Delicatessen, Ragusa - Review

Thanks to my lovely friends living in Ragusa, I recently discovered this fabulous little gem of a place.

Half-deli, half-canteen style eatery, Delicatessen is a great place to stop for a bite to eat, day or night. You can enjoy one of the great freshly made sandwiches which offer plethora of fillings on a variety of breads or one of the homemade hot dishes from the kitchen, which includes pastas and soups with fresh, seasonal vegetables. There is a lot on offer here for vegetarians and vegans, with clear indications of which dishes are suitable, something which is still rather unusual in Sicily.

The decor is very modern and stylish, you could be forgiven for thinking this place might be better suited in one of Barcelona's fashionable districts or Manchester's Northern Quarter and so on.

Yesterday, my friend Emily and I popped in for a spot of lunch.

We both opted for sandwiches. Mine was mackerel with lettuce and black pepper while Emily went for prosciutto, mozzarella, tomato and pesto. Both huge sandwiches arrived after a little while and we delved in with eager anticipation (and significant hunger). The mackerel was a delight, really fresh tasting and beautifully seasoned. Emily thoroughly enjoyed hers and despite us both having started to feel quite full before finishing, we both made sure to finish every last bit in acknowledgement of such extreme tastiness.

(Pictured is Emily with her sandwich)

We have both had different sandwiches from here before and due to the high quality and wide variety on offer, we have challenged ourselves to try a different one each time.

The café offers a great selection of fresh juices. On this visit I went for a large glass of orange, carrot, celery and ginger which was revitalising as well as incredibly tasty. Emily had her usual glass of apple and pineapple, a favourite that never disappoints her.

Also on offer is a good range of local wines, ideal for evening visits.

You can also visit the deli where local cheeses, meats and fresh vegetables, along with a variety of specialist local produce is on offer.

The staff are incredibly friendly, though the service is true to the slow-food philosophy, so it is best not to go when you are in a hurry, as I have previously learnt from experience.

Slow service aside, it really is a treasure of a find, great food, great atmosphere and great times.

Delicatessen
Via Archimede 32-34, Ragusa

https://www.facebook.com/DelicatessenRagusa

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

Mezzaparola, Donnalucata - Review

On Sunday evening, my lovely boyfriend, a local Modican man, took us out of Modica to Donnalucata for some moonlit seaside strolling and a romantic dinner for two. His location choices have never once left me disappointed.

There are two parts of Mezzaparola, a lovely little cocktail bar and just a few feet away, the restaurant.

Initially, we decided to go to the bar for an aperitivo. The bar is a lovely little spot with a great outside seating area, as well as a modern but comfortable interior bar, it's really pleasing on the eye. We sat outside and the first thing I noticed was the bossa nova jazz playing in the background, it was the perfect soundtrack for a relaxing seaside evening drink, it finished off the perfect ambiance of our gorgeous surroundings.

I moved to Sicily three years ago and since then, I have tried in vain to find a place were I can get a decent version of my favourite cocktail, the mighty Bloody Mary. Most places simply do not serve them, despite our lovely crops of tomatoes here in Sicily, drinking their juices is seemingly something of a taboo. And when I have managed to find somewhere willing to serve one, well, that desired kick is just not as forceful as it ought to be. So, when I saw Bloody Mary on the cocktail menu on Sunday, it was with slight trepidation that I ordered my long-lost favourite tipple (imagine my surprise when my boyfriend ordered one too!). It arrived garnished with cherry tomatoes and basil and the first sip told me all I needed to know, that familiar firey thrill on the tongue. Oh such pleasure! Finally! Finally! A Bloody Mary on the island I now call home. I think we can all sleep a little easier now I know where to go to get my fix.

We ordered some fishy snacks which arrived promptly and were beautifully presented. Being fully satisfied by our experience, we decided we would go for a little stroll by the sea and then hit Mezzaparola Part II - The Restaurant.

The restaurant too has a lovely outside seating space, it was a lovely evening with a warm breeze so we sat in the little garden along with a handful of other diners.

The menu was filled with enticing fish prime (first courses, usually pasta) and seconde (second courses). I was immediately drawn to the Spaghetti alla Bottarga (tuna roe) and after much deliberation, my dining partner went for the same. The dish was stunning, delicate flavours with fantastic fresh pasta. Honestly, one of the best pasta dishes I have eaten and that's a lot of pasta after three years in Sicily. We ordered a second course of tuna with onions and a tomato sauce to share, by this time, I was already feeling quite full but I was so pleased we did order it, the tuna was so tender and the onion and tomato sauce a joy to the palate. If we can describe food as beautiful, this certainly was.

We drank a bottle of Murgo from the Etna region of Sicily which accompanied the meal perfectly. Crisp and with flavours sharp enough to exist next to the lovely fish dishes. A strong choice for anyone looking for a wine to serve with fish.

The service was professional but friendly and I could see our fellow diners enjoying the experience as much as we did. Prices were reasonable given the enormously high standard of everything we tasted.

I can't wait for our next visit. It's an evening to remember for a long time to come, wonderful food, awesome drinks, great music and the company of the man I love... perfect!

Mezzaparola
Via Martiri D'Ungheria 2, 97018 Donnalucata