Favourite meals
Oysters with Champagne gel and strawberries (Mare Blu, Via Cavour 9, Lerici)
Prawns with white beans, anchovies, sage, tomatoes and crisp bread (Mare Blu, Via Cavour 9, Lerici)
Deep fried battered mussels and sage leaves (Anciua, Via Giovanni Capellini 40, Portovenere)
Orata/gilt-head bream with tomatoes and olives (Mare Blu, Via Cavour 9, Lerici)
Risotto with scallops, clams and cockles (Hosteria Cicchetteria Marine Rei, Piazza Sant’agostino 66, La Spezia)
Memorable ingredients
Burrata
Fresh artichoke pasta (Pasta Fresca Franzi, an alleyway between Via Fornara and Via Cavour, Lerici)
Scorpion fish (ever so slightly lobster-like)
Pizza bases (crispy with a hint of corn)
Fagioli/white beans
Spinach (cooked in oil, garlic and chilli)