Trattoria dal Billy, Manarola
Cinque Terre
Located on a hillside overlooking terraced vineyards, we went to Trattoria dal Billy after a long day of hiking. The food is so simple. It’s the freshest anchovies and lemon zest and extra virgin olive oil that’s made right there where you can actually see it growing. Simple pastas with seafood, local branzino that they caught that morning. That’s really what I took from most of the trip: everything was just hyperlocal, fresh caught, simply presented.
The cool thing about this place was after we had dessert the server came by and she sat a bottle of limoncello down on the table and walked away. We’re like, okay. So we take a couple shots of limoncello. Ten minutes later she comes by and she just sets a bottle of amaro down on the table and walks away.
You can tell there’s a couple people on their honeymoon sitting around you and everybody’s having a good time. She comes out and she brings this six-litre bottle of amaro and sets it down on the table for this honeymooning couple. The guy’s gotta pick it up with two hands to try and pour a shot out of it. He pours a shot, they have one, and then he picks it up and he brings it over and he sets it on our table. So we pour shots and we drink our shots. I set it on the guy’s table next to us. The whole bottle just got passed around the entire dining room. By the end of it, everybody’s just cheering and it was amazing.
“The guy who owns the place is running it and they’re all having so much fun and they’re working
the crowd.”