Food and Restaurants
This section is not done in any particular order, but simply based on on whatever came up in my mind for this first draft jotted down in about one hour. More details and other recommendations will undoubtedly follow. In some cases we keep the cards of the restaurants on the kitchen desktop, so check out that place as well.

General restaurant tips
Traditional restaurants in the Liguria and Piemonte area do not worry very much about menu's and you shouldn't either. They serve what they have or they serve what you like. Often when we go for dinner we like to be surprised by the local chef with his or her favorite selection of food. It is a unique sensation to go to a restaurant and have them decide what you should eat. In multi-star Michelin restaurants this is common practice, because you know it will cost you your salary anyhow. The pricing in this region is such that you will be able to afford this behaviour without feeling too much pain in your wallet, althought the occasional miscalculations occur on both sides. Is there anything more fun than to just sit down at the table and be surprised with a selection of the finest food and wines from the region without having to decide this from a paper menu? The only thing I suggest, for your health protection, is that you indicate how many courses you typically can handle. It is not uncommon to have five or seven-course meals, or a series of a dozen appetizers that will block a light eater from even only trying some pasta, main course, and "dolce" (dessert). If needed you may further let them know some of the things you may not have or do not like.

The regional restaurants typically prepare multiple small but nevertheless complex dishes in advance and prefer to serve them over a period of one to two hours to their guests. The lunch time "entry" window starts at around 12.30 and ends at 2 pm. Arriving after 2.30 pm may still get you a meal, but some of the more special dishes may be gone and you will have to do with standard food. Some cooks do not consider this up to their level of quality and will rather wave you away than serving you, unless you are a very smooth (Italian) talker. Dinner entry window starts at 7.30 pm and ends at 10.30 pm. It's not a problem to continue until 4 pm for lunch, or upto midnight for dinner, over desserts, coffee, and grappa. Popular restaurants will have two serving windows, with the second one starting at around 9 pm. Other restaurants will only get crowded after 11 pm and may still serve you food up to 2 am.
Some twenty years ago, it was not uncommon to have dinner up to around 10 pm, embrace the local nightlife up to 2am, and go back to the restaurant for pizza or some cozze (mussels) and more wine until 4 pm. It was also not uncommon to be served this late night/early morning meal by the young children of the owner/cook of the restaurant. During their 2-month summer vacation they worked day and night in the family business to assist their parents. This no longer is the case in the Liguria and Piemonte area, but you still may find it further South in Italy.

Napolitana (Arma)
This restaurant is located at the via Columbus in Arma, near the railway underpass where you go to the beach. It is run by Mario and his family and a favorite amongst locals and tourists. Even during the quieter moments in summer, Mario's place is usually booked. If you want to make sure you can have dinner, stop by during lunch time and make a reservation for that same evening. The antipasto misto (with or without the "mare") is a good start, the pasta is good and both the grilled steak and the pizza's are excellent, that's why this place is popular with a wide audience. The glass cabinet at the entrance already allows you a peek at some of his great desserts. No problems with the local wine either. The service is, as always, busy but friendly. Whenever I'm in town I will at least eat once or twice with Mario. It has a very good quality - price performance.

Roma (Arma)
Next place that serves good food in Arma is Roma. You'll find it if you walk from the old railway crossing (the railway station got moved from Arma to Taggia late in 2001, but most of the infrastructure has been left unchanged) straight ahead into the street named Via Cornice. Roma is on the right hand side near the first corner. From the outside you'd say it's only a pizzeria. Once inside you'll discover a massive dining place, filled with locals and Italian tourists. Virtually no foreigners here. The food is good, and if you want you can still have pizza as well. Just like Napolitano, the antipasti are all good and the other courses as well. You also have a choice of about 30 different olive oils in this place. Overall price is slightly higher than with Mario. The only complaint I have about this place is the "matrone" who is very bossy, not to say rude and impolite, at times of pressure. Understandable, but no excuse. Simply ignore her and do not let this interfere with your eating pleasure.

Gente di Mare (Bussana al Mare)
This is the fish equivalent of Ca'mea (see below). The place is located more or less across from where the Blue Beach Bungalows are, on the beach front near the old fortress. The place looks rather unobtrusively from the outside, but has a nice table setting on the inside. Dinner starts with bruschetta, white wine and water. A series of appetizers is brought in waves: Fried octupus, fresh squid, excellent mussels, shrimps, and several more that I won't disguise to you. Pasta follows next in vongole style. Main course is depending on the catch of the day, and was a combination of langoust and a tasty whitefish that was probably merluza or other type of heek. An intermezzo with spumante is followed by a plate of bakery delights and coffee with grappa. A perfect meal, quietly and professionally served and accompanied by a pleasant white wine in a nice entourage on the beach. The surprise came at the end, with a bill that was only € 35 per person! If you are a soccer enthousiast don't forget to mention a few key (Dutch) player to the cook. At one time we had dinner at Gente di Mare during the European soccer cup, and the cook was kind enough to keep us up to dat on the score of our national team.

Ca'mea (Badalucco)
What can I say about "Christian's" place? I've been there every time I'm in town for the last umpty years. And I'm lazy: People drive from Milan to this place ( 2.5 hours one-way) just to have dinner! This is tradional Piemonte cooking ad ultimum. No menu (well, he may have one somewhere stacked for tourists): You simply wait for what they bring you. The menu is the same all year round: One menu, one price. In Autumn and Winter, Christian will add some special seasonal dishes like the Bagna Calda.

