Some say that the food isn’t so great in and around Sardinia’s exclusive Costa Smeralda (Emerald Coast). You might pay a high price for food that isn’t always worth it. This is a pitfall in all Mediterranean tourist areas, including those farther inland. But by choosing wisely, you can avoid being taken to the cleaners, and enjoy a memorable wining-and- dining experience near the sea and the beautiful tourist ports in northern Sardinia.
Recent years have brought us an encouraging phenomenon: several chefs there have opened restaurants featuring informal, summer-style cuisine. Entrepreneurs in food service have taken their brands to what they rightly consider their audience. Examples are Riccardo Schiavi and his La Pasqualina in Porto Cervo – one of the best Italian pastry shops – and Luca Guelfi, who, after opening the second Canteen e Fruits de Mer in Poltu Quatu, recently launched Big Sur, a wonderful 1970s style beach bar in Liscia Ruja.
We picked the best places for lunch or dinner, the later meal perhaps (or definitely, in our opinion) to be preceded by one drink and followed by another.