Foodie Scientist: San Marino

Today, we decided to go to San Marino. San Marino is the 5th smallest country in the world, situated between the Emilia Romagna and Marche regions. We could see the Adriatic sea from the top of the San Marino. It was very hilly.

Because Bologna is not close to any coastline, we decided to try a seafood restaurant, called Il Piccolo. The restaurant is adjacent to a small hotel. The meal started with a complimentary glass of sparkling wine (maybe prosecco?). It was a warm day, so it made a nice treat. Because we liked it, we ordered additional 1/2 liter.

The appetizer was octopus salad.

Extremely tender octopus but it needed a bit more acid

This was followed by two pastas, gnocchi with shrimp and sushi (?) with salmon

The gnocchi was very well prepared. I tasted something like cumin in the sauce. I would say this restaurant is a bit more fusion style compared to traditional Bologna restaurant.

When I saw "sushi" in the menu, I thought sushi means raw. I guess "sushi" refers to a sushi roll. The salmon was wrapped by black pasta (I guess squid ink pasta?) and served with potato puree-like sauce. Perhaps the black pasta was supposed to be Nori (seaweed). It was an interesting dish.

The main dish was grilled branzino.

A very fancy presentation like California cuisine. The fish was very well prepared with crispy skin and the right amount of salt. The onion was way undercooked so that I couldn't finish it.

Desserts were my first panna cotta (with mixed berry sauce) since I came to Italy and poached peaches with Cointreau & pepper gelato.

I found all the deserts we've had in Italy were much less sweet than those I've tasted in the US. I really like it that way.

We were nicely full, and then the waiter brought complimentary after-meal-drinks. Not just one but two. One was limoncello and the other was the licorice-ish drink from the other night. And the portion was very generous.