i Tre Merli Ristorante Porto Antico, Genoa, dinner

Menu from a dinner at i Tre Merli Ristorante Porto Antico, Genoa, to sample the local cuisine of the Genoa province:

Cheese focaccia and farinata (traditional chickpeas pie)

Troffie avvantaggiate (Trofiette handmade pasta with Genoese pesto, potatoes and green beans)

Baked sea bass alla Ligure (with potatoes, Taggiasca olives and pine nuts)

“Sacripantina” cake (Genovese sponge cake layered with Marsala wine and cocoa butter cream)

i Tre Merli, a restaurant in Genoa’s Porto Antico, or old port, is a spot for rustic traditional food.

They have this great pizza oven right near the entrance where you can watch the chefs labour away at making the breads and other things.

As an introduction to Liguria and the cuisine of the area, it was great because it had so many different items on the menu that were rooted in tradition. The trofie al pesto avvantaggiate for example, a pasta with pesto, beans and potatoes, couldn’t be more local.

Then there was the Sacripantina, which I vaguely recall having a story that’s associated with pirate. I think.

My favourite thing though was perhaps the farinata – lightly fried and crispy, they were great as snacks to tear away at. They were even better when dipped into a saucer of fresh pesto.