Catania Food Part 1 - Osteria Antica Marina

Our first meal in Catania, Sicily. We took a 2 hour ferry from Malta, and drove about 200km to Catania. More on different parts of the trip later. Let's focus on food first.


This restaurant was not in our pre-planned choices. We couldn't find a parking space, and ended up parking near the famous Fish Market. This restaurant is situated in the fish market itself. While dining inside, you can see the bustling sight of the fish market. Sadly, we arrived pretty late, ended with no pictures of the fish market as the fishmongers were already packing up.

We chose this restaurant based on google map and reviews. Let's get to the ambience of the restaurant. It is a small and cosy restuarant, with around 10-12 tables (square table for 4), very Sicilian decoration. There is a small display of fresh fishes as usual, and a large selection of antipasti for you to choose and take. They charge according to what you take.


They have menu in Japanese and English/Italian. At that point, I was a little skeptical as I was told before best local food will only have menu in their own language. We went on to order Small Fried Squid for antipasti, Squid Ink Pasta, Sea Urchin Pasta, and Grilled Sea Bass.

Small Fried Squid was really good, crispy and chewy. Even my grandma took a few more bites of it. Mind you, my grandma is 80 year old. This is definitely worth ordering.

Squid Ink Pasta was nice too. It wasn't too thick or strong in taste. Spaghetti was cooked to Al Dente perfection. I could taste the freshness of the dish. However it still didn't beat the one I had in Malta. Still worth a try though.

Sea Urchin Pasta was awesome. I could taste sea urchin and light gravy balance out the taste really well. I would go for this the time I visit again.

Grilled Sea Bass was really fresh, but nothing fantatic to me. If you are a fish lover, go ahead and try it. Personally, one try is enough for me. This size of the fish is good enough for 2 to share.

Overall, this restaurant has nice good. It does get a little pricey with the fish though. Our total bill for all these came up to 95Euros, with a bottle of still water, no wine for 4 person. The fish itself cost around 56Euros. Be prepared to spend some money if you are going for fish.

Location:
Go to the fish market and you will find it at a small corner.

Credit: Google Map

Stay tune for part 2 coming up on 3rd December.