Looking for restaurant recommendations in Sestri Levante. We will have a car so also open to any reasonable close other towns.
Also interested to hear any recommendations for good gelato or lunch/sandwich places
so sorry to be late in responding Sestri Levante is a great town - and the hike over to its more famous neighboring area is a lovely one. We havent eaten there though.
We did have a visit to the area in I think 2017 and here are my favorite food memories all from (then current) slowfood sources and justified. - Luchin in Chiavari is justifiably famous for its farinata and its other home style cuisine is not shabby either! Definitely worth a visit for lunch or dinner (the train is quick and Chiavari has (or att least had when we were there 6 or 7 years ago) a terrific passagiata in the old town. which is where the resto is.
Second, if you go inland (you said you have a car) slowfood mainstay La Brinca, in the village of NE is magic, a great selection of regional dishes, plus memorable barbecued meat (I think a return from Argentina) in a lovely setting. https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/liguria/ne/restaurant/la-brinca.
If I recall correctly, we were also able to get down to Ristorante la Cucina di Nonna Nina in San Rocco, near Camogli by public transport as well. Its in another lovely area, on the portofino peninsula. And you can walk down the hill to Camogli after lunch as well. I dont know how driving wouldl be in that area in high season.
This is a great food region and I hope you found/are finding something good.
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Yes - Trattoria La Brinca was a no brainer for us and we are looking forward to it
these places are all well known for sure, I hope they are all still as good as they were. La Brinca most likely still have the sampler, which we ordered. It is country food, some involving foraged items and I would say a very rich cucina povera. There are several items in there that taste very special, and we do remember the bbq beef.
Been a while since I have been in this area, perhaps a decade! But Iāve been longing to go back, and in the process have been following this specific restaurant on instagram which looks great.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/VaP1ytSMvEQXb5sA7?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy
The area has a lot of good restaurants, Iād personally just search google maps. Also have a look at the nice beach area of Santa Margherita Ligure. Along the coast are numerous restaurants - I remember just picking one which looked busy outside and had the most amazing pasta with lobster.
Nonna Ninaā¦long uphill walk from Camogli, was among the best meals I had in Liguria, but this was about 12 years agoā¦Love that areaā¦wanted, but never succeeded, to make it to La Brinca.
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it seems like Nonna Nina is still getting good reviews on its traditional cooking. You always worry that the cooks have died or retired, in a place like that! The style of cooking, with vegetables or other items packeted up in pastry is somewhast similar to sicily (like ragusa, modica, etc); the style and presentation was all very tradiitional too - if this was the US you would worry that it would be changed up by now with different decor āforeignā ingredients in the food, and loud music!
Our visit was a while ago too. We took the train to Rapallo and then a bus over to San Giovanni/San Rocco I think. Then walked over to San Rocco to eat, and then and walked down to Camogli, a beautiiful walk, after exploring beautiful San Rocco. it was too damp and slippery that day to consider hiking down to the beach area instea. The trains are very convenient in this area but maybe if I had had a car I would have used it! To get to La Brinca, We got our hotel in Chiavari to arrange a taxi - that was great, the roads are twisty going up a steep river valley and he seemed to know exactly when to come back.
Jen, I would like to return to Liguriaā¦Iāve stayed in Camogli (and Santa Maria Ligure) and loved Camogli, especially the farina at Revello! And Nonna Nina. But many Camogli restaurants seemed quite tourist-influenced. What town would you suggest to spend a few nights: Sestri, Charivari? We could hire a car if necessary.
Also, the area of Ameglia-Montemarcello (in the Val di Magra, blending of coastal Tuscan and Ligurian foods) has a great food reputation among locals but we did not get that farā¦ Do you know anything about that area?
These are both nice towns - rather different, I would say Sestri is a little more tourist centered/scenic and less āurbanā i love our stay in Chiavari, the food the passagiata with kids running around freely, the parks, the market, all of the things that make a small italian city pleasant. We stayed at a relatively non-posh three star old hotel in the center which we liked, the newer part of the town on the sea side of the train line is pretty boring looking, tho I think there might be a couple of good seafood restos over there -Im thinking that former CH poster barberinibee used to post favorably about Sestri. if I wasnt lazy I would go upstairs and pull my old booksand see what Plotkin et al recommended. On a quick look at Slowfood Osterie guide, they have a recommended for a seafood place, Trattoria Raieu in Lavagna (between Chiavari and Sestri) https://www.google.com/maps/place/Trattoria+Raieu/@44.2903107,9.3750954,17z/data=!4m8!3m7!1s0x12d49791bee01a25:0x6710859f9b720343!8m2!3d44.290307!4d9.3799663!9m1!1b1!16s%2Fg%2F1tqd2z1v!5m1!1e4?entry=ttu as well as one inland from the Cinque Terre, in Castiglione Chiaverese, https://www.agriturismocastagneto.it/. The latter even seem to make cappon magro, at least sometimes and of course La Brinca and Luchin.
Regarding the area farther S and closer to Tuscany, we have never stayed there, in Lunigiana or elsewhere. We did stop for a couple of hours in Sarzana in 2019 and noted a slowfood place but did not stay to eat.
this does look good!
Goodness, farinata at Revello, not farina (memories of the hated mamaliga from Grandma!
