Portovenere Restaurants

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This local restaurant might not be "haute cuisine" but it serves stunning local dishes in a relaxed atmosphere. We were sent there by a local - and it is always a good sign if the locals frequent a restaurant in a tourist area - my experience was spot on - stunning pizzas, some great local beers and wine, funky music and a relaxed and low key atmosphere. A hidden jewel - and if you are here in Portovenere stop by - you won't regret it!

Located by the marina of Portovenere, la Taverna di Venere specialises in Ligurian cuisine with an emphasis on seafood. My travel companion and I chose this restaurant randomly among numerous restaurants around the marina when we stopped for lunch while driving along the coast of Liguria. The food was tasty and portions were rather large. Prices were quite elevated, but equivalent to all the restaurants in this area.

We enjoyed some nice focaccias at the first café of the row of restaurants on the street by the shore.

Focaccias are a typical Italian kind of sandwich, very tasty. It is similar to bread but it is warm and it has olive oil. Also coffee here is very good, as it is in most Italian cafes.

The great advantage of this café is that it has outdoor tables near the marina providing a nice view while you enjoy your food. Also it is very pleasant to sit in the tree’s shade on hot summer days, as was our case.

Given the locality of Portovenere, it should go without saying that you will taste some of the best seafood in your life here! There's no restaurant I can single out to be honest. If you're going to spend a few days in Portovenere, the best bet is to just walk along the harbour at night and read the menus out the front of each place (there's not a huge amount of restaurants to choose from). Most of them have the set Menus (1st and 2nd courses), at reasonable prices. The seafood risotto here is the best we've ever tasted. Even the wines are great too - there were a couple of nights we kicked back - relaxed - and had a couple of bottles while soaking up the ambience of this magical little place.

Favorite Dish: The seafood risotto!!!

It's such a brand new pizzeria that they haven't a card yet but the pizza is good and the service more than friendly (they also charged my mobile as there were some problems with the battery on the boat...)
and... :-) as one of the fresh dessert of the day they had made what we in Italy call "crema catalana" (Catalan cream) which is not so easy to find...

also the friendliness of the waiter (and maybe owner?...) make it special: it was an habit to have in this coffee bar breakfast or a hot chocolate with cream after a sailing under the rain but since the very first day the person I mentioned let me use the bathroom (without having to order) whenever I needed... I know I should not mention this with food but when the harbour bathroom are being cleaned and you have to board the boat (without bathroom) for the day ;-)...

If you take its card it says: "yummy Ligurian cooking" and my anchovies in lemon, my trofie (typical Ligurian fresh pasta) with prawns and atichokes, my anchovies flan and my tart with cream and berries, all watered (not exactly the right verb... lol...) with local white wine and a bier like aperitif were yummy!!!
at the end of the evening the lady cook offered us for free her homemade cherries in alcohol.

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I was in Portovenere once in 1994 driving to Spain and Portugal and my budget was shorter that time then even you can imagine hehe. So I ate sandwiches made by my wife (delicious) there.

But next time I will try to taste more:
http://www.trattoriatretorri.it
http://www.ristorantedelpescatore.it
http://www.lalucciola.cjb.net

Good apetite :-)))
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Favorite Dish: Sandwiches made by my wife :-))