Sicily Suggestions. Chef Condemns No-Shows. Critics & More.
Ellis nixes Singburi. Subbotin loves Heard. Rayner blesses Shwen Shwen.
It’s another Sunday in Sicily, and I’m writing this from a perch overlooking the azure Mediterranean. (Well, technically, it’s the Ionian Sea.) I can imagine Homer coming over the horizon in an oared galley, or Octavian’s and Marc Anthony’s fleets battling it out for the future of Rome.
It’s my first visit here, and I’m glad we spent as much time on the west side of the island versus the more commonly-visited east coast. The west was hot, barren, and felt North African. The east is more lush, cooled by the breeze blowing down through the Strait of Messina.
It’s a place to feel in touch with antiquity. Sicily still gives the impression of being as much Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Saracen as Italian. It has a complex relationship with Italy. The island’s leaders were vital in the unification movement in the 1850s and 1860s, and they became the ruling dynasty of Italy.
But Sicily retains its own identity. Not unlike Scotland or Wales, it’s part of something bigger — perhaps a little reluctantly — and could just as happily go it alone. (At least, in the minds of the people here.)
Which brings us to the food. Sicilian cuisine is not Italian cuisine. Its influences stretch across the whole of the Mediterranean.
So don’t come to Sicily and order what you might on the mainland. Seek out dishes with Sicilian ingredients or techniques that originated here. Be ready for prodigious use of North African spice, well-prepared, delicious eggplant / aubergine / melanzana at every meal, and mint from the hills in absolutely every dish. Embrace Sicily rather than Italy, and you’ll love it that much more.
A Few Sicily Recommendations
It’s our first trip, so I’m not going to pretend to be an expert. But I’m glad to share a few places that we liked, and one or two that we didn’t.
La Foresteria by Planeta. One of Sicily’s most important wine producers, Planeta also runs a handful of great places to stay across the island. My friend Abby suggested La Foresteria near Menfi for great food and excellent wine. We loved it. Although it’s slightly off the usual tourist track, I’m glad we got to visit that part of the island, and I was especially pleased that we got to visit the Greek ruins at Selinute as a result.
Tombolo at La Foresteria. Manna Noto in Lido di Noto. The most pleasant meal of our trip with great food, amazing wine, and the best service experience of our week. If you can find a way to get Manna into your itinerary, you should.
Nino’s in Taormina. Outside of the old town on a key “approach” street, its proximity to the bus station might put you off. Overcome your doubts and make your booking in person, as it’s hard to get one via e-mail.
Spaghetti vongole followed by Veal Marsala made Nino’s a favourite. Bam Bar in Taormina. Best granita in Sicily. Go anytime of the day for a cool, refreshing dip in a fun, convivial atmosphere.
The spleen sandwich guy in Vuccira market, Palermo. He doesn’t have a website. He just has great sandwiches. You’ve got to try it.
Sabbinirica à putìa d'ercole in Noto. The best lunch we had on our trip. It’s basically a deli with fantastic sandwiches, pastas, and salads in a shady corner of Noto’s main street.
Trattoria ''Fontana d'Ercole'' in Noto. Owned by the same people as the deli, they do wonderful, authentic local food on a lovely piazza in the bustling centre of town. But even on a busy night in the high season, the place was more locals than tourists. Star this one.
Cave Ox on Mount Etna. After a full day of wine tasting, our host delivered us into the care of the Cave Ox team for dinner. The best selection of Etna wines anywhere, and a terrace full of their makers, it’s a place to immerse yourself in the region’s best food and vino. Bring your sense of humour. You’re going to laugh a lot.
Didn’t Quite Measure Up:
Buatta in Palermo. It was supposed to be casual place to try Palermo-style street food. It felt more like Sicilian Wagamama. We had a few good dishes, but service was spotty and the vibe wasn’t great.
Osteria di Vespri in Palermo. Michelin-star pretensions, the attraction is a stellar list of Sicilian wines. Alas, the food didn’t quite deliver at the same level as the wine. We had a pleasant evening, but it’s not a place I could recommend.
No Shows, No Good
Anna Tobias is the head chef and co-owner of Cafe Deco in Bloomsbury. She contributes to a piece in the Telegraph last week where she details the challenges of no-shows, especially for a small restaurant like hers.
For small, independent businesses, too many or too few customers showing up for a booking can have a big impact, in different ways.
If you book a table of eight and turn up with six, we could have reconfigured and given that table to someone else. Or someone might have turned up hoping for a walk-in of two and we’ve turned them away, which is sad for us because it’s horrible turning people away. If the big table had just called and said, “I’m really sorry but we’re going to be six now,” it’s annoying, but at least you can reset the tables.
A table turning up with too many people is annoying in a different way. I think we’ve had a table of nine that has suddenly been 14, which is 50 per cent more. Sometimes there is just genuinely not the space. Meanwhile, the people on the table are starting to get annoyed at you for not having room. What are we supposed to do?