I had lunch at Nonna Nina with BarberiniBee and her husbandā¦she recommended it to usā¦
She has a lot of food into on foods.com, but she used many different names thereā¦
Recco also seems worth visiting for food; her husband, a writer, used to walk there from Camogli very oftenā¦ Iāve got the Plotkin here and will check it outā¦ we also went to a SlowFood place that was a small drive from Camogli but I would not necessarily recommend (U Giancu)
Look here, but see how old it it, and how little I knew then about food in general; the "Zeppole"I thank here is BarberiniBee.
thats fun - time is definitely passing - I remember her as Zeppole too,ā¦she was a great poster in many ways but kept getting into feuds and getting banned and cropping up again under new creative namesā¦liguria was definitely home turf for her. I think Coleman Andrews book on Flavors of the Riviera (and there is also a regional book by David Downie - are good for describing some of the specific regional foods.https://www.wanderingliguria.com/about/21/david-downie-author#google_vignette
So you know the Zeppole saga!! She had great on-tie info but yes, her manner of writing kept getting into trouble with the āmoderators!!ā I began writing there (Fodorās) years ago but because food became more an more the focus of my travels, and CH was no longer around, Iām glad that Steve R (companion for many Flushing Asian group dinnersā¦) altered me to this siteā¦
I was bereft when I learned that CH had shut downā¦all that info gone to the ether!! I had always been in awe of your knowledge and writing about your Italian forays!!
I have the David Downie book and did not Fred Plotkin write a book on Ligurian food? Iām not home to check so maybe I am confused hereā¦
I think Plotkin did, but I dont seem to have it now. He.also wrote on it in Italy for the Gourmet Travellerā¦Its depressing after compiling large comprehensive books like his and Downies, that they dont get updated. Too much work, too small an audience, too little lime. They are major efforts.
SteveR is a great, sociable eating companion Ive been happy to get drawn into some eating group activity here. Thats been really nice.
Sorry, not on Foods.comā¦correct site is WWW.FODORS.COM
So agree about the lack of updating; but Plotkin is older than me, I think, and opera is his true love, so maybe he writes more about that now. I wish him well; we met only once, on a press trip to Morocco, and he was kind, fun, and enthusiasticā¦I remember that he bought an opera cape, I think that was in Fez. And remember Maureen Fantās book about Trattorias??? I think SteveR had a meal with her on his trip to Romeā¦ I asked her by e-mail a few times when she might update her book, but its not happened. She does lead tours with her daughter, in various places in Italy, including Sardinia, where I would like to go.
Here are a few of Fredās recs in Liguria, from the most recent edition with the red cover.
CAMOGLIā¦NONNA NINA
DA PAOLO
NE: LA BRINCA
SESTRI LEVANTE: POLPO MARIO
He has a lot on 5 Terre, and a lot on west of Genova, and Genova itself where I would like to visit as Iāve not been there.
If you have the book on hand, take a look at his recommendation for the trattoria in Nettuno; he wrote long passage about that, and I went by train from Rome, had lunch at the trattoria he recommended, TRATTORIA DEL RODO, not sure if it is still openā¦very plain but when I mentioned Fredās name there were smiles all aroundā¦, and after lunch we walked (schlepped!) to one of the Allied cemeteriesā¦a wonderful experience and I thank Fred for thatā¦
I was slightly disappointed in my dinner at Nonna Nina, though I canāt remember exactly why. The food was good. This was 2018 and I may have just ordered poorly. It was July and very hot.
Also, I took a taxi and my taxi driver let me know that in his opinion it was a restaurant for tourists and if I wanted good food I needed to go to Recco. (He was Reccese, of course.) So that may have colored my impression! He went home and had his own dinner then came back to pick me up after I finished my meal at Nonna Nina. I speak passable Italian so we compared notes on our respective dinners on the way back.
I had a good, very simple meal of mussels and catch of the day with potatoes and olives at Ostaia da Ć² SigĆ¹ in Camogli.
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Genova is a great old city and very much worth a visit, I recommend! Its hilly but I am sure there are public transport ways of moving between the main levels with public transport (including a funicular up to the top).
I remember about Pulpo Mario in Sestri but we never went there https://www.polpomario.com/.
What I meant about the book update - I owned at one time 3 different editions of the Plotkin italy guides. When I bought the red one from 2011 it was evident that, as between the prior 2, there were only a handful of tiny changes. It made be realize what an enormous effort had gone into the first edition (it was probably also fruit of extensive travelling at an earlier time and for other purposes than writing a guide). For a single person to update this fully would not have made sense or been enjoyable or remunerative. Its too bad that the world of travel information has moved so far on from the great guides of the past where you could rely on fine personal taste and local connections - where you can greet hosts with a handshake .
Bty here is a link to the Plotkin Liguria book - check out the Amazon and NYT reviews - would not have sold many copiesš¢ Recipes from Paradise: Life & Food on the Italian Riviera https://a.co/d/eenMO94
Fred wrote a cookbook on Ligurian food, Recipes from Paradise. As I recall, he lived in Camogli for a while. I canāt check the cookbook because my belongings are in transit: my husband and I recently retired and are moving to Lucca in 19 days!!
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What an exciting development! Hope we hear about your new world once you have settled in.
Weāve been thinking about retiring to Italy for 20 years or so and actively planning for 2. Wanted to tell you thanks for your Sicily posts on Chowhound, which I had thankfully printed before its demise. We finally made it there last year, and they were, as always, helpful and informative.
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