For me one of the cool things on travelling and heading out in different countries experiment and experience on whatever food there is to find.
Sure I can do food runs here in my city as well, but the food trends in different countries are often a lot more different than in your hometown. And I mean... vacay is also about having a good time right?
Fish Tataki of an unknown fish on a crispy bread with a sweet sauce and dille
For me food experiences are a big part of that. It is too big to say that I build my trips around food, but hey...maybe I am building my trips around food. At least, it is a part of the day searching for the good stuff.
The more cool it is when you actually find a place where the food turns out to be awesome!!
Eating at the bar
I really suck in making reservations at places actually and I start to think on where to go when I start to get hungry. In a lot of countries this is a huge mistake and everything will be reserved and full and you have to change the plans 5 times.
Especially when you coming in by boat and the timing is sometimes a bit off, you are really not thinking about food before arriving back on land.
When walking from the harbor in Santa Teresa up towards the town (the harbor was actually fantastic and sheltered from the Northern mistral winds) we decided to head to the restaurant called PeMa and walking in quite naive but still early on the night.
People tend to eat late in Sardinia, but when the boat is all tied up....I am ready to start the food hunt because eating while sailing is often forgotten.
Eggplant with safraan goat yoghurt and pine nuts
After giving the memo that we had no reservation and a bit of a naive look by the host, luckily there were two spots to eat at the bar.
And actually I couldn't be happier. Because eating at the bar is often also your ticket to peek in the kitchen and that was also the case here.
The kitchen is the real show
The bar in front of the kitchen was literally the station where all the starters were made just right before my eyes in a super controlled manner. I'm always super intrigued on how the dynamics in a kitchen are as it always tends to be a super structured and organic well oiled machine.
Nobody looks stressed, there is hardly any communication going on. But all the logistics make sure all of the dishes are pumped up in exactly the second they should be.
Ravioli from pumpkin and pumpkin seeds and whipped butter with baked sage
Now all of this were still only what the kitchen looked like and how the food looked like, but these flavors? Wow...the pictures don't do justice on how awesome these flavors actually were.
And the portion size? More than reasonable. I love smaller portions so you are not stuffing yourself but getting a chance to taste more of the dishes.
All the tables were packed, the place was vibrant, the staff was fun and the food was awesome especially in combination with sitting in front of the kitchen and seeing how everything is made.
Yeah PeMa was the true surprise and it was more than luck that there a spot for us to sit and eat as I can imagine in high season it will not work like this.
If you are in the North of Sardinia, why not take the detour towards here!