I have a hard time wrapping my around the no-show behaviour. How could anyone think it’s okay to tell someone you are coming to dinner and then simply fail to turn up? It just strikes me as utterly rude.
There’s also been this more insidious trend of people making multiple booking for the same night, then selecting one last minute. I have an instinct that restaurants charging for last-minute cancellations has helped reduce this practice, but I’m sure it still goes on. What’s the case for doing this?
It will surprise no one that I agree with Anna. My only small caveat: Restaurants are increasingly moving away from having phones. So it’s difficult to call to update plans when there’s no way to call. In that situation, hyper-responsiveness to e-mail is critical.
Critics Wrap-Up
✍🏻 indicates a review that you should read for the writing.
🍽️ indicates a place that sounds excellent and is probably worth a try.
David Ellis (Standard) tries formerly-foodie-heaven Singburi, which has moved from a Leytonstone front room to a Shoreditch restaurant space. “Rather than an intimacy with the original, whether you like Singburi 2.0 will likely depend on why you dine out. For food alone, it is a triumph. As a restaurant? A shitshow.”
Jay Rayner (FT) loves Shwen Shwen, a Sierra Leone-inspired place in Seven Oaks from Chef Maria Bradford. “For those of us long aware of Bradford’s work, this is the restaurant we’ve been waiting for. It’s a brave venture caught between the challenges of wanting to spotlight the still unfamiliar, but doing so in as relevant and, yes, familiar a way as possible.”
Lily Subbotin (Independent) reviews Heard, which I enjoyed a couple of weeks ago. It’s the new smash burger place from Chef Jordan Bailey. “The verdict? Yes, these burgers are exceptional; yes, the ingredients are top-notch; and yes, there is clear skill on display. But about halfway through eating, I realise a burger really is just a burger.”
Smash burger at Heard in Borough. I liked it. Gavin Hanly (Hot Dinners) checks out the Chilean cuisine at Mareida in Fitzrovia. “Opening a restaurant in London that showcases a cuisine that's relatively unknown in the city is hard, considering London is such a hotbed for worldwide cuisine. But Mareida does manage to add something unique.”
Alex Larman (The Arbuturian) raves about the Delamina Townhouse in Covent Garden. “None of this is fancy or obscure; all of it is excellent.”
Diane Morgan is the latest to review Gauthier, the vegan place in Soho, and has renewed the “celeb” review theme for the Observer. “It was wonderful to find a place that makes an effort to make vegan food a real event, even if it does have the sort of atmosphere that makes you feel the event in question is an airship disaster.”
Beyond London
Grace Dent (Guardian) is in Bristol to try Lapin’s, the French joint from
and team. “Lapin is a peculiar, meta, slightly earnest, definitely delicious French restaurant that you would never, ever find in France – not least because no one in France would be seen dead eating in an old metal box. But Bristolians are lucky to have it.”Charlotte Ivers (Sunday Times) ventures to Manchester and joins Thom Hetherington for a visit to Felix. “There are a bunch of these random Asian fusion elements in the menu — a side of broccolini later comes with white sesame dressing. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. Don’t ask questions. It’s camp!”
Giles Coren (Times) heads to Brighton to try the Gothic Crab. “Deep into your second bottle and smashing a huge crab with a sledgehammer like you’re putting in fence posts — parrot across the road shrieking at every blow — is about as much fun as you can have at the seaside with your clothes on. And the smashed-out white meat was terrific with the chilli sauce.”
William Sitwell (Telegraph) travels to Cambridge to try Margaret’s. “Crimes against tarts aside, Margaret’s food is seriously sublime — the cooking without fault, delivering well-balanced dishes and the finest cheffing nicely short of too many knobs on top.”
Tom Parker Bowles (Mail on Sunday) grabs the train to Liverpool to try Mowgli. “The food frolics and gambols across the palate, bright, vivacious and brimming with tang. Meaning you skip rather than trudge out of the door.”
Nick Lander (jancisrobinson.com) returns to Le Montrachet in Burgundy. “What both my guest and I found most disquieting about our visit was the lack of warmth at the reception; the offhand, almost cold, approach of the waiting staff; and the absence of any word of thanks – or even a bon voyage – from any member of staff at the end of a meal for which I had paid €313.”
- (Braise) goes full Neapolitan at Bar Del Monte in Washington, DC. “The ingredients on each are excellent, the proportions carefully balanced; these are no less impressive for feeling a little unexpected.”
Thanks so much for reading this week’s update. Please do subscribe if you haven’t already, and please share any of your favourite Scicilian spots in the Comments.
Sicily keeps languishing on my list of places to go but this gave it a much needed nudge.
Thanks for the reviews and recommendations Marshall - heading back to Sicily in October so you have whetted my appetite! :-) We used to go a few years ago to Duomo in Ibla Ragusa (they had an amazing lunch offer). Separately, there was a fixed menu place at the start of the food market in Ortigia - which we chose by sight looking at what they served. The market is over by 2 so an early slot gives you all the sights, sounds and smells!