I recently shared my experience of the wonderful traditional Corsican meal I enjoyed at Le Rond Point in Porto Pollo. That was certainly a very memorable meal, however, I’ve been visiting Corsica for over 10 years now so, as you can imagine, I have had many unforgettable meals over the years and here are just a few of them that I hope will inspire you to make some special memories of your own.
A romantic evening on Calvi Citadel
I love Calvi and in particular, wandering around the streets of the citadel. There’s a handful of good restaurants up here, as well as a delightful Salon de Thé. I had a particularly special meal once at A Candella with my fiancé. We were staying at A Merula, where we had a lovely self-catering apartment set in beautifully maintained gardens. We tried somewhere new to eat every evening but it was our meal at A Candella that sticks in my mind. The menu was written on a black-board rather than printed, as it changed regularly, even daily, depending on what ingredients were in season or looking particularly good at the market that morning. My meal was superb, the company entertaining and the view over Calvi Bay as the sun went down, magical.
above: the view and below: honey roasted pork with a fig and muscat sauce served with mixed vegetables and herbed, roasted new potatoes, washed down with a Colomba beer.
Lunch with a view in the hill-top village of Pigna
This meal I enjoyed earlier that same year but this time I was alone on a photographic assignment. I stopped for lunch in one of La Balagne’s loveliest hill-top villages, Pigna, at the restaurant A Casarella. I sat there sipping a cool Pietra and tucking into crusty, fresh bread with some local cheese, pâté and fig jam (a perfect combination) while gazing at the view across the hillside, down to Algajola, where I was staying in a lovely hotel by the sea. I’ll always remember sitting there and thinking “This must be the best job in the world. How lucky am I!”
Probably the best Corsican salad, ever?
On a more recent photography trip, we had planned to grab a quick picnic style lunch at a supermarket we had noticed earlier that day near Olmeto Plage. When we got back there it was shut for lunch. Nearby was a row of restaurants along the seafront so we went to the first one we came to, Una Stonda, and I’m so glad we did.
I was looking forward to tucking into a delicious four cheese pizza, while my colleague ordered a Corsican Salad. When the salad arrived we were both flabbergasted. It was huge … cheese, cold cuts, walnuts, croutons, salad leaves, olives, tomatoes and herbs, drizzled in a little extra virgin olive oil. It was superb in both size and flavour! My pizza was great too but it was this salad that I won’t forget.
A chocoholics paradise!
On of my favourite hotels that I visited during my most recent trip to the island was the Hôtel Goéland. It’s in a fantastic setting, looking out across the Bay of Porto Vecchio. Having already looked around the hotel and met many of the staff earlier that day, I had a feeling that the dinner in their restaurant that evening was going to be good. I wasn’t wrong!
For a main course I had a superb risotto with baby squid. It really was delicious but it was surpassed by the deserts. My colleague had a lovely looking lemon tart with basil and strawberry. I’m pleased to say he let me try some and it was an inspired combination of flavours.
However, I’m a bit of a chocoholic so I ordered a chocolate pudding and when it arrived it looked exceedingly tempting. As my spoon broke into the sponge I almost squealed with delight, as thick melted chocolate, laced with a local liquor, cascaded on to my plate and started to mingle with the vanilla ice-cream. Possibly the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted and not something I’m going to forget in a hurry.
The post 5 Memorable Meals in Corsica appeared first on The Corsica Blog.