Wine is at the table as soon as you sit down, and appetizers will be brought in fresh from the kitchen every couple of minutes or so. And they will keep coming. Now you'll realize why there is this big mushroom in front of his restaurant: Virtually all dishes have mushroom in them. They are handpicked in the area (as long as the "funghi" police does not catch you) and are multiple types and shapes. Do not even think "champion" in this place or you'll find yourself in the river Argentina 10 meters lower. Young ricotta cheese with mushrooms, grinded fresh meat with mushrooms, small mushroom omelette, mushrooms with cheese and potatoes, mushrooms & spinach quiche, and so on. After you become somewhat filled you'll be asked what type of pasta (with mushrooms) you'd like, and following these (usually several dishes) you can choose for Christian's famous breaded and fried fungi porcini or a major piece of lamb which is often roasted outside his restaurant. Other options are usually veal with, yes, mushrooms.

When you're almost under the table from wine and food, the dessert will bring you further into problems, not to mention the grappa in various forms and bottles. Twenty years ago, you'd have your dessert with the other patrons, soon to become your friends, from the same bowl. Nowadays, the regulations related to food cleanliness managed to get into Ca'mea as well, unfortunately. Therefore, there will be a menu for the people who do not understand that this is not what you want, and there will no longer be food served to everyone from the same cooking pot. These are modern times. At the end of the evening, you'll be surprised about the moderate invoice you got for this bacchus feast, and happily you'd crawl from this place to wherever you managed to park your car and hope that no one will be on your path when driving home. The Vecchio Frantoio Ca'mea will be on the road to Badalucco, just after the split for Vignai, on the right hand side. Don't mistake it with the restaurant on the left hand side just before the split in the road. This may very well also be an excellent place to go, but you should only try that after you've been to Ca'mea.

Il Ponte (Badalucco)
Across the Roman bridge in Badalucco, visible on the top-left side in this picture, the restaurant Il Ponte serves good food, albeit at a higher price that Ca'mea. But you get a more upscale restaurant-style environment with table cloth rather than the cave that you'll be partying in at Ca'mea. All the food here is good, and the brothers owning the place (one doubles as the vilage's police officer during day time) will also serve you.

I particularly enjoyed the end-cuts of the freshly roasted lamb they serve.

Tre Estelle (Poggio)

This restaurant was run in 2001 by a disciple of Bocuse. It's location is perfect (see the view), the food was excellent, the wine was great, the service was great, and the prices were high for local standards. And the desserts were heaven. The only minor negative detail I can remember about this place is that the "bel canto" singing when the night progressed was not always my style. In all other respects this place was indeed heading for at least one star.
One year later it became clear that the winter, and the associated lack of more wealthy customers from Northern Italy, caused the end of this great place. Up to now I have not yet received info on what the quality of the present restaurant is, except that some people passing by were not charmed by the fact that there was an ice-cream company name on the umbrella's. Mind you, that remark came from someone who does not worry about eating with his hands and feet if needed, in a pig's stable, as long at the food was tasty. So perhaps you want to be the one writing the review for this page. There's one thing that will not have changed: The perfect and romantic view from the terrace on a beautiful evening over Bussana Vecchia, Bussana Nuova, Arma, and the Taggia bay. You can get to the restaurant by driving for a short distance in the direction of San Remo on the via Aurelia and take the right exit for Poggio after a few bends in the road. Some hairpins later you will reach the top of this hill and find the restaurant on the right hand side.

Joseph & Maria (Ceriana)
Continuing the road from Poggio you'll get to Ceriana multiple curves later. There is a shortcut that I know through the valle Armea that will get you there 15 minutes faster, as long as you are not escaping death like we did the last time when a bombola exploded in a house that was on fire, all at the time we were passing by. The steel scrapnel hit everywhere around us except for our car. Anyway, once you get to the old town of Ceriana you will find the restaurant before the Post Office on the right hand side of the road when you enter the village. I do not have the address, but there is a yellow ATM a few meters to the left of the restaurant. The biblical duo serves their home invented specialties very much like other local restaurants: They say what they have that evening and you compose a menu, or let them decide for you. This restaurant is a bit further into the countryside, so prices are less than what you typically pay on the coast for the same if not better quality food.

Jolande (Baiardo)
Another gem in the mountains is this family restaurant in center of Baiardo, on the left side of the road just before the church. As most restaurants in italy, they serve their best food at lunchtime. In the evening you will also be able to get an excellent meal, but don't be surprised if most of the people around you will be having pizza. As usual, there's no menu for lunch and that's how it should be. The owner and cook, who could have stepped out of a Fernandel movie, serves you whatever he feels like that day. Expect to get at least a handful of courses and plan on taking an afternoon nap afterwards. There won't be much else you can do but sleep after Jolande's nourishing menu.

Appetizers are a plate of freshly cut cold meat on the antique Berkel machine, followed by several types of home made pasta, small warm appetizes with mushrooms, potato, and egg omelet, a main course with rabbit and wild boar, and a delightful dessert combining small pancakes and fresh fruits. Wine and water are served in virtually unlimited quantities, another reason why you'll need a nap for a few hours. All this brilliant food and wine for the price of a main course in your home country. If you plan to visit the restaurant during the weekend in summer you better make reservations the day before: there are more people who have found this little gem.