kfusto

We are headed to Rapallo for several days in October and it has a been 9 years since I have been to Liguria. We plan to spend an afternoon and evening in Camogli while there.

I am looking for some options in both for lunches and dinner. We can also head over to SML as it is a nice walk or ferry ride.

Last trip we stayed at Hotel Europa and there was a restaurant just out the side entrance and to the right that was very good. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

We are not looking for views or Michelin experiences. Very fresh seafood and a pleasant ambiance is our preference. Outdoor dining is a plus.

Thanks for any recommendations.

neckervd

Outdoor dining in October? may be, if you are lucky!

kfusto

Last trip there was in late September and it was perfect weather. Nothing is guaranteed when it comes to Mother Nature but I would like recommendations in case we are fortunate with weather.

yorkshire

If you spend any time on this forum reading about Camogli, you'll surely come across raves for La Cucina di Nonna Nina
http://www.nonnanina.it/eng/il_local...asp?pg=3&ln=it
It is up above Camogli in San Rocco, and there is parking at the edge of town as well as a bus from Camogli (or SML)--or work off the calories in advance with the hundreds of steps up from Camogli! After lunch, make sure you walk along the edge of town to the overlook, which leads into Portofino national park.

In Camogli proper, I quite liked Osteria da Sigu, right on the water but surprisingly good given that location. More in my trip report: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...or-liguria.cfm

Rubicund

In Rapallo, I can recommend the Hostaria Vecchia Rapallo. The food is very good, but there is no outside space that I can recall. In October, you may not want it!

They have an excellent menu and wine listtogether with great service.

Rubicund

http://www.vecchiarapallo.com/

kfusto

Thanks for the responses so far!

stevewith

If you are going in the first part of October, check to see when the Salone di Nautico (boat show) is, because if it coincides with your stay you will need to make reservations at the nicest restaurants.

Any day the sun is out, it will be warm enough to eat lunch outdoors, and often warm enough to have an evening drink outdoors, and might even be warm enough for dinner if you bring something warm to put on.

It is very much worth the trip to go to Chiavari, which is just 10 minutes south of Rapallo on the train. In particular, you should sample farinata at Luchin in the centro storico. (It is closed sundays). You can also get a very homey, classic lunch in the enoteca associated with Caffe Defilla in Chiavari. Eat your lunch and then relocate to the cafe next door for exceptional sweets and coffee. Or walk across the street to Bocchio for even more exceptional sweets and coffees. The walkways of the entire historic center of Chiavari are covered with porticoes, so if it is raining, it is a good excursion. All this is fairly inexpensive.

If the weather is nice, you can take a bus from Rapallo to the town of Ruta and either walk 30 minutes on a flat road or hop another bus for 5 minutes to reach San Rocco di Camogli to eat at La Cucina di Nonna Nina, which is expensive. After, you can walk down the stairs to Camogli (30 minutes), see the tiny town, and catch a train back to Rapallo. (The stairs are lit at night, so you can walk down after dinner, but then you miss many of the views.) You can also eat extremely nice inexpensive sandwiches in the small bar in San Rocco just a few steps beyond Nonna Nina.

If you'd rather not eat in San Rocco, you can have fairly nice fish at La Rotunda and enjoy a lovely sea view even if it is not raining. They have a particularly good lasagna al pesto as well. It's not exactly cheap, just typically overpriced for the pretty view.

The best deal on the lungomare is a Breton creperie that serves up crepes filled with salads, topped with an egg if you like, or stuffed with small baby octopus and potatoes, or fresh fruit. It has a handful of tables, and a great view. It costs less than 10e to eat there.

Rapallo has the best gelateria in the area (Frigidarium) and, near the bus depot that is opposite the train station, there is a branch of Tossini, a bakery chain from Recco that specializes in focaccia col formaggio. It needs to be eaten hot, and is generally only freshly made around 4-5pm, so if you are in the neighborhood....

