This was my favourite of all the places we ate on the lovely island of Maretimmo. Having said that much to my annoyance I didn't get my arse in gear to make time for dinner at La Scaletta. So what do I really know - I think it would be worth a return visit just to Maretimmo just to sample a dinner cooked by Giovanni at La Scaletta!!
Anyway the Carrubo can be a little hard to find until you have found your bearings - Maretimmo is tiny and is formed of a handful of streets and it still took B at least 20 minutes to track it down!! However, once you find Al Currubo, perched at the top of the village it's all good news and happy days and nights. A lovely setting with a courtyard and a terrace with superb views out over the sea, on our second visit we had no choice but to sit in the fully covered terrace and enjoy the most amazing 3 hour electrical storm I have ever seen. Thunder, lightning and the most torrential rain I have ever had the pleasure to sit through - enough to send you scurrying straight to one of the many shrines which crop up all over the island!!
So to the food: I think it is safe to say that if you stick to the seafood and ask what is the freshest on the day you will not be disappointed. We had an antipasti of smoked tuna with parmesan shavings which will be on the menu of my final meal - just perfection. The taster antipasti would probably be a good way into this meal and was a fantastic selection which would be good to share with your partner unless you are very hungry remember this is a marathon not a sprint my friends!!
The Carrubo had been recommended for it's pasta and with good reason. I'd normally be a bit dismayed by a pasta menu which in fact was a small novel but every dish we had was really memorable. Spaghetti with clams was amazing: fresh, full of zing and velvety pasta which still had a little bite but even better was the local pasta with prawns, tomato and courgette which was one of those classic food envy situations - needless to say it had been B's order. If you are need of some meat I'd recommend a pasta dish with the local pork sausage which was excellent but really I would stick to the seafood .
For the main event I'd ask the waiter yet again, seems to be good advice all over Sicily as they love their food and will often frown when you choose something not fresh off the boat. However, the tuna and prawns seemed pretty popular on both occasions when we visited so are probably a good choice if your Italian is lacking or if you don't want to trust to the gods!! For a side I would keep it really simple and have a salad - these guys normally just have the fish course, or meat, pretty much on it's own, after all you have just eaten a big plate of pasta!!
If you make it to dessert then they have a fine selection of local cake and a really tasty canolo. I also seem to remember they serve a good coffee and grappa to steel you for the torrential downpour as you leave!!
Wine list was a good choice of regional wines and a few Italian classics at reasonable prices. For us Brits abroad an English menu was available and we seemed to get on fine with our very broken Italian.
The other folk seemed to be a mixture of locals on a family night out and foodie tourists from across the globe. We got into interesting conversations with a number of the people around us and it's obvious this place is held in very high regard. Staff are helpful and between us we had enough basic English/Italian to make ordering both an adventure and pleasure.
It's a real authentic Sicilian, they would probably take issue with being called Sicilian, restaurant with soul serving top notch food in a wonderful setting. If you happen to be in Maretimmo I would recommend you take time to hunt it down - I would be eating here every week if I had the chance!! read more
