[Dec. 2024] On the day we arrived in Sorrento in southern Italy, it was 4pm, which was an odd time, but we were hungry, so we searched for restaurants that were open.
Fortunately, a nearby restaurant, Il Leone Rosso, seemed to be open, so we called to confirm.
There are many cases where the information on the Internet differs from the reality.
It was a three-minute walk from the Airbnb where we were staying.
It was a fairly large restaurant.
We entered just as a family had just finished their meal, and we were the only customers at that timing.
For the starter, we shared Calamaretti Fritti (fried squid), and for the main course, we both had Scialatielli al Frutti di Mare.
Scialatielli is a type of pasta unique to this region, and is a heavy, handmade udon-like pasta.
It looked like two short pieces of spaghetti stuck together.
The filling was all shellfish, such as mussels and vongole, but the sauce was delicious.
The bread served was the type which was baked on a hot stone and very good.
The wine was a sparkling version of Falanghina.
It was quite yellow in colour.
For dessert, we tried the special here (I forgot the name), but it was a failure.
At first glance, it looked like a donut, but it was just sweet and had little flavour.
All in all, it was a reasonable €71.
On the receipt, the name of the restaurant was written in English, The Red Lion, and it sounded like a pub, but it was a proper restaurant.
After the meal, we took a short walk around the town of Sorrento after it had gotten dark.
For a small town, the Christmas decorations were quite grand.
It was a rainy day, and the ground was wet, so the big Christmas tree was reflected on the ground, which looked quite impressive.
By the way, this restaurant was conveniently located and the food was good, so we went there a total of three times during our stay.
The second time we mainly ate shellfish, and the third time we finally got tired of seafood and ate meat.
This restaurant also had a wide selection of meat, and I ate lamb, which is not often seen in northern Italy.
It didn’t come with mint sauce, so it was a bit disappointing, though.
Many locals came to this restaurant, but it seems to be in the guidebook, so there were quite a few tourists there as well.
By the way, there is a cafe in the same chain nearby, and when we were there, my husband said, “we ate at Il Leone Rosso last night.”
The cafe staff looked pleased and gave us a discount.
It was unusual to use the word Attenzione (meaning take care or pay attention) to mean “I’ve added a bonus,” but apparently this is the common expression around here.
