Corniglia is the third town on the trail and features not only fabulous lunch but also nude sunbathing. We partook of the former but not the latter, managing only to view it from high above which obscured any interesting details.
We were lucky enough to pull into Cantina de Mananan just minutes before what can only be termed a lunchtime rush. Based on the languages singing through the dining room, Mananan seems popular with the French and Italians and many had already made reservations for one of the restaurant's eleven tables. As other travelers were turned away we felt very lucky to be sitting there, amidst rock-walls, under a timber-ceiling, in a small osteria with thick hunks of fresh bread and mineral water before us.
The menu was scrawled in multi-color chalk on a giant board nearly filling one of the restaurant's four walls and there were so many delicious local specialties to choose from that we could have closed our eyes, pointed randomly, and still been ecstatic at what we were served.
For an appetizer we ordered anchovies (accuighe) which are a local specialty. They were incredible, both in diversity of flavors and also in opening the mind as to what anchovies really are. In the US one rarely runs into an anchovy that hasn't been sadly laid upon a pizza, or blended out of its misery into caesar salad dressing. But here, along the sea from which these small fish actually are drawn, the anchovy is an art form.
There was the smoked version, along with a smattering of smoked chickpeas. And then a lighter option with only lemon and olive oil, accompanied with fresh capers. There was another that was salted and accompanied by a crisp garlic flavor and paired with tiny olives, and a reddened chili version that was salted and spicy. And then there was the anchovy Americans are familiar with - salty and strong. Each styling had its own unique flavor and together they were a refreshing schooling in what can be done with the anchovy, going well beyond what you would expect.
Our main course was fresh spaghetti with fruit of the sea. It was a heaping plate of soft, fresh pasta sitting in a delicious light broth and topped with an avalanche of fresh seafood. Mussels, clams, small shrimp, giant shrimp, other delicious things in shells.... We managed to extract every bit of seafood goodness from what we were given and even found ourselves dredging chunks of bread through the remaining broth.
I would say that next time reservations are in order.
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