Eating focaccia in Italy is on my bucket list, so there was not a chance that I would be leaving Northern Italy without chomping on a soft, light piece of carb-infested focaccia. Next to gelato, it was the most talked about must-eat food. And I had already had plenty of gelato. Little did I know they would have something called farinata too. Bonus.
Though there are focaccia joints scattered all over Italia, when we selected La Cambusa in Manarola, Cinque Terre, we did ourselves good.
La Cambusa is a tiny, tiny restaurant that sells a small selection of pizza, focaccia and farinata. The perfect place for a quick bite as you are strolling through this quaint Cinque Terre town.
It was hard to choose, because my stomach was now growling and everything looked like it could make it shut up. Besides, at 1,80 Euro each, this was going to be the cheapest meal we had in Italy.
Farinata, a pizza made of chickpea flour, it a popular street food in Liguria. Foreign to me. Which meant, I'll take two.
It was golden and crispy on the top, yet moist inside. And only 1,00 Euro. Now that's how you eat in Italy on a budget. Almost better than the focaccia. Almost.
Pete stood outside while waiting for his pomodori focaccia, which only took two minutes.
Two minutes until pillows of heaven arrived, with a soft outer crunch.
After spending hundreds of dollars dining at some of the finest restaurants in Northern Italy, could this cheap-eat be the best meal? Quite possibly.
I came home and tried to duplicate it by creating this focaccia recipe. Really good, but just not the same.
What was your favorite food in Italy? Have you tried farinata?
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That looks sooo good. I'm really sad to say that I missed out on the focaccia completely while in Italy. I guess I was too busy eating 3-4 cups of gelato a day. Oops
Oh, well, must go back!
At least you had the gelato! My favorite combo was Pistachio and Hazelnut…dreaming about it right now.
Oh my goodness, that looks delicious! Foccacia is one of my favorite types of bread. Like Stefanie, I didn't eat a lot of it when I was in Italy (not sure why, I guess I just ate lots of pasta!), but I eat a lot of it here in Texas. Go figure! Next time I go to Italy, it's on my to-do list!
I am going to Texas for Thanksgiving, so I need to give their focaccia a shot
How to eat on a budget for sure!! Which flavors did you choose in the end?
We had one pomodori and a piece of Farinata…YUM!
pizza and pasta!!! these photos are amazing ~ they make me want to visit italy again!!
xx ~ ks
I’m lucky that I own an Italian restaurant so I eat pasta everyday, maybe that’s not so lucky for my thighs! But, I do miss the focaccia & gelato terribly!
It all looks so good. It would have been death by overdose on focaccia for me.
Bob and I ate those everyday when we were in Cinque Terre! They were delicious and super cheap. now i'm craving pizza!
Ha Ha!
I’m pretty much always craving pizza (or sushi)