Pignatta Rossa Artrattoria

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Walking through Albissola Marina you can breathe Art on every corner, from the Lungomare degli Artisti to the galleries of sculptors and painters that you find in every street. This small but charmy place is located on a  characteristic  narrow street not far from the sea and from the roman road Via Aurelia. On the walls, paintings and sculptures by local artists, such as Giacomo, husband of Tiziana, the chef of the Artrattoria who designed the tables dedicating them to great painters. An all-female management both in the dining room and in the kitchen welcomes customers with a smile and seduces them with Tiziana’s delicious and original dishes. The menu changes every month because it is linked to seasonal products and local fresh fish. In autumn, we starts with tataki tuna with beetroot and honey cream, or pumpkin and almond pulp or seared squid with seasonal vegetables (to taste). In the first courses, enjoy the exquisite fish carbonara, the specialty of Tiziana, or the orange-flavored salmon ravioli with salted ricotta. We continue with cod meatballs with zucchini or the redfish soup. Meat dishes such as deer roast beef and rabbit roll with hazelnuts and taragna polenta are two classic staples. Excellent choice also in homemade desserts. The wine list is curated with interesting proposals from the area and beyond.

Il Quadrifoglio

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Externally the restaurant looks like a typical small town diner, but upon entering the very large room, you will be welcomed by the owner with warmth and kindness and will find unusual and special dishes on the menu: breaded snails with hazelnuts on a leek mousse, egg cocotte with white truffle, spinach and cauliflower flan with fondue, hen salad with grana cheese dressing with a 50-month maturing (from 8 to 15 €). In the first courses, the appetizing oxtail ravioli, the delicious tortellini pasta with porcini mushrooms, the veroniche (typical piedmontese ravioli del plin topped with fondue) are mouthwatering, and the cappelletti with a double shrimp, (all for € 10). The latter are all to be tasted, starting from the crispy pork belly with prunes and the pheasant breast with chestnuts and mushrooms (from 10 to 15 €). The menu also offers excellent sea food, shrimp and octopus, very tasty especially when are cooked at low temperature. In season there are always mushrooms and truffles, coming in original combinations and preparations. To finish the homemade desserts like the double chocolate cake with sweet potatoes and pears, the soft meringue with cream and the classic tiramisu served in large glasses (all for € 6). Coffee is made with the mocha. The kitchen opens onto the dining room to give you a peek at the setting where the husband’s owner, chef Marco Moraglio works with professionalism and competence. The nearby motorway exit also favors a stop for those passing through.

Da Gin

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We are in Val Pennavaire, an oasis of greenery and tranquility, which leads to a cuisine based on Zero KM food, where vegetables are grown in the family garden and herbs are collected in the nearby countryside. The menu is strictly seasonal and served with an oil extracted with hard work from the steep terraces that separate the restaurant from the hamlet of Colletta, which is deservedly included among the most beautiful villages in Italy. The chef bears the name of a flower, Rosa, and is nice and skilled. After inserting vegetarian and vegan dishes in traditional inland cuisine, she has now launched herself with originality in the cooking with flowers. Rosa knows the right processing times, the correct quantity of iungredients to use and the appropriate combinations. You can choose à la carte dishes or the tasting menu, which often varies according to the season and the availability of the products. It also often organizes interesting themed evenings, with refined and light dishes. Here are some suggestions: the violet Asparagus with vegan violets mayonnaise; potato gnocchi paired with a nasturtium pesto; zucchini stuffed with calendula and geranium. Her husband Marino, who takes care of the cellar, works with the best selections of Ligurian production and also has 8 elegant rooms and a welcoming garden.

