World Foodie Guide

On our recent trip to Limone sul Garda, located on the northwestern corner of the lake, we stayed at Alla Noce, a small hotel and restaurant, with a phenomenal lakeside view. It’s very cheap to stay there (yet it’s comfortable and immaculately clean) and the restaurant is supposed to be one of the best in town, particularly for fish. My father-in-law and various Italian attendees of a large shoe fair in nearby Riva del Garda all swear by Alla Noce, so we ate in every night!

The restaurant was packed with locals. In fact, it was like a little haven, shielding us from all the tourists we encountered during the day. Because it rained most of the time we were at Lake Garda (the heaviest rainfall in 200 years), unfortunately we couldn’t sit outside overlooking the lake, with the exception of one lunch. Instead, like true Italians, we positioned ourselves in front of the TV for Euro 2008. The service was excellent, and as my father-in-law is a regular, it was extra-special. I was also invited to visit the kitchen and meet Anna, the young chef, who showed me how she prepared our pasta.

What I ordered:

We sampled many pasta dishes and concluded that our favourites were spaghetti al pomodoro – so simple, so tasty, so comforting – and garganelli Taleggio e rucola (€7.50) – garganelli with Taleggio and rocket, which GP had three times in a row.

I also tried the bigoli alle sarde di Lago (€8.00) – thick spaghetti with Lake Garda sardines. Unfortunately, I had this on my first night at Alla Noce, when I was suffering from a combination of car sickness and caffeine overdose (see upcoming post on Caffe Filharmonico in Verona), so it tasted a bit too oily for my liking.

The local Lake Garda fish, coregone del lago al ferri (€ 12.50) – laveret white fish – is a signature dish. Introduced to the lake in 1918, it resembles a brown trout and is quite light in taste, though not quite as delicate as trout. It also has very few bones. The coregone is simply grilled and accompanied by the best chips I have ever eaten in my life – crispy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside, neither greasy nor dry, and fried to just the right shade (my photo does not do the chips justice). Perfection indeed. As I’m a big fan of chips, this is saying something. They are also the only chips I have ever wanted to eat without ketchup. In fact, I had the chips (€3.00 for a good sized portion) five times, at every meal…

Another dish I tried was the grilled sirloin steak (500g), served with what else but chips. I ordered it medium-rare, and half of it really was superb – succulent, a bit bloody and very flavoursome. The other half, however, I couldn’t cut into, no matter how hard I tried. It just wasn’t cooked, nor was it meaty. But 250g of sirloin, plus extra chips, kept me quite satisfied.

The verdict?

There are of course many restaurants in Limone, and normally, I would have tried other places during our stay. But as Alla Noce came highly recommended, and the atmosphere was so relaxed and friendly, I really didn’t want to experiment. One place I do regret not having visited though was the Pink Panther Gelateria, which, according to my father-in-law, serves great ice cream.

And if we’d travelled to Limone two months earlier, we’d have seen a car chase scene in the latest James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, being filmed there, in the narrow tunnels by the lake! Apparently three Aston Martins were required for the shoot, with a couple ending in the lake…

Part of the Limone dei Riviera, Limone is pretty, but very touristy. It’s also popular with Germans. In fact, the entire Lake Garda is popular with Germans. Having grown up in Germany, I couldn’t believe how many German beers were on offer, everywhere I went. The second language at Lake Garda seemed to be German, which was seen on most signs and menus. But if you know where to relax at the end of the day, it’s not a problem!

Across the lake is Malcesine, 20 minutes away by ferry. A picturesque little town, it was over-run by tour groups when we visited. Delights such as English tea and chip butties or capuccino with strudel made us literally jump back on the ferry in horror. I did research restaurants in Malcesine before the visit, but didn’t stay long enough to even walk past the annual Fish and Olive Oil Festival. However, I do recommend a visit to the wonderful town of Salò, the birthplace of the inventor of the violin. I shall be posