Ciotola Pizzeria, Ragusa - Review

I have new favourite pizzeria! There are loads of places to get a good pizza around here, they say Sicily is second only to Naples when it comes to pizza and I have had some great ones in the few years I have been here but since I tried La Ciotola for the first time a couple of months ago, it has shone through above all others.

From the word go I was keen on the decor, a real mix of styles, perhaps they weren't going for quirky but that is what we have. Over sized objects, 1950s red bench seating, ceramic ducks, there's a lot going on... and basically, I want all of it in my house.

The pizza menu offers a rather different selection of pizzas from the usual. Over the last couple of months my friends, colleagues, boyfriend and I have managed to work our way through a good portion of the choices and we have yet to be disappointed. Fabulously crisp bases, just as they ought to be and beautifully cooked on top with extraordinarily delicious, fresh ingredients.

My favourite pizza so far has been Donna Sicilia, which is tomato sauce, mozzarella, fried aubergine pieces, olives and ricotta salata. It's just perfect in every way. Whether you prefer meaty toppings, fish or vegetarian, all tastes are catered for, whatever you choose, you are in for a treat. And, if you don't feel like pizza, there is also a restaurant menu which changes regularly with the seasons.

On my last visit, we also had a mixed fried fish and seafood platter as a sharing starter, which was absolutely delightful. Beautifully cooked, perfectly seasoned. Just great.

I can also recommend the restaurants selection of desserts... particularly their boozy choix pastry concoctions.

(Above: Group shot of my friends and I enjoying La Ciotola)

There is a good selection of wines but on a couple of occasions we have simply opted for a litre of the local red, which has always been satisfactory.

Getting a good pizza in Sicily really isn't difficult, in fact, you would probably find it more difficult to find a bad one. That said, I really feel La Ciotola has something special to offer. Also the staff are fabulous, there is one waitress in particular who is possibly the most bubbly, positive and attentive member of service staff I have come across since I came to live here - a very wonderful woman. One of the things I love so much about Sicily is the pride people take in their work and this is really evident here, the fabulous waitress and if you watch the guys in the kitchen, making the pizzas, even when they are cleaning up at the end of the night, you can see that they really care about what they do.

Not at all expensive either.

Top marks!

La Ciotola
Via Archimede, 23,Ragusa

L'oste Del Borgo, Modica - Review

Today I made my second visit to L'oste del Borgo in Modica Bassa. My first was some time ago with my friend Lucy, who sadly no longer lives in Modica, so today I decided to suggest somewhere different to Totó for our special lunch (today is a public holiday in Italy and therefore an opportunity to slot some extra time together into our very busy lives), so we wondered through a very crowded Modica, filled with lots of people enjoying the Chocolate festival, which has been going on all weekend (very entertaining and enjoyable it has been too).

The restaurant is in one of the side streets, a very pretty little stairway, just a few minutes walk from the main streets in the centre of Modica Bassa. It's a pretty place with lots of interesting decor and local artwork.

There is the option to have four courses (either a fish menu or a meat menu) for €25, we decided to opt for this option today and had a few fish choices to select from. A lot more food than we would ordinarily order but the price was good, my previous visit had been grand, it was a festival day and, well, why the hell not?

For our antipasto course, we ordered a dish of Polpo é Patate (Octopus and Potato) and Baccalá (Salt Cod) to divide between the two of us.

The Octopus and potato dish was beautifully delicate, used a good olive oil, a little lemon juice and, my favourite ingredient, saffron. While the baccalá provided us with a fuller taste, crispy batter and a wholesome, homely feeling. A lovely start.

We both opted for the same primi, a seafood ravioli with the meat of small crustaceans that have a similar taste to the sweetness of lobster.

Fabulous handmade pasta, stuffed with lovely fishy meat and served in a fragrant broth with the beautiful sweet meat. An absolute delight. And served with a nice little batch of focaccia bread.

Then on to our main courses, Totó opted for Pesce Spada (Swordfish) Palermitana with a tomato and caciocavallo cheese from Ragusa. While

I went for Ricciola (Amberjack) pieces with a typically Sicilian, orange and fennel salad. Totó's dish was well cooked, tasty and the cheese on the salad was amazing but I think i definitely made the right choice. My char-grilled fish was so, so tasty and the salad was a refreshing accompaniment. By this point we were both feeling pretty full, we made good attempts to finish both dishes, tried each other's but neither of us were able to completely empty our plates, so much food!

After a short, much needed break, we ordered dessert. A mixed chocolate plate in honour of Modica's famous chocolate.