Osteria La Briga

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Although located in the municipality of Finale Ligure, Osteria La Briga is surrounded by the greenery of the Manie plateau, in a rural landscape where in summer you can enjoy the coolness, away from the beaches and the noises of the coast. Outside the tavern, under the trees, among the household artifacts made of wrought iron and straw, the wooden tables and the benches, illuminated by small lights, make the environment extremely pleasant and relaxing. The menu offers simple and genuine typical dishes, with excellent quality ingredients, mainly oriented on meat, but also on vegetables dishes. In the mixed appetizer we find the classic veal with tuna sauce, vegetable pies, Russian salad, etc. (14 euros). The homemade pastas, such as gnocchi with pesto, ravioli with sauce flavourings or with rabbit ragout are all mouthwatering (prices from 9 to 12 euros). Among the first courses delicious soups and Ligurian minestrone are also served (8 euros). Various types of grilled meat accompanied by roasted vegetables (rabbit, chanterelle, lamb, etc.) prevail from 17 to 21 euros. Excellent homemade desserts. Good choice of local wines, and a wide choice of craft beers. Ideal stop also for snacks and aperitifs, and for quick lunches. You can taste seasonal truffles and mushrooms as well. Young and competent staff, both in the kitchen and in the dining room, make your break comfortable with their sympathy and kindness.

Vino e Farinata

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Historic spot in the center of the city, where you can taste two types of “farinata”, a very special unleavened pancake of chickpea flour: the one made of wheat flour or the white flour one, as it is called in this area. Cooked in a tin-plated copper pan called “testo”, in a wood-fired oven, you can eat it only in Savona and in a few other places in Albissola, a few kilometers away, hard to find anywhere else on the Riviera di Ponente and Levante area. The white flour farinata is rigorously tasted with the cheese (fresh goat cheese) and the local black olives. Chickpea farinata is also served with many ingredients in addition to olives, with gorgonzola, rosemary, gianchetti (whitebait fish), spring onions. In this historical location you can taste first courses like legume or fish soups (4 or 8€), borage ravioli (8€) and gnocchi with pesto (7€), among the latter the typical stuffed anchovies (8€), seafood salads (9€), and sea bream “frisceu”, a local fish & chips dish (7€). Not only fish but also dishes from the Ligurian hinterland such as stuffed vegetables, herb pies, artichokes, “prescinseua” (variety of curd cheese with a consistency half way between  yogurt  and  ricotta cheese) of Genoese tradition (8€), and meat dishes. To finish, house desserts, such as chocolate pudding (grandmother’s recipe) and baked pears (all for 4€). Low prices and a relaxed atmosphere like a real trattoria, make it a very popular place for locals and tourists who want to taste the well cooked and genuine local specialties.

Paolo e Barbara

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Paolo Masieri defines himself as the “cook-farmer” because what you eat in his restaurant, from vegetables to fruit, oil and eggs, comes almost exclusively from the gardens of Castelvittorio and Ospedaletti which the chef personally takes care of. Each ingredient is selected according to the quality and season, impeccably and creatively cooked with the result of offering an exciting gustatory journey. The restaurant has varying menus, such as the “autumn evocation”, which varies according to season, at 110€, and the so called “garden vegetables and seafood”, which changes every month, at 78€, that gives you the opportunity to taste dishes such as pumpkin and ginger cream with marinated gobbetti prawns and summer black truffle scorzone, meatloaf in oil cooked with confit garlic, potato soup parmentier, Sanremo prawn steamed with salt, seaweed, pakchoi cabbage and mandarin, preboggion ravioli plin, razor clams, infusion of garlic, parsley and lime, SpaghettOro Verrigni with our bottarga and clams, in an enhancement of flavors that blend together while maintaining their own character. Well deserved the prestigious Michelin star that has recognized for 30 years the great professionalism of Paolo Masieri, who is passing his knowledge to his son Lorenzo to continue the legacy. The restaurant is located in a central street of the city. Barbara in charge of welcoming the guest, kindly and professionally help you in choosing the dishes and the wines to combine with the menus.

Ristorante Moisello

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In the valley floor of the Arroscia Valley, Ranzo is very green with the cultivation of olive trees and vineyards. The restaurant has an ancient tradition that two brothers, Ludovico in the kitchen and Federico in the dining room, have taken up for about three years. The cuisine is based on local products and on seasonality. In the dining room Federico welcomes customers with grace and kindness and always ready to “tell” the dishes with a smile. The environment is elegant and modern, very nice and well furnished. In the à la carte menu we find the appetizers, to taste the morsels with vegetables, made of seasonal herbs, soft and tasty, with tomato sauce with Taggiasca olives, the Genoese top with fried panissa and green sauce, wild boar paté or the octopus carpaccio (from 8 to 9 euro). Home-made ravioli, with pine nuts and thyme or braised gravy (10 euro) or chestnut gnocchi with pumpkin and fontina cheese (9 euro), and chickpea Zemin with pork steaks (8 euro). Following the real specialty of the house is the rabbit with olives and abundant Pigato, as per the grandmother’s recipe, really delicious (10 euro), or braised all’Ormeasco with crispy polenta (15 euros) or the original prawns in crust of coconut (14 euro). Excellent homemade desserts (7 euro). Good choice of local wines and more.

