Sounds familiar. I may have eaten there. Our favorites fwiw, years ago, were Macalle and Sveva in that order
I ate at Macalle last time on your recommendation and enjoyed it.
What a feast! I’m usually not crazy about raw shrimp, regardless of their quality.
That fish market really is something!
You may have mentioned now that I think about it. Apologies in advance when I ask you again next year
Enjoy. That Shrimp!!!
PS, I’m usually not a fan of raw shrimp texture in general. But Sicilian shrimp was an exception. Still, I found them better slightly cooked.
Now we’re REALLY talking
WHY DOESN’T EVERYONE EAT THIS FOR BREAKFAST?!?!?
HO not liking my exuberance here.
It’s the all caps - just add a small cap letter to thwart it
Last night’s dinner was at Tavernetta Uno da Simone, I believe suggested by the owners of our B&B. It was delicious. I think we’re starting to take this good food a little for granted, “oh yeah, delicious fresh seafood and pasta again.” We’ll realize in a few days how lucky we’ve been! Both of us miss having lots of vegetables though, and both got starters with tomatoes- she got a Caprese salad, I got bruschetta. Both wonderful. She then got pasta with tuna, olives, capers, and tomatoes, while I got grilled tuna with a sort of sweet and sour tomato/balsamic glaze and some olives, which came with grilled eggplant on the side. I went with medium rare on the cook, and it was probably closer to medium, but so fresh that it was still nice and tender.
More tourism photos from Ortigia. This morning we took a boat ride out into the harbor. Also look at the number of snacks that came with a single glass of wine!
yikes (assuming you ate them all) I hope they were good!
That boat ride was one of the best things we did on an excruciatingly hot day. Even gave me a final chance to dive into the ocean
How are the temps, anyway?
Some were meaty and went uneaten. Lulu has now joined me to help, but of course more snacks showed up.
Verrrrrry hot!
Oy! Lots n lots of gelato to the rescue… tho it looks like you got that covered
Last night was our last in Ortigia. Lulu chose to go back to Sicilia in Tavolo, where we basically got the same order, except I got a raw shrimp and buffalo mozzarella starter instead of the fried sardines, and we shared an incredible cannoli for dessert. The cannoli sort of disappears into the plate, hard to see. Sat outside (which is maybe reserved for those without reservations). I would love to come back to Ortigia again. Maybe bring LLD next time.
View from our seats:
Yesterday was the final full day of our trip. We took the bus to Catania. It was HOT. We really didn’t accomplish much of anything, except finally getting some gelato, and (foreshadowing!) were lucky with a huge haul of big snacks. I had hoped to see the Roman theater, but it wasn’t happening. No energy. So we sat in the main square/Duomo piazza and had drinks and tried to stay as cool as possible. That’s Etna getting rowdy taken from the bus.
That is 4 small arancini, 2 delightful mashed potato fried balls (not official name), 2 bite sized pizzas, olives, and chips. So I was not feeling all that peckish come dinner time. We went to Bell’Antonio, which our (gorgeous- thank you Erica!) hotel recommended. It looks cute. Lulu was in the mood for vegetables (me too, going to eat a big salad asap once home), and I was in the mood for not pasta. She started with another orange/fennel/anchovy salad. Couldn’t compare to the ones she had in Ortigia. No supreming (sp?) of the oranges made it less pleasant to eat for her. I got octopus and celery salad. This was good.
For our mains Lulu picked a bottarga and lemon pasta (unfortunately no photo); she enjoyed it but thought it was somewhat over salted. I opted for lobster risotto in a pumpkin cream with pepper confetti. I don’t think there was a lick of pumpkin in this, and didn’t see any pepper confetti. It tasted like a can of tomato sauce. Unsalted tomato sauce. First time I think I have ever asked for salt in Italy. I basically didn’t eat this. Another thing I don’t remember happening to me in Italy is having a course brought to me when I am in the midst of eating the one before. It happened here. One of my bugaboos. After the meal we went and sat in the square and watched all the happy activity. Home today.
The presentation of the octopus & celery salad also leaves a lot to be desired, but at least it tasted good!
The last meal not the best by far…snacks still great…time to go home! Safe travels and thanks for your posts. I enjoyed traveling along with you and Lulu!
Safe travels and thanks for taking us along, it was really fun!
Completely agree. The celery should have been cut much smaller.