Varenna Eats: Ristorante Al Prato
Lake Como has some of the most striking landscapes I've ever seen, and among the handful of villages we stopped at, I'm glad we decided to stay at Varenna. It's super quaint, and dramatically set against a steep mountain.
At night it is particularly atmospheric.
Our first night in town, we were very tired after we arrived at the end of a busy day in Milan. So we chose a random restaurant at the lakefront to have dinner. It was not that great and quite touristy. So for the next night, which happened to be the dinner of one of my travel companions, we decided to splurge a bit.
We came across this restaurant the previous night, and it seemed warm and inviting, but because there weren't any tablecloths, it looked approachable as well.
First up came a platter of salami, pickled cipollini onion, and meat stuffed with cheese. We didn't order this, but was presented with it because they apologized for the long wait to get the food. I didn't think we waited very long in the end!
Our starters, asparagus risotto. Rich and creamy tasting.
And tagliatelle with lake fish. I still think about this dish every now and then!
Lavarello, a fish that was "very very very fresh" according to the waitress, with olives and cherry tomatoes, some veggies, and duchess potato. A great choice.
My friend's rack of lamb with garlic green beans.
Some cookies to end the meal, after we turned down dessert.
This was simply a brilliant meal. All super fresh, with clean flavors and delightful service to top it off.
What I loved most of all is that we found this restaurant without doing any research, without consulting TripAdvisor or Yelp. It turns out that this was only the second day in operation, so there was no way we could have learned about it in advance! Sometimes serendipity is the best!
