Cortile Spirto Santo in Syracuse, awarded a Michelin star, offers refined Sicilian cuisine of excellent quality and attentive service.

To occupy my two evenings in Syracuse, I wanted to try a Michelin-starred restaurant and a simpler gastronomic one, and so it was to Cortile Spirito Santo, located in the historic center of the Ortigia peninsula, that I set my sights for this first dinner.

At the bottom of the page you’ll find a summary of articles about this vacation in Sicily.

The concept

The restaurant offers modern Sicilian cuisine, inspired by local traditions but with a touch of innovation. The chef uses fresh, local produce such as seafood, seasonal vegetables, citrus fruits and Sicilian olive oil.

The setting

The decor is modern, simple and tasteful.

There’s an open kitchen.

In fine weather, it seems, you can dine in an inner courtyard.

The menu

The restaurant offers a very extensive menu (normal when you know the composition of a dinner in Italy) and a tasting menu. I naturally chose the latter.

The meal

I arrived on time for my reservation and was greeted very kindly and seated at my table.

I’m immediately asked if I’d like still or sparkling water and if I’d like an aperitif. I’m recommended a local sparkling wine, which turns out to be very good, light with fine bubbles.

They bring me the menu and I choose the tasting menu.

Let’s start with the welcome snack.

It includes green beans, broccoli, a “fake cherry tomato” with parmesan and other things I haven’t had time to memorize.

They’re actually dishes that fool the eye and deceive the taste: they don’t look or taste like what they’re made of.

Very fine and varied and, above all, original.

A selection of homemade breads and pastries is then brought to me.

Really very good.

I chat with the waiter, who tells me he worked in a Sicilian restaurant in Paris 10 years ago (Les Amis des Messina, a well-known restaurant).

The first course arrives: “Queen of the Sea”: Amberjack in balanced salt, Ortigia red shrimp, Avola almond, avocado and orange-fennel coulis.

Bergamot will be added as a spray, a bit like a perfume, and will scent the dish nicely.

The brine enhances the taste of the dish without adding too much salt, giving a fresh, fruity, well-balanced finish.

“Peppe’s egg”: Autumn vegetables, truffle, 40-month Sicilian parmesan and crispy bacon.

This dish takes its name from the chef’s, and the least we can say is that they didn’t mince their words when it came to truffles, although they were more discreet than expected, certainly due to the fact that Italian white truffles don’t have the same aromatic profile as black truffles, which are more familiar to us in France.

Very creamy, and even the crunchiness doesn’t put up too much resistance under the bite. The combination is as light as it is harmonious.

“Mussels and beans”: homemade Tortelli stuffed with Scichi cosarusciaro beans, cold soup, parsley and mussels.

This dish is a real trompe l’oeil. The sauce is added at the table to give the visual appearance of a flower, and the shells under the mussels are in fact the tortelli.

The slightly spicy sauce brings out the best in a good dish, but its creativity is what really stands out. In fact, it’s when all the ingredients are mixed together that the flavor comes out best, with a surprising combination of vegetable, marine and spice.

“Past Memory: Cappelletto with semolina, broccoli, pork, spring onions, olives and tuma persa cheese.

Very well balanced, even if one ingredient stood out a little too much at times.

“1, 2, 3 Pigeon! :Barbecued supreme, crispy confit leg, chocolate entrails

The dish is accompanied by a croquette made from the inside of the pigeon and foie gras.

I really like the taste left by barbecuing, and surprisingly the croquette leaves a little taste of red fruit ice cream, which goes perfectly with the rest and adds a little freshness.

Pre-dessert.

Strawberry-based with ice cream and coulis, it’s just the thing to cool down at this point, even if the whole dinner was light (in a good way).

“Make a wish: peas, meringue, strawberries, blueberries and elderflowers

The waiter asks me if this dinner isn’t a special occasion for me…it isn’t, since I celebrated my birthday a month earlier at Mère Brazier. He laughs and tells me it’s just an excuse for the customer to blow out the candle and make a wish…

For your information, the candle can be broken and eaten.

Fresh and surprising, with improbable combinations of fruit and vegetable flavours, but very successful.

As a digestif, I ask the waiter what kind of whisky they have. He asks me if I like peated whiskies, which is a good thing because they’re my favorites, and I’m surprised to see him come up with an Octomore, the most peated whisky in the world.

I’ve got some at home, but it’s not that common to find them in a bar, let alone a restaurant.

I’ll finish off with a few pastries to accompany my digestif.

The menu given to me at the end of the meal was signed by the chef, confirming that the person I saw scanning the room in civilian clothes (and especially the tables where the cameras were out) was none other than him.

The service

Very good, professional, friendly, open to discussion. This applies to both the waiter and the sommelier.

The atmosphere

The restaurant was full, which for a Sunday at the start of the season is not bad at all.

Muted jazzy music, hushed but relaxed, not heavy.

Bottom line

An excellent restaurant that combines a strong culinary tradition with innovative, modern cuisine.

The ingredients are well highlighted, and the innovation is not to their detriment by over-complicating the dishes.

An excellent experience.

The articles about this trip to Sicily

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