The 5 Lands! - Cinque Terre (Part 2) - Lobster Spaghetti

This is a continuation of a series of posts about Cinque Terre.

Once we finally made it back to New Monterrosso al Mare we were a little tired but more than that, we were all pretty hungry. You see, riding in a rented Opel wagon and viewing so much great Italian scenery and then fearing for your life during not one but two nighttime World Rally Championship type hill climbs can build quite an appetite. So, after dropping our bags off at the Hotel Margherita it was off to look for a place to eat.

Knowing from internet articles, blogs and my traditional but life saving Fodor's Italy 2006 we had a good idea that when it came to food, Cinque Terre could be counted on for two things; great seafood and great local white wine. Well ladies and gentlemen, our first night in Monterosso al Mare and we all struck culinary gold. There are only around 20 restaurants in all of Monterosso so on a 4 day trip you might be able to eat in about half of them. We picked a good one the first night after not being able to eat at the restaurant recommended by the hotel due to this being their one closed night of the week. The place we stumbled across and into (literally) was called Ristorante La Cambusa which consisted of a small, traditional dining room with about 8 white table-clothed tables of varying sizes and a nice home like (if you happened to live in a small seaside town in Italy) atmosphere.

We scanned the menu quickly that our hostess/server brought to the table and picked out a local Cinque Terre wine called what else...Cinque Terre. This is the most famous and popular style of wine (light bodied white) in the area and is grown and produced from Bosco, Albarola, and Vermentino grapes from the local Cinque Terre co-op. The wine and a plate of jamon e melone (prosciutto and cantaloupe) arrived at the table and tasted amazing. We were then ready to order our main dish and luckily my parents, girlfriend and I all were looking at the exact same thing. Lobster spaghetti for two times two.

Let me tell you, until you have had really good and really fresh lobster spaghetti in the place it was meant to be served, you really have not had lobster or maybe I should go as far as to say seafood pasta of any kind. What arrived at our table approximately 15 minutes after ordering were two large 3 inch deep pans of lobster, olive oil, basil, garlic, fresh tomatoes and of course the ubiquitous spaghetti. We all just smiled and then proceeded to eat, drink, smile, drink, comment on the food (just enough to still be able to EAT) and feel that we had all had our best meal of the trip to Italy so far. The food and wine tasted so good together that we decided to eat the same meal again 3 nights later. It was not quite as unbelievable as the first taste of Cinque Terre wine with lobster spaghetti but still way up there on my list of memorable meals.

Next Post...Cinque Terre (Part 3) - The Walk of All Walks