Agriturismo Rio Rocca

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A welcoming place with two rooms and thirty seats. Rustic and appealing furnishings with a beautiful stove and a stained glass window that conceals the kitchen. On the walls are displayed products such as preserves, vegetables in olive oil, pickled vegetables, oil and wine, which can be purchased even outside the opening times, by calling the owner Donatello on the phone, who with great sympathy and availability, will share his great passion for the following land products: peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, fruit used for the many and various home-made jams, olives and grapes, and, ever present in his garden, the Egyptian onion, now a must in the western Liguria and not only. In the kitchen his wife, tirelessly cooks traditional Ligurian cuisine with farmer’s products. These dishes are therefore prepared only with natural products, fresh and at zero km, cooked with simplicity, passion and that kind of delight for their authenticity and flavor. The full menu (we strongly recommend it) at 30€ includes 4 appetizers, 2 first courses, 2 second courses and dessert. However, you can reduce the number of courses by ordering only a first or a second course, spending 22 or 25€. Do not miss the farinata with the Egyptian onion, the frisceu, the ravioli and the gnocchi, and the ever-present Ligurian rabbit.

Le Teste di Rapa

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In the historic center of Asti, a restaurant with an unusual name, with a bright and welcoming environment and shabby-style furniture, enjoyable for both lunch and dinner. The cuisine is sincere and creative and the dishes are prepared with care and served with grace and kindness. The staff of the restaurant is all female, which already boasts a good loyal clientele. The menu changes every month with seasonal dishes suitable for everyone. Alongside traditional dishes we find creative and original proposals, among the appetizers (from 9 to 12.5 €) to try the Violet, red cabbage flan, brie fondue, chopped pistachios and crispy bread, or egg cooked at 65° degrees with taleggio cream, pear and cinnamon chutney, toasted walnuts and dehydrated pears. Among the first courses (from € 9 to € 11.5) the delicious ravioli stuffed with pumpkin sauce and crumbled amaretti or the lentil and squid soup. The Piedmontese sushi proposal is interesting, an interesting twist of flavors that is worth tasting. Among the main courses, meat or fish or dishes with seasonal vegetables (from € 15 to € 21). The desserts cooked with passion are all appetizing such as the Nuance, three nougat, hazelnut and chocolate mousse with hazelnut crumble and fresh blueberries, or the pistachio tiramisu cream, savoyard crumble, coffee cream. Selected wine list with local proposals.

La Cantina dell’Archivolto

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The Osteria dell’Archivolto opened in 1999 by the Papalia brothers offers an excellent Piedmontese cuisine in a family atmosphere. Since 2018, the “Cellar” has been opened, entrusted to a young yet experienced maître and sommelier, Orilia Luca, first maître of the 5 stars L hotel Miramare in Sanremo, and before that, second maître of Villa Crespi by Antonino Cannavacciuolo. The kitchen by mutual agreement with the tavern allows the cellar to present itself as a classy bistro, accompanying the wine with authentic delicacies. The wines obviously dominate the scene with over 1500 labels displayed through the modern and elegant rooms. Thanks to the “Coravin” system, you can enjoy glasses of different important labels without being required to purchase the whole bottle. The dishes on the menu change according the seasonality. The appetizers, like Spanish tapas, look really refined: meat, like Fassona minced beef with Roccaverano foam or foies gras escalope with caramelized black truffle; fish, oysters, stuffed anchovies, crispy shrimp cocktail or cod fritters. The restaurant has a special menu proposal for vegetarians with home grown vegetables. Breadsticks, brioche, focaccia and cakes are all homemade. Always impeccable service. The wines on the menu cover all price categories and the policy chosen by the restaurant aims to maintain reasonable prices and in a proper relationship with quality.