Saturday 16 November 2024
Determined
to see something of the town in the dark today, we adopted a different
strategy. A late rise, no breakfast. Lady P for a long hill climb and Flashy to
relax. Then at 11.30 am a walk in the once again, glorious sunshine (but 9C)
down to the seafront for a stroll, look at the little market and buy some of
the town’s world famous focaccia from Revello’s. They sell it hot out of the
oven in slices and the crowds line up out in the street. Even now in the off
season, the locals and visitors alike queue up for this delicious treat. While
Lady P joins the queue, Flashy sneaks off for a double gelato. There is just
enough left for her when she emerges with the bread.
Down
to the fishing fleet anchorage and we spy a boat selling fritto misto from the
back (aft deck). So, for €12 we get a cone filled with fresh prawns, fish and
calamari. All lightly coated in flour and fried. Bloody delicious! This we had
sitting on the dock of the Bay, with a cold Moretti beer and some of the warm
focaccia, in 13C sunshine. Hard to believe it is almost winter.
Now
for phase two. At 4.00 pm we rugged up and went back down to our favourite bar
overlooking the sea and watched the passing crowd. Interestingly, the mob
looked Italian. Listening to them talk, it was indeed Italian. Many greeted
each other like neighbours. So, our conclusion is that the throngs of people
promenading, were indeed locals. We were the interlopers. A very relaxed and
lovely people watching hour or so.
As
the sun set, our table was in high demand. They were lining up to swoop if we
stood up. A nice duo began playing. Frank Maiello, a popular busker was playing
two metres from us. We reckon he looked like Tas.
By
now the lights were on. We’d never been out this late! 5.30 pm, my goodness.
Our dinner booking is for 7.30 pm, so home for the gin medicine and to stay
awake so we can go out again!
Dinner at Izoa Ristorante was excellent. It seats about 18 inside and too cold for their outside tables. It was fully booked with locals (except us). The chef is the waiter’s brother and she informed us that he had spent a year in Sydney at a flash restaurant and it showed. A strong French influence in his cooking.
We
settled on a bottle of Allessandro Viola’s, Sicilian white wine. Catarratto and
Carricante grapes from certified organic farming and good acid. A bit spicy
too. Oysters, fried stuffed anchovies with tzatziki and a braised suckling pig
with burnt Belgian endive and plum and port wine sauce as starters. You can see
already he’s moved away from traditional Italian cuisine but kept the local
ingredients.
Mains
were an amazing spaghetti with sea urchins for Lady P and a piece of pan fried
amberjack fish with clams, kale and almond sauce for Flashy. The food was very
good. The wine matched perfectly.
Italians readily admit that they really don’t do dessert. Menu items are pretty ordinary and
short. Nonetheless, we opted to share a pistachio and white chocolate salted
caramel. Pretty stunning execution and delicious. Who could then resist a limoncello
digestif?
We
made it to 9.30 pm!
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