La Bottega Di Vulcano - LIPARI

There are quite a number of restaurants and cafés in Vulcano, but for one reason or the other we ended up in La Bottega when we stopped over here during our one-day excursion to the Eolian islands. And it was an excellent choice! La Bottega is located in the main street only a couple of minutes both from the harbour and the famous mud baths. We sat on a nice, shaded terrace with lots of plants. The owners were very friendly, and the service fast and attentive. The food was delicious, as was the wine. We had Grillo by the glass, and for starters we ordered neonata (a typical Sicilian speciality of small fried fishes) and carpaccio of (cooked) pesce spada. For the main course we had pesce spada Eolian style and a spicy Sicilian sausage respectively, everything just perfectly prepared. And all at a very moderate price.

The Caprese worth €10 cosisted of 4 thin slices of mozzarella and a few thin slices of tomato. I had a parmigiana which was lukewarm (as literally all dishes were made with fish, I only ordered a side dish). I sent it back to the kitchen, where it was microwaved and brought back, hotter, but only on the outside (was still lukewarm on the inside). My boyfriend had a plate of linguine with tomato sauce, which was okay for him.

Had the pleasure of eating in this fine little establishment. Service was very good, staff very pleasant indeed. Swordfish cooked to perfection, well done. I wish you well.

We had spaghetti with squid ink, very tasty, on the salty side, linguine with musles, garlicy but amazing, stuffed calimari, just amazing, served with caponata, even more amazing, parmigiana, great and authentic. At the end they offered a Malvasia (sweet wine) and sesamini biscuits, which was a great touch. We spent 50 euros, which given the quality felt well justified. Recommended and we are likely to go back there soon!

Simple but very tasty Sicilian cuisine; good and fresh fish well cooked, very kind waiters, very good value for money, very kind waiters