Naples Best Place to Eat
One of the most utterly fascinating places in Italy
“ He who doesn’t love Naples, has yet to learn how to love life. Anonymous
Getting to know Naples also means being attracted by the strong tastes of its cuisine. To most foreigners "Italian cuisine" is a synonym of Neapolitan cuisine. Its main ingredients are fruits and vegetables from the countryside such as tomatoes , eggplants, garlic, onions, oregano, olive oil, aromatic herbs and home-made bread.
The principal protein source is seafood including clams, mussels, octopus, squid, shrimp, and a wide variety of locally caught fish. The bland Mozzarella cheese obtained from buffalo milk is renowned all around the world.
Naples is the proud birthplace of pizza: halfway between refined cuisine and traditional working-class meal, Neapolitan pizza became one of the main dishes and a symbol of Neapolitan cuisine in the 18th Century. It was finally consecrated in 1889, when the famous pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito offered it to the Queen Margherita di Savoia. The recipe the queen liked best was topped with mozzarella fiordilatte, tomatoes and basil, later named Pizza Margherita in her honour.
If you wish to taste a good Neapolitan pizza head for:
- Pizzeria Di Matteo - 94, via dei Tribunali tel. 081 455 262, closed Sunday
- Pizzeria Da Michele - 1, via Cesare Sersale tel. 081 553 9204, closed Sunday
- Sorbillo - 32, via dei Tribunali tel. 081 446 643, closed Sun. You could also grab a good pizza from one of the many street-side stalls, eating it folded into quarters
If you want to taste traditional Neapolitan home-cooking, head for:
- Cantina della Tofa - 71, vico della Tofa tel. 081 406 840, closed on Sunday
- La Vecchia Cantina - 13/14, via San Nicola alla Carit tel. 081 552 0226
- Cantina della Sapienza 40, via della Sapienza tel. 081 459 078, open for lunch and closed on Sundays
- Il Castello 38, via Santa Teresa a Chiaia tel. 081 400 486
- La Stanza del Gusto 21, vicoletto Sant'Arpino tel. 081 401 578, or 348 339 6161, closed on Sundays
- Da Umberto 30, via Alabardieri tel. 081 418 555, www.umberto.it, closed on Mondays
Besides the thin crusted, oven-fired, tomato and cheese delight we call pizza, the primary focus of most Neapolitan menus centers around fish. Moreover, many seasonal pastries are able to satisfy your sweet tooth!
Neapolitan favourite main courses are:
- Mozzarella in carrozza, a slice of mozzarella cheese pressed between two slices of bread, dipped in beaten eggs, coated with breadcrumps and fried in hot oil
- Spaghetti "alla puttanesca", spaghetti seasoned with olive oil, red pepper flakes, minced anchovies, black olives, rinced capers and tomatoes
- Spaghetti and clams, seasoned with fresh clams in shells, fresh cherry tomatoes and parsley
- Pasta e patate con provola, obtained cooking short pasta with diced potatoes, fresh cherry tomatoes and smoky provola cheese
- Paccheri ai frutti di mare, flat pasta seasoned with seafood, fresh tomatoes and parsley
- Impepata di cozze, mussels cooked in their juice with lemon, parsley and black pepper grains
- Baccalà alla napoletana, salt cod with tomato, black olives, raisins, pinenuts, capers and garlic
- Minestra maritata, a winter dished obtained seasoning scarola, chicory, fennel and celery with pecorino cheese and pancetta
- Polpi affogati, baby octopus cooked in boiling salt water, olive oil, tomatoes and hot pepper
- Peporoni imbottiti, or red and yellow bell peppers stuffed with anchovies, breadcrumbs, black olives, capers and garlic
Neapolitans like the taste of good mature cheese: have a try of the strong flavoured scamorza, uncooked kneaded-paste cheese, available smoked or stuffed with vegetables, or caciocavallo, half-cooked kneaded paste cheese.
If you have a sweet tooth don't miss the classical:
- Pastiera Napoletana, Easter pie filled with ricotta cheese flavoured with candied fruits, cinnamon and orange blossom essence
- Sfogliatelle ricce, crunchy pastry shells filled either with ricotta cheese or with pastry cream
- Struffoli, sweet fried dumplings massed into a cone and held togetherwith honey
- Babà, also known as "savarin", a mushroom-shaped piece of grown paste, soaked with an orange flavoured mixture of rhum and water
- Zeppole di San Giuseppe, puffy pastry fritters filled with cream and topped with a cherry
Every meal should end with a coffee and a so-called "ammazzacaffè", after dinner liqueur such as the renowned limoncello, obtained infusing lemon skins into alcohol.
Wines
The best wines to accompany your meal are:
- the Lacrima Christi, obtained from the golden grapes riping on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius
- the Falanghina, grown in the Campi Flegrei area
- the sparkling white Gragnano of Sorrento
Restaurants
- Lombardi a Santa Chiara - 59, Via Benedetto Croce
- Ambrosino - 49, Via Scarlatti
- La Focaccia Express - 18, Vico Belledonne a Chaia
- Amici Miei - 78 , Via Monte di Dio
- La Taverna Dell''Arte - 1, Rampe San Giovanni Maggiore
- Ristorante Bellini - 79, Via Santa Maria di Costantinopoli
- Brandi - 1, Salita Sant''Anna di Palazzo
- Excelsior - 48, Via Patenope