More Fabulous Dinners in Cinque Terre

Now that we've broken the narrative with our timely Halloween party in Singapore, let's take one more side trip before we start our exploration of Sardinia.  We need to cover an important Cinque Terre topic, dinner (there are so many great places, but we can't seem to leave Monterosso).  We eat really well and each meal is a culinary adventure.  

It's worth raving again about our first night's dinner at Il Casillo:  lemon anchovies, stuffed anchovies, and the Casillo special:  penne with tomatoes, olives, and white fish.

Il Casillo special (we are going to try this at home)!

 Here's a few more fabulous dinners from this trip.

Al Carugio (down an alley in Monterosso old town) -- the owner's son isn't working this night, but swings by the restaurant and recognizes us from the previous year.  Last year, the proud father shared pictures of his six month old daughter in the sea in her floaty with dad.  This year he shares new pictures and then heads home for a family dinner.  With all the people they see, we are recognized from past trips in several places -- how many places can do that?  Here, many!  But, back to dinner at Al Carugio:  pulpo frito (fried octopus), salami and cheese platter, pulpo presse (pressed octopus - a regional specialty), trofie pesto, and house white wine.

 Pressed octopus and trofie pesto

Outside seating, pitchers of local house wine

La Cantina di Miky, twice this time.  We come back to La Cantina every trip and often dine inside, but this time we wait for an outside table (both inside and outside are great, just different):  Tapas plate, grilled whole sea bass, pasta with anchovies, roasted tomatoes, capers, olives, and pine nuts.  And, while we waited in the street for a table, they brought us a bottle of wine and hung the ice bag on their sign.

  Pasta and sea bass

 Tapas plate, wine while waiting

Ristorante Moretto:  Trio of anchovies (lemon, fried, stuffed), seafood risotto for three.  Every year we come back here for the risotto at least once (and sometimes more often).

 Seafood risotto

 Anchovy appetizer and outside seating

L'Ostoria, twice, a new restaurant find for us (recommended by Anna at Villa Steno):  salami with pecorino, pulpo (wow, a whole octopus), branzino (with potatoes, olives, and tomatoes), mussels in white wine with lemon, ravioli with branzino and shrimp in fish sauce, gnocchi with pesto, trentino with olives and tomatoes.

 Mussels, Gnocchi pesto

Octopus (a real treat for an octopus connoisseur)

Branzino

 Ravioli (with branzino and shrimp), trentino with olives and tomatoes

What great food, if we could only have every meal here!  Just another reason why we keep coming back year after year.