I finally made it to Sardinia and it did not disappoint!
We chose Cala Gonone for the convenience and good apartment rentals, not for the food scene, but we ate well there.
- Lunches were sandwiches made at the Supermercado Europa (pecorino and whatever veggies they had that day–the carciofi and sundried tomatoes were especially good).
- My husband loved his squid ink pasta at DuePi, but despite really liking the courtyard ambiance, my veggie pasta was just okay. (Go there for pizza instead.)
- I swear I do not always choose Michelin starred, but Il Pescatore was truly excellent. We both had a fresh orecchiette with clams and bottarga and shared a fantastic monkfish salad as antipasto. I also discovered Vermentino di Gallura here, which will be a lifelong friendship. The mirto sorbet was a perfect finish.
- The next night we tried 4 Mori. Anything with an Asian bent was great here–the appetizer of a dumpling with dashi was amazing–I wanted to spoon up every drop. My fish was perfectly cooked, but the greens were practically inedible (nearly burnt bitter greens). The dessert was mind blowing–yuzu cremosa with caramelized fruit. My husband unfortunately did not love his grilled fish (he felt it a tad undercooked, but it’s something he makes a lot so maybe overly critical).
- Next we tried Restaurant Cala Luna, another wonderful appetizer–a croquet with fish over eggplant puree. My pasta was a little too intense, but what did I expect for anchovy pasta? I forget what my husband had–fish and veggies, cooked well.
- The last night we kind of ran out of luck. La Favorita’s menu looked appealing in the daylight, but that night we decided to go with pizza. Pizzas were great, but the mosquitos ran us off covered in bites.
On to Nuoro - The bad luck continued, as we could not find anything open and it was getting late even by Italian dinner standards (not a great idea to wing it on a Tuesday night). We had sandwich/burger and beer at Bun Club, totally acceptable.
- The next night we more than made up for it with the meal of the trip, Il Portico. The was the seafood meal of our dreams–sardine/burrata and polpo/bean puree (like Puglia) antipasti, fish ravioli with eggplant cream and olives, fregola with mixed seafood. Then a fish wrapped in pastry, which they graciously made not too large to finish–amazing! Too full for dessert.
- I had to get to Il Rifugio, but the food was not my favorite. If the antipasto had been smaller it would have helped–husband had fish salad, I had cheese-celery-bottarga, with the most brightly colored and tender bottarga, but it was just too much. I had fregola and my husband a really lovely fish. I was able to try the pompia liqueur from Siniscola here, but that was a bad idea (reflux city, TMI). The ambiance here is great, I’d just go for pizza with hindsight.
- We had some nice lunches here: Igrani, great for veg-leaning folks and super friendly staff, and L’Artigiano for potato-stuffed culurgiones.
- Gold star for best gelato of the trip – cantaloupe at Peter Pan.
We finished the week in San Pantaleo, where we had fantastic pizza at Ichnos, and a lovely fish meal at Zara Cafe (bream wraped in potatoes).
I can’t wait to return and enjoy more of this gorgeous island.