We were treated to a gorgeous piece of Modica chocolate, a refreshng jellified chocolate pudding, one of Modica's traditional mpanatigghi - a pastry filled with chocolate and meat, yes actual meat! They are a delicacy around here, however, Totó had to eat both of ours due to my abstinence from meat. And finally, a wonderful, yet potent shot of chocolate liquor. Totó order a second lot of dessert, it really was THAT good!

Slightly unusual for us to opt for the house wine but we did just that this afternoon. And a litre of lovely local insolia left us lavishing in peachy tasting goodness. A great decision.

A fantastic meal, such good value, pleasing atmosphere, jazz playing softly in the background and friendly service with a smile. Just perfect.

L'oste Del Borgo
Scalinate di Pozzo Barone, 30
Modica

Pasticceria Chantilly, Modica - Review

A little break from the usual reviews of bars and restaurants to talk about a lovely little pasticceria in the centre of Modica Bassa.

At Chantilly you can find a lovely range of cakes and biscuits, as well as Modica chocolate and a variety of local liquors and wines. Always beautifully presented and freshly made on the premises, whatever you choose, your sweet-tooth is sure to be delighted.

In the warmer months, you will also find a small selection of home-made Italian ice cream and some frozen desserts.

This weekend we celebrated Totó's 40th birthday with a little dinner party at home. While I love cooking, I'm not hugely into baking so Chantilly was my first choice of where to order a special cake for a special celebration. The lady in the shop was so accommodating, chatty and helpful. We agreed on a lemon cake with cream and for the decoration to include a picture of a camera, since Totó is a photographer.

So Saturday night arrived and after our dinner, the cake was served along with some celebratory champagne. Fabulously decorated, the birthday boy was incredibly happy with the design. When we tucked in, all of the group were thrilled with the lovely, moist, lemony taste. A triumph!

The cake was ready 24 hours after I ordered it and cost just €17 for a cake that could easy feed eight people as a dessert.


La Pasticceria Chantilly
Corso Umberto I, 76, Modica

http://www.pasticceriachantilly.org/

Domus - Modica Bassa - Review

Today's lunch has been a firm favourite of mine for a while but was the first time Totó has visited Domus in Modica Bassa. I have been many times with friends and family and have yet to have anything less than fantastic experiences in the dining room. Domus opened some months ago, I was pleased to hear that the former chef of a restaurant I had once regularly frequented (but had gone downhill since his departure) had opened a place of his own. The Venezuelan family who own and run the restaurant have never failed to be anything other than extremely accommodating and hospitable and the food has always been of the highest quality. We are very fortunate in Modica, in that we have a plethora of fine places to eat but Domus offers something quite different to the other places in town.

Situated close to San Pietro on Modica's main street, Corso Umberto, Domus is a rather small but subtly elegant restaurant decorated in brilliant white and has a small outside eating space for the summer months.

The restaurant always serves warm, fresh home baked bread in various flavours, today we were treated to foccacia baked with rosmary, bread with porcini mushrooms, mini dough balls and bread with cumin and dried fruit. We ordered an appetiser of calamari served with puréed potatoes, it wasn't the first time I had had this dish and, as it has always been previously, it was delicately flavoured and just enough to whet the appetite.

For our main course, we both opted for grilled sword fish, served with prawns and (more) calamari with a side order of potatoes baked with paprika. It is precisely this type of main course which makes Domus different to the other places to eat in town,

it is less wholesome, traditional Sicilian food and more of an exoticly spiced, experimental dining experience. The huge slab of sword fish was cooked to perfection and the large prawns and calamari offered something tantalisingly tasty in between mouthfuls of the main part of the meal. Served with a tomato salsa and a creamy dip, the spicy paprika potatoes were just the perfect accompaniment to this lovely main course.

We usually opt for Sicilian wines but today we decided to go for a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc on the recommendation of our host. Los Vascos is a sharp tasting white that was able to cut through the spices and various fishy tastes perfectly. A great choice to go with our meal and a wine we will both endeavour to drink again in the future.

No dessert at the restaurant today, as I was a good little Sicilian girl this morning and popped out to a pasticceria for us to have something sweet once we returned home. That said, I have had dessert a number of times at the restaurant before and can highly recommend the chocolate fondant or the raspberry and prosecco jelly. My fellow ex-pat and former colleague Lucy and I have regularly talked each other into having a dessert here and marvelled at how cheap the bill would be in light of the quality of food we had experienced... if this restaurant were in our native England, neither of us would be able to afford to eat there, we are talking serious quality for a very low cost.

Very highly recommended for anyone visiting Modica, I will probably see you there!

Domus Restaurant and Grill
Corso Umberto I, 156, Modica RG

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Domus-modica-food/470829306382743