About 10km along the coast from Messina to the west, surrounding a lagoon where locals farm mussels and clams, is the town of Ganzirri. On the limb of land which separates the lagoon from the sea is an unassuming-looking family-run restaurant called Trattoria del Lago. Simona's uncle took us there for lunch before we headed back to Ispica.
As is usually the case in a trattoria, there was no menu, just a verbal description of what they have today. This way, you know that the food you are getting is the freshest available, more than likely caught only a few hours earlier. The offerings were simple: either pasta or rice with mussels or clams for the primo (first plate) with fried squid, octopus salad, or a fish similar to swordfish (I didn't catch the name) for the secondo.
Simona's uncle recommended that we must also order an antipasto (starter) of Polpette di Pescespada con Salsa Semplice (swordfish meatballs in simple tomato sauce), so good that "When God is pissed off with the world, He sends for a plate of these and afterwards everything is ok again"
I had the Spaghetti con Cozze (spaghetti with mussels) in a delicious tomato sauce. Then Calamari Fritti (fried squid) beautifully tender with just enough bite. I also tasted some of Simona's Insalata di Polpo (octopus salad) which was also delicious. The meal was accompanied by fresh and delicious bread with sesame seeds and washed down with a local red wine "for those in the know" which arrived in an unlabeled bottle with a crown cap. It was very slightly frizzante with a mellow, rounded but robust flavour similar to port.
This place is well worth a trip to Messina and the very traffic-heavy drive out to Ganzirri. The food was all superb. As the owner said, it's "cooked as simply as possible to get to the essential flavour of the fish".
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