Regina Lucia in Syracuse offers gourmet contemporary Sicilian cuisine of the highest quality. The perfect balance between a street corner restaurant and a Michelin-starred restaurant.

On my second evening in Syracuse, I went down a notch or two after Cortile Spirito Santo to discover a more accessible restaurant, still offering gourmet Sicilian cuisine, but more bourgeois and contemporary this time.

At the bottom of the page, you’ll find a summary of articles about this trip to Sicily.

The concept

Regina Lucia is a restaurant that combines traditional Sicilian cuisine with modern creativity, offering a culinary experience that highlights local ingredients.

Modern creativity, yes, but without going as far in innovation and technique as the previous day’s restaurant. This may be the difference between a Michelin-starred restaurant and an excellent one, but it doesn’t mean that it’s any less good. Two different approaches and concepts, that’s all.

The setting

The restaurant is located in the beautiful Piazza Duomo.

The dining room is set in a vaulted cellar with exposed stonework.

The menu

The restaurant offers a rich menu of contemporary Sicilian cuisine and 3 tasting menus.

The dinner

As soon as I arrived, I was greeted very kindly and seated at my place.

I’m asked if I’d like an aperitif, but unfortunately champagne is only available from two glasses! So I’ll have a local sparkling wine, which turns out to be very good. It will be accompanied, as it should be in Sicily, by delicious bread and olive oil.

I was going to eat à la carte without going overboard, but I realize that in the end it will cost me almost the same as a tasting menu. So I’ll go for the tasting menu.

I decide not to take a wine pairing because it’s too many glasses for my taste, but I’ll let myself be advised wines by the glass as the meal progresses. Note that the prices are not mentioned on the menu, which seems a bit borderline to me…

The amuse bouche arrive to finish off my aperitif. I’ll only remember the cod croquette with carrot mousse.

Very good to start with.

Mediterranean prawns fried in breadcrumbs and served with the chef’s Iblei saffron mayonnaise

It’s good and fresh but, unsurprisingly, the presence of sea urchin is a little too strong, to the detriment of the other ingredients, which fade a little.

A bit of a disappointment. It’s true that sea urchin is an ingredient with a somewhat controversial taste, but I remember finding it perfectly balanced in restaurants such as Lucas Carton, Tentazioni (another Italian) and, more recently, Mère Brazier.

Roasted octopus served with a cream of Syracuse potatoes flavoured with lemon and mint

The cooking and texture are superb, but there’s not much mint in the end. The toasted taste is very pleasant but perhaps lacks a little pep.

Homemade tortellini stuffed with shellfish ragout, Hyblean pesto and Avola almond powder.

A real explosion of flavours between the shellfish and the pesto! I love it!

Homemade Tagliolini “alla Siracusana” pasta made from genuine Tumminia Sicilian wheat, seasoned with a Mediterranean ragout, pine nuts, raisins and wild fennel.

The pasta is perfectly cooked and consistent, and the red mullet stew is excellent and very tasty: it has a good presence in the mouth without being too aggressive, respecting the tomato and fennel.

Fillet of ombrine flavoured with thyme on a bisque sauce, served with a potato quenelle

The fish is melt-in-the-mouth but the bisque is a little subdued. It lacks a little something and although I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the dish is bland, my taste buds were a little disappointed, especially after the two previous dishes.

Lightly cooked tuna steak served with traditional Sicilian Caponata with almonds, topped with pistachios.

The tuna is glazed and perfectly cooked. The vegetables are both tasty and melt-in-the-mouth. A real success.

Pre-dessert Pineapple coconut ice cream on chocolate crumble

Very fresh and light to wash down the dishes and prepare the palate for what’s to come.

Cornucopia homemade cannoli with ricotta cream and orange marmalade

Fine, fresh, light, tasty, the perfect dessert to end this meal.

I then order a coffee, but no digestif, as I’m in a hurry to leave the room: a few tables away there’s a group with a toddler who never stops screaming, and the adults don’t try to do anything about it – quite the opposite, in fact. A screaming child can happen, it’s more the education of parents who don’t care that I’m aiming at.

Anyway, I’ll be leaving very soon, as will the next table, which won’t be having dessert for the same reason: the looks we exchanged said it all. And by the way, the waiter apologized with an embarrassed look as we were leaving.

The atmosphere

Very pleasant, with muted music…until the table in question arrived. And the screams echo in a vaulted cellar…

Service

Efficient and professional, but can be a little distant or even absent: the waiter brings the dishes, announces their names and disappears from the room without further ado.

Bottom line

A very good table: given the property’s positioning, you get what you’d expect.

The articles about this vacation in Sicily

Articles similaires

Cortile Spirito Santo in Syracuse: a refined Sicilian Michelin-starred restaurant Restaurant Tentazioni in Bordeaux: a little piece of Italy with gourmet flavours Spago by Wolfgang Puck, Budapest: an equally successful second experience Ortea Palace in Syracuse: a remarkable experience in Sicily Le Normandie Restaurant, Bangkok: Disappointing La table du Clarance in Lille: a good Michelin-starred restaurant