Ristorante Bagni Fegina, Via Fegina, Monterosso

Ristorante Bagni Fegina, Via Fegina, Monterosso
Thursday 14 September, 2006

After a day of walking (well, throw in our long lunch and it's all good) we decided to have a quiet night at the local ristorante just down from our hotel. It started to rain as we walked towards the entrance and by the time we were seated out on the enclosed balcony it was bucketing down. The sound of the rain on the canvas roof was comforting.

This family run restaurant is quite special and the brothers run the floor. They entertained us all evening with their dinner recommendations and quirky use of English. To start with I ordered the melon wrapped in proscuitto that was fresh, light and delicious.

The perfect main was my fish ravioli - I had wanted to try this throughout my time in Italy and this seemed like the best place. When it was delivered to the table I automatically asked for parmesan cheese and was politely informed that I should taste it first before putting any cheese on. I obliged and tasted it - WOW! It was superb and I ate one ravioli before putting any cheese on (the cheese is just so good here - that you immediately want to put it on everything).

My dinner buddy ordered a pizza with gorgonzola, parma ham and chilli. It arrived at the table with a puffier base than most of the pizzas we had seen and was absolutely delicious. We couldn't fault the food at all.

The most entertaining part of the evening was the fact that we had locals sitting on either side of us that seemed to be captivated by everything we said, did and ate. We have no idea why we were so entertaining but each couple kept smiling and laughing at us.

We asked our jovial waiter for a recommendation for dessert and he steered us towards the chocolate mousse and a nip of grappa - OK, I'm up for anything. The chocolate mousse was a terrible disappointment, it was made with gelatin so had that jelly like taste to it (just wrong). The grappa however was fascinating. I've never had this before but it tasted like rocket fuel and must have been at least 50% alcohol (one sip was more than enough for me).

We had a great night at Bagni Fegina and thankfully, the rain had eased as we left so we were able to stroll back to hotel to crash.

Ristorante Bagni Fegina - Via Fegina 11, Monterosso - T: 0187817474