My Slow Burning Life: LUNCH AT A SEASIDE COCOON

domenica 8 gennaio 2012

LUNCH AT A SEASIDE COCOON

There is something liberating about the sea in winter. Bracing wind, empty beaches and long stretches of sand peppered with shells and shiny stones which beg to be picked up and pocketed. Its always hard to turn back towards firmer ground, so what better then, after stretching your legs and working up an appetite, than to find a fish restaurant such as the Riviera Mare perched right on the water's edge, with views along the beach.

The unassuming exterior of Riviera Mare, situated towards the far end of Riccone, belies a warm, cocooning interior, much welcome after the excesses and disappointments we experienced along the coast of Rimini. White and light are the key words here, with helpful staff and a high standard of cooking. In fact, even if you are not a hearty walker, the restaurant offers the perfect vantage point for watching others walk their dogs, which is of course almost the same thing as doing it yourself which in turn perfectly sets you up for eating a large lunch.

Here fish is definitely the order of the day, with starters such as melt in the mouth tuna and salmon carpaccio which make you feel virtuous, but beware the first courses are particularly tempting and can lead to corruption of all your new year's resolutions. Freshly caught fish cooked in a variety of ways provide a delicious second course. The wine list holds its own, and should you just feel like having a coffee rather than munching your way through the menu, the staff are happy to comply.

At the Riviera Mare Giancarlo Tirotti has created one of those rare seaside restaurants - relaxed yet sophisticated, which makes you feel at home as soon as you walk in through the door and whose food lives up to the promise of its decor. It will be interesting to see if he manages to repeat this success with his new venture the refurbishment of the Washington Hotel, which is due to reopen down the road under a new name but with his management in 2012.