Warm seafood salad, Palmaria, Portovenere

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Palmaria, Grand Hotel Portovenere, dinner

ByQin Xie 17/04/201518/03/2016

Menu from a seafood-centric dinner at the Palmaria restaurant of the Grand Hotel Portovenere, Portovenere:

Warm seafood salad (with octopus, tomatoes and salad leaves)

Pasta with octopus and tomato ragu

Grilled prawns with chard and tomatoes

Light mascarpone cream with coffee biscuit and cocoa (a sort of deconstructed tiramisù)

Pasta with octopus ragu, Palmaria, Portovenere

Grilled prawns with chard, Palmaria, Portovenere

Light mascarpone cream with coffee biscuit and cocoa, Palmaria, Portovenere

I stayed at Grand Hotel Portovenere and ended up dining there at some ridiculously late hour like nine or ten at night. After days of early mornings, it was not a good time to dine.

In turn, I felt the food was a little soulless. It’s fairly well executed but it was ultimately hotel food.

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.