Focaccia with cheese in the making, Restaurante i Tre Merli Porto Antico, Genoa

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i Tre Merli Ristorante Porto Antico, Genoa, dinner

ByQin Xie 15/04/201518/03/2016

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)

Chef at oven, Restaurante i Tre Merli Porto Antico, Genoa

Ligurian breads, Restaurante i Tre Merli Porto Antico, Genoa

Trofie al pesto avvantaggiate, Restaurante i Tre Merli Porto Antico, Genoa

Genovese sea bass, Restaurante i Tre Merli Porto Antico, Genoa

Sacripantina, Restaurante i Tre Merli Porto Antico, Genoa

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.

Qin Xie

Qin Xie is a London based food, wine and travel journalist and trained chef.

When not infiltrating Michelin restaurants as a kitchen tourist, she writes about food, drink and travel. Her work has appeared on Yahoo, FT, The Times and CNN.

Her first cookbook, co-authored with YS Peng at Hunan Restaurant, is out March 2014.

According to friends, her watch is always set to UTC -- ready for the next big adventure. In reality, she is happiest at the dinner table or by the sea.