectly al dente and the tomato sauce complemented the stuffing very nicely.

This was more than enough for Jenkins and me that day. We had been snacking on focaccia and gelato throughout the day so we weren’t very hungry by the time dinner rolled around. We topped off our evening meal with a small affogato from a small gelato stand right by the harbour. I would share pictures but I gobbled that down before remembering I needed pictures for Ho Yummy.

Details:
Piazza G. Marconi, 5-19018 Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy
Tel: +39 0187 821003

Summary:
Food: 4 out of 5 stars
Service: 3 out of 5 stars
Price: $$

After Jenkins and I departed from Milan, we took a late night train to one of the most anticipated stops in our trip: Cinque Terre. We had wanted to go to the lovely Cinque Terre region when we first travelled to Italy but due to timing constraints, we just weren’t able to fit it in our itinerary. This time around, I wanted to make sure we were able to fit it in our trip and both Jenkins and I are able to say that this was definitely one of the highlights of our vacation. Everyone that was there must have felt the same way as us because the whole time we were there, everyone (both tourists and locals) were super nice and friendly and all the towns we went to had a happy, carefree mood to them.

Jenkins and I chose to stay in the lively but quaint town of Vernazza while in Cinque Terre. During our first lunch there, we wandered into a busy pizzeria that seemed to be teeming with people. I’m a bit embarrassed to say that I can’t recall the name of this place but it was on the main road (Via Roma) and was next to the Forno bakery. If it helps, here is a snapshot of the bag they used to put our breakfast in.

Despite the fact that I can’t remember the name of this place, it was one of the best places in town for focaccia bread, which was originally from the Cinque Terre region. Although the restaurant served pizza as well, we really wanted to try the focaccia first so we ordered a few items to share.

First, we had a focaccia panino with cooked ham and cheese. The focaccia was definitely the star of the show. It was light and super crispy on the outside. I had never had focaccia like this before and was really surprised at how different this tasted compared to the regular focaccia I had eaten back in Vancouver. It had a slightly chewy consistency that really went well with the crispy shell.

We also shared another focaccia sandwich that had tuna and tomatoes for its filling. I actually enjoyed this more than the ham version, but it may be due to the fact that I really enjoy tuna sandwiches. Even though I could tell that there was a fair bit of mayonnaise, for some reason, I did not find it overpowering even though I normally don’t like too much mayo in my sandwiches. The tomatoes were very sweet and the whole creamy filling contrasted nicely with the crispy and chewy texture of the focaccia itself.

Finally, Jenkins and I had a regular focaccia with pesto sauce on top. I don’t recall the exact price but it was around 1.50€, which I thought was quite reasonable considering we had quite a large piece. I did find the focaccia in Cinque Terre to be oilier than what I was used to but I suspect this was also why it was much crispier as well. The pesto was generously slathered on top and may have been a tad too salty but for some reason, I felt this really worked.

During our stay in Vernazza, Jenkins and I went back to this pizzeria several times, usually for the focaccia but sometimes also for the pizza. The prices were very reasonable and a single slice of focaccia was all we really needed to eat for breakfast. There really is no better place to have focaccia than in Cinque Terre, where it was invented afterall.

Details:
Via Roma (right next to the trail to Monterosso al Mare), Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italia

Summary:
Food: 5 out of 5 stars
Service: n/a
Price: $