So, I am going to give this a try, despite pretty poor wifi. I took the ferry here from Naples yesterday, ate lunch and then dinner in my hotel. In between, I walked down to the port I am staying near (Casamicciola), bought a weekly bus ticket (I’ll be here 5 days, and it was v. cost effective 14+euros), walked around the charming port area, and then tried to figure out how to get back up to the hotel. (It was more walk than I was looking for at the end of a travel day.) So, for openers, forget about Google Maps here. Apple does a better job (at least it maps the actual buses that have been getting me places today). Yesterday late afternoon, I took a “Micro” taxi back to the hotel, feeling very unintrepid and chastened. No way I will rent a motor scooter (good friend has recommended I do this). Can’t imagine sliding down one of these hills on one of those.
Dinner last night was a multi course meal in which I chose my primi (from three choices) and my secondi (from two). I was drinking the house white wine (haven’t a clue what it was, but it was v. good). Particularly delicious was the appetizer of green beans with some kind of ham (at least that’s what they said it was (unlike any ham I can think of, and I could have eaten more of that!):
And for my primi, I took the lentil soup to which I added a dash of vinegar, and it really hit the spot for me. (The cannelloni, baked in the oven with tomato sauce and cheese, I saw at other tables also looked very delicious.)
Fried fish, expecially the fish (anchovies, maybe?) and the squid was also tasty, but I was really full at this point! Fish was also served with grilled vegetables. I skipped dessert, didn’t even ask what it was, sorry!
One more thing, of a pre-dinner nature. The reason I picked the area/hotel where I am staying (and this will probably say waaaay too much about me), is that I had read about mud slides in the area around Thanksgiving, and then I started following the incredible pictures/film from what seemed like a tiny restaurant-that-could: Cantinando. I couldn’t understand the Italian, but the pictures of these people just persevering in the face of such disaster, such Sisyphusian struggles was incredibly moving to me. So, I booked the trip and hoped that they would make it, that I would be able to go there and see what they did. Finally in June, they posted on their Instagram account, the curtains rising on them again, “We are back.”
Tonight I am very excited to be going. I walked there first thing this morning to make sure I could find it, after my epic fail yesterday (today, I got around much better, found buses, but not to this restaurant that involves staircases cut into the hills), and I am looking forward to tonight, and I also booked in for Saturday night. Will report back!
I enjoyed reading this and one of the best meals of my life, had twice over, was bruschetta in Ischia. Probably even the same restaurant. Are you noticing a lot of older German tourists?
Yes, @ChristinaM, lots of German tourists (older and otherwise).
So, to this evening’s magical meal. I arrived a bit early, but the place soon filled up. I ate the tuna tartar with passion fruit starter, and possibly the best pasta I have ever eaten: spaghetti with sea bass, lemon, sun-dried tomato and pistachio. I might have to have this again when I go back on Saturday! The restaurant gave me an amuse bouche of anchovy on basil cream on bread. This was also a delicious bite. I had two (!) glasses of a wonderful white wine (didn’t snap the back of the bottle, and am not certain of the grape, but @Carmenere says it is probably Biancolella).
Most people pick up some single person when eating alone in a restaurant. Me, I pick up a whole family. Delightful parents with their one-year-old Marina (of the sea) from just outside of Naples at the next table, passed their baby to me to play and then gave me a lift home (!). All uphill, so I was doubly (triply) grateful. I have an invitation to join them up some mountain for extended family dinner tomorrow night! Wonderful people.
According to Wikipedia, there are only 62,000 people in Ischia. So, make sure you ask everyone (especially your new adopted family) if they’re related to Tony Migliaccio, owner of Noodle Pudding in Bklyn (his last name translates into English as “pudding”; hence the restaurant name). He still has a large family there. Ya never know Have fun.
Funny that “migliaccio” should mean “pudding”. The name is indeed very close to the French “millas” or “millassou”, which describes flan-like cakes made from fine cornmeal and milk. Migliaccio is a Neapolitan cake made from semolina and ricotta, while migliacci in Corsica are thick pancakes made from sheep’s cheese and flour.
Re. that wine, it is a biancolella indeed (100%) “Vigna del Lume”, and rather special. It gets its name from the place where the grapes are grown, where there’s a rock which looks like a lamp or a lantern. It is harvested in October (so slightly overripe) and pressed in cool-temperature volcanic caves where the must stays undisturbed for 12 hours before being carried to Ischia Ponte for fermenting. I think it has won awards.
Sorry for the delay! Alas, I had to beg off the kind dinner invitation I had yesterday. I spent the day traipsing all over the island in order to reach a beach by a hotel (apparently only reachable by boat). I took a bus to get to the main port and then walked what seemed like forever. At one point, I got stopped by the Ischia marching band, heralding some religious processional that was part of this:
Here I finally got into my bathing suit and enjoyed my day at the beach…that restaurant on the second floor is where I had a full lunch (including a glass of wine) that kept me full (and sleeping) through dinner.
And I ate every bite of my vegetables too! Peppers with tomatoes, they said, but tasted mostly of the peppers to me, and I am kicking myself to remember this dish and how much I like it when I get home. Doesn’t look like much on the plate, but tastes like essence of peppers.
I tried to get a land taxi to come get me at the end of the day, but only the water taxi could get me. At 5 euros each way, it was a steal, and much more cost effective than the ridiculously priced land taxi I picked up in the square after my water coach delivered me. The spot where I spent the day is called Hotel da Maria, and you can pick up the water taxi just to the right of Ponte de Ischia. I didn’t snap it, but it’s a handwritten sign that says “Taxi.” You can’t miss it. I paid something like 12 euros for a long beach chair and an umbrella for the day. I bought a bottle of water for the beach, but probably I could have bought other things, like a cocktail? Anyway, truly felt like I was on Gilligan’s Island, but no English spoken, fairly quiet really. I’d say maybe a third of the chairs were occupied.
P.S. Because I skipped dinner last night, I did have the hotel breakfast buffet this morning. They made me some scrambled eggs, and I had some perfect fresh figs, and made myself a couple of pieces of toast. I mention this only because I had some of the hotel’s homemade lemon (I also tried a little of their orange) jam on my toast. Never had lemon jam before. I’d say this is the place to try it.
A really cool adventure so far, Id say! Your pepper/tomato dish was probably called peperonata or something like. I love the restrained way they sauce with tomatoes in Campania. Have you had any grilled eggplant with scamorza yet?
Have fun.