It is easy to get a taxi in Rapallo to take you to U Giancu, a highly regarded places in the hills that serves a lot of vegetable dishes.

Rapallo has a number of extremely good places to pick up roasted chickens and other "deli foods", and has some excellent cheese stores as well, so in addition to its extremely pleasant morning market, a picnic meal can be quite good. At the cocktail hour, if the weather is nice, it can be great to have a glass of wine at the Cantina d'Italia and watch the evening passeggiata.

If the ferries between Rapallo and Portofino are still running when you are there in October, it is nice to ferry into Portofino and walk back to Santa Margherita Liguria (which has some excellent food shops right in the middle of town, on the street that peels off the main church, which is not on the waterfront).

But if super-touristy Portofino doesn't appeal and you enjoy uniquely beautiful walks and views, then take the 5 minute train ride to Zoagli and walk along the sea on a nice day. But you will need climb stairs to get back up to the train station.

If the day is perfectly clear, it can quite nice to take the cable car In Rapallo straight up to the mountain sanctuary above the town, with views in every direction. There is a restaurant up there, about a 10 minute walk beyond the church, but you should ask your hotel to find out when it is open in Oct. if you plan to eat up there.

kfusto

stevewith, wonderful detail and thanks for taking the time to post all of the info.

Have been to Portofino twice and zero interest in a return trip. Have also been to SML so really appreciate the suggestion of Chiavari for something new and different.

La Cucina di Nonna Nina has a very nice menu but the friends we are traveling with will be looking for more value so I will continue to look for more reasonable options in Rapallo so that everyone can enjoy.

Thank you again!

stevewith

You can try O Bansin in Rapallo, and they might have some garden seating, but no sea views.

http://www.trattoriabansin.it/

Generally speaking, if you are looking for fresh seafood, it is very pricey. Nonna Nina's prices are not out of line for the area. Fish prices are set by co-operatives, by law. There is not a lot restaurants can do to get the price down other than serve lesser quality fish, or move away from the sea views to keep their real estate taxes down! Mussels, anchovies, squid, tuna and swordfish are locally caught and can represent better value that some of the smaller mediterranean whole fish that are line caught, or langoustines (scampi) which are also hand harvested and a specialty of the Portofino area. Octopus is a specialty in pretty Sestri Levante, and the Cantina of Polpo Mario in rustic cooking.

http://www.cantinadelpolpo.it/

In October, porcini mushrooms are a local specialty and are very good, and so are pastas stuffed with greens and served with walnut sauce. Minestrone or stuffed vegetables is what the locals eat. Sample the flavors of the sea in a pasta dish rather than order a seafood entree. If any in your group would like to make a lunch of a big French'type salad, you can get that, outdoors with a sea view, at La Primula in Camogli.

Just in general it is hard to come by good food in an outdoor setting with a view along the Rapallo waterfront, especially if you are trying to stick to a budget, and it is true of the neighboring towns as well. The better strategy to keeping everybody cheerful about "il conto" is to plan to relax with an afternoon gelato or wine in view of the sea, but look for charming restaurants like Luchin in Chiavari away from the sea views. Take a seaside walk before and after a meal rather than pay for the view while eating.

If the weather turns really raw while you are there, Luchin in Chiavari cooks with a centuries old wood burning oven that is open to the seating areas.

kfusto

My initial post stated that views are unimportant so we are not looking for sea views while we dine. We can enjoy those all day and do not need to pay more for a view with dinner.

One of my most memorable meals in recent trips to Italy was at a very small osteria on a back alley in Orvieto. The sign was actually a piece of 8.5 x11, handwritten and taped to a wall. The interior of the cafe had just a few tables but the owner took one outside and set it up for us. We had an exquisite lunch which we had him choose for us: sausage made with grapes, pigeon prepared in a bolognese style sauce over handcut chitari pasta, grilled eggplant drizzled with nutty olive oil, and a wonderful rabbit dish. We polished that off with 3 bottles of Ripasso Valpolicella (4 of us), some cheeses the owner shared with us, espresso to wash it all down and had a fabulous afternoon. That is my idea of a perfect way to spend time in Italy!

