lo scoglio

just the other day i was trying to think of an english equivalent of a third generation family-run restaurant serving the freshest fare from farm / fishing boat to table and i couldn't. to us, this was hands down the absolute best restaurant we'd the privilege of dining at in the south of italy. loved the kelong feel of scrubbed wooden beams perched over the beach as the tide came in. really homey and authentic, and a surprisingly well-heeled crowd for the casual setting. it's fairly priced and not surprisingly, diners come by the droves in their boats during high season. the lady running the show was the entirely delightful antonia who is palpably passionate about the food. she's beautiful, with the kindest face and warmest smile. i've not been so taken by a complete stranger in a while and she was effervescent and welcoming, sort of like a hug personified. her dear granny started the restaurant in the 60s and has since handed the reins of the kitchen to her grandson (antonia's brother) and the restaurant floor to antonia. antonia explained that her father is a farmer and the vegetables they serve were from his farm. we were hankering after the sea urchin linguine but alas the sea was too choppy that morning and her fishermen were unable to bring some back. such is their pride that they will not serve day old sea urchin. it's either caught that day or not on the menu. antonia recommended the zucchini pasta which had my normally anti-veggie husband swearing like a sailor with pleasure. that was some magic pasta!

and a deck ready with chairs to stave off the food coma. how thoughtful! throughout lunch we saw people wander on and off from the restaurant for smoke / iPad / company breaks.

we visited on easter sunday and were served the traditional easter bread with hard boiled egg (with shell!) embedded in the bread. anyone care to shed some light on why? we surmised it was something about jesus in the tomb. probably miles off!

life-changing zucchini pasta. sounds so ordinary but i'd make the mister drive 90min from sorrento in a heartbeat just to have another taste of this insane goodness. mind blown.

as we were leaving, we'd a little chat with antonia and it turned out where we were staying next was where she and her husband went for their first date. if such a capable restauranteur picked that for her first date, we knew we were on to something good :) lo scoglio also has simple rooms (she could just have been being modest!) and part of me wished we could've stayed on just to have dinner there, and lunch the next day too.