A'Paranza

Atrani, IT

Atrani is a small town next to Amalfi on its coast, with a tiny central square and very local feel. Tourists don't seem to get over here much, simply passing it by too focused on the city of Amalfi. We found it to be extremely relaxing and even finding a nice, quiet, pebbly beach to swim before having lunch at A'Paranza. Apparently, we were unaware that it's a white tablecloth affair, probably where locals come for special occasions, or dumb tourists like us. The server, manager, owner was extremely kind to us, starting us off with bruschetta.

Bruschetta

The prices were fairly expensive, but opted to stay away from the pricier entrees instead sharing an appetizer and two pastas.

Fantasia di mare A'Paranza

The fantasia de mare was recommended to us and we were glad it was, because some of the best seafood I had on the coast was on this plate. Unfortunately, I can't remember what all of them were now! 

Fish gratin

Baby anchovy

Stuffed calamari

Baby shrimp (left), marinated anchovy (middle), razor clams (right)

Every bite of this dish ranged from good to excellent. In particular, I really enjoyed the anchovy, which I'm positive I've never said it my life. To me anchovy is the equivalent of fishy and salty. But both anchovy items on this appetizer plate were great, especially the marinated anchovy which tasted fresh, light and carried a subdued salty finish. 

Scialatielli with seafood

Chu-Toro's scialatielli was also very good, fresh homemade al dente pasta and a nice variety of fresh clams, calamari and mussels. My only complaint would be that it wasn't brimming with a load of seafood but was fairly costly.

Paccheri pasta with king prawns, rucola and tomatoes

Since we generally order seafood mixed pastas, we were recommended the paccheri pasta with king prawns to experience something different. The flavor overall was nice, a little salty, but again, the cost ratio of the dish was unbalanced. There are TWO shrimps on my plate, and the pasta itself was just a bit too al dente for my liking. We both preferred the scialatielli, although the small appetizer bites were really the overall winner of the meal.

My guess is dinner here can be quite expensive, but the quality of the food is high, which may make it a very good splurge meal. Unknown to us when we arrived, this restaurant, despite its tucked away location, is actually Michelin recommended. We probably won't come back, but overall enjoyed our experience here.

Overall 7/10
May 25th, 2011