I do look forward to the porcini mushrooms we have so enjoyed on previous trips to Italy in October. And octopus is a favorite.

Enjoying some seafood with pasta is actually exactly what we are looking for. We live in FL and enjoy fresh fish all year long. Much more interested in shellfish, calamari, polpo, seppie and even eel if we can find it.

Luchin sounds just right.

Thanks again.

JoyC

Bookmarking....we will be in the area for a week next year and I appreciate the restaurant recommendations.

Thank you.

stevewith

Sorry I missed it in your first post that you weren't looking for views. I just saw "outdoors". There are not all that many places where there are outdoor tables unless they are on the waterfront. One or two places in in the centro storico of Rapallo line up a few tables outdoors, but the alleys of the centro are mainly too narrow for tables big enough for serving full meals. Nonna Nina has a garden, but that is unusual. Luchin puts communal tables outside with benches if it is warm.

You will not find eel in Liguria. Anchovies are very much worth exploring. If octopus is a favorite, then the 15 minute train ride to Sestri Levante is asbolutely worth it. The main restaurant of Polpo Mario there sets up for outdoor seating on warm days. In Camogli, the restaurant Da Paolo makes an excellent seppie pate, an almost addictive dish. It's a local specialty of Liguria, but Da Paola's version is head and shoulders above the rest. (They also make a standout shellfish risotto, but otherwise their food is nothing special and it is not cheap.) If the weather is good, Da Paolo will set up 3 tables in an alleyway that are very charming. But they are totally in shade, so bring jackets if it is cool that day.

Some local lingo:

Totani -- a large calamaro
Moscardini -- baby octopi
Triglie -- local small red mullet, either used for ragu or mixed in with other fried fish
pasta alle scoglie -- ragu of mussels, clams, cockles, other things that cling to rocks to live

Beware the local "shrimp" (gamberi) are more like locusts with very hard spiny shells and not much meat.

Just to clear up any possible confusion, when I mentioned pasta dishes with seafood, as a cost saver, I was referring to dishes like ravioli filled with branzino, or a spaghetti frutti di mare or with a mullet ragu, rather than ordering pasta al pesto for a primi followed by a separate seafood secondo .

In most of the towns between le Cinque Terre and Genova, a multi-course meal like the one you ate in Orvieto with wine is going to run you about 70 euros person if you are substituting fish for the meat, and that without a view. (The only meat worth eating in Liguria is rabbit if you like it, and it will cooked with olives and onions, and usually only found in restaurants in the hills).

But if you like adventure, take a long walk from the sea in Rapallo, toward the base of the hills, and explore the busy, untouristy streets beyond the train station, headed up toward the autostrada. Look for the trattorie with handwritten menus and daily specials. Go into some of the local fish markets and ask who serves the nicest fish and pasta in town at a fair price. But ask in more than one shop.) I've heard I Portici in Chiavari is very good for whole fish if that is what you want. It is really annoying to pay top euro for fish and have it overcooked. If you are in a inexpensive place not known for its excellent fish preparation but you want a seafood secondi, it can be better to order a platter of mixed fried seafood ("alla paranza") for the table, because the catch of squid, mullets, anchovies and a few crickety'shrimp will be fresh and can stand up to a bit of rough handling.

JoyC,

If you are going to be a week in the area you should buy a copy of David Downie's Food and Wine of the italian Riviera.

kfusto

Thank you again. Sestri Levante has been on my list for a while and it sounds like the perfect opportunity to check it out.

BTW, I did interpret your comment about having seafood dishes incorporating pasta as you meant it but thanks for checking

julia1

Making me hungry Bookmarking.