The best way to explore Sicily’s history and mosaic of cultural influences (alongside its layered architecture and enthralling rituals) is with the palate. Thousands of years of conquest and occupation left its culinary mark on this sun-bleached island, from Spanish chocolate-making prowess (pinched from the Aztecs), and North African couscous and chickpea recipes to the ancient Greeks’ vines and olive groves. Sicilians are fiercely proud of this jumbled culinary heritage, and unique dishes and rituals they can call their own: caponata, busiate al pesto trapanese, pane e panelle fried chickpea sandwiches, the irresistibly simple pasta alla norma, sweet granita and brioche breakfasts.
One of the joys of exploring the island’s slow food scene via your stomach is the high-low approach to eating here. A hole-in-the-wall style café with makeshift tables can rustle up good honest Sicilian food as exquisite (if not more so) than the Michelin-starred hotspots. Sicily’s age-old, raucous markets are dotted with vendors selling delectable morsels of fried anchovies, hefty, gooey-inside arancini and other island delights – all showcasing this collision of cultural influences, as well as the volcanic soil’s enviable bounty and coastal plunder. The food is often paired with a dramatic setting: cantilevered over a cliff edge an inky, menacing silhouette of Etna, in an uplit, lair-like Hyblean mountain cave, spilling onto a beach with intensely turquoise shallows. From understated, plastic chair haunts that lure in the foodie pilgrims to high-octane theatrical affairs that elevate the island’s enviable produce to alchemical heights, here are the best restaurants in Sicily.
Zash Boutique Hotel and Spa, Etna
The easy-going, unpretentious spirit of this Etna hotel belies its gold-standard gastro form. Fleshing out the hauntingly pretty skeleton of an old palmento (a wine press carved into black lava stone basins with old millstones), Zash Boutique Hotel and Spa’s restaurant sits under a grand peachy house, all blistered by the sun and brimming with tales from its noble past. The food here is in its own giddy league, with Chef Guiseppe Raciti winning Zash its Michelin star in 2019 for his experimental spins of Sicilian classics. A balance is struck between the fussy, frothy, perfumed drama associated with Michelin-starred haunts and the pared-down Sicilian classics that let the spanking-fresh ingredients lead the way. Whether opting for the chef’s tasting menu or à la carte, every plate feels like a little artwork – from the olive, anise and fennel bread staggered on podiums to the sweet finale (expect imaginative combinations such as a honey milk and hay pudding). The chef’s signature uovo poche croccante may sound basic, but only a master of the culinary arts can poach an egg to perfection and then wrap it in a thin coat that cracks like the top of creme brulée. The baccala (salted cod) in rich, red sauce with capers and pistachio is best eaten at a snail’s pace to relish every mouthful, washed down with Etna wines.
Address: Zash Boutique Hotel & Spa, SP2/I-II, 60, 95018 Riposto CT, Italy
Website: zash.it
Ristorante Locanda Don Serafino, Ragusa Ibla
As is so often the case in Sicily, the setting here is as haunting as the food – film-set worthy, in fact. Occupying an uplit, vaulted cave (once stables for the church) in Ragusa Ibla’s old town, Locanda Don Serafino’s restaurant is a five-minute shuffle down several steep streets from the Baroque town’s small-but-mighty boutique hotel. You’re in the foothills of the Hyblaean Mountains here, where the air is cooler and the houses more pastel-fancy and Hans Anderson-esque than the resplendent honey-hued Baroques. Long hemmed by the trailblazing Chef Vincenzo Candiano, Locanda Don Serafino is one of those Sicily restaurants that will print itself indelibly to your mind, an experience that transcends the food with its brooding, lair-like setting, balletic waiters and serious wine cellar (over 200 labels) honouring the island’s vines. Signature dishes include black spaghetti with sea urchins, ricotta and cuttlefish and a ravishingly good pork-belly secondi; polished diners can choose from three tasting menus, all elevating the island’s enviable produce without feeling too overpowering or molecular. And once you’ve rolled your eyes in rapture at the solid then, abruptly, molten Modica chocolate pudding, edge into the cigar lounge or nurse a Tasca D’Almerita red on a terrace wrapped in cashmere and flickering lanterns.
