Great Value Wholesome Lunch @ Ristorante La Scogliera Manarola on 19Apr2014

seafood spaghetti in tomato sauce

seafood spaghetti

was raining in the morning & mid day on 19.4.2014. we were not able to take the sentiero azzurro (blue path) which is the coastal route no. 2 trek from monterosso to vernazza.

we were early in apr so not quite the peak. there was still some crowd, and later commotion when someone was apparently pick pocketed. some friends went later in may & commented that the cinque terre trains were late but our experience with it was good, fortunately.

we took the train to manarola. the views were excellent but again the sentiero azzurro (blue path)trek between manarola & vernazza was closed.

manarola was a tiny place so we had lots of time & decided to take lunch there. ristorante la scogliera manarola prominently displayed its 4 trip advisor stars. must say we were not disappointed. indeed cheap & good! 🙂

Ristorante La Scogliera Manarola.

Ristorante La Scogliera Manarola

restaurant was pretty crowded. we were early so we were able to get a table after few minutes before the queue formed up.

seafood spaghetti in tomato sauce

seafood spaghetti

the lunch specials were all about 10euros & 11 euros, and the menu dishes not far off. my seafood spaghetti was about 11 euros, and it was really good very tasty dish. 🙂

grilled octopus

grilled octopus

grilled octopus

grilled octopus

al the grilled octopus we had at lake como restaurants & at miky monterosso were all good, and so was this & it’s just 10 euros.

plate of mussels

plate of mussels

this my idea of eating mussels – wholesome, hearty, a large pot or plate & very reasonable prices (& not the meagre 4 stuffed mussels at miky). haha. i think also around 10 euros. 🙂

scampi pasta in tomato sauce

scampi pasta in tomato sauce

my daughter ordered the scampi pasta in tomato sauce. and they really do their tomato sauce pastas very well in all the restaurants we’ve been, very flavourful & great taste of tomatoes. 🙂

this definitely a lunch place i would recommend for all visitors to manarola. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Squid-ink Seafood Spaghetti

squid ink manila clams with squid spaghetti

squid ink manila clams with squid spaghetti

reserved the squid-ink pouch in the freezer when i was cooking a grilled large squid. there was also a defrosted squid in the chiller & couple prawns which needed to be used before the head turned black, so decided to cook squid-ink pasta. this my first attempt. 🙂

squid-ink seafood linguine

squid-ink seafood linguine-added 24.10.2014

i used the squid-ink from 3 squids, from the large one & 2 medium ones.

squid-ink linguine with clams & squid

squid-ink linguine with clams & squid – added 24.10.2014

squid ink manila clams with squid spaghetti

squid ink manila clams with squid spaghetti

squid-ink linguine with clams & squid

squid-ink linguine with clams & squid – added 24.10.2014

as usual i browned a whole bulb of garlic cloves in olive oil over low fire, and set aside. i seasoned the prawns & squid in 1 teaspoon fish sauce & white pepper. i added 2 teaspoon butter to the pan & turned to high fire till it just began to smoke, then i added the squid & prawns & cooked to about 90%. i removed the squid & prawns & added back the garlic olive oil & added 1 chopped chilli padi and the squid ink. then i added white wine & 1 teaspoon sugar & reduced.

meanwhile i boiled some spaghetti till just before specified time (just before al dente). i added back the squid & prawns & then the spaghetti, off the fire & tossed.

it was a really good squid-ink pasta, really tasty. i would say matching in taste the squid-ink pasta at al borgo. well almost la. haha! 🙂

c.h.e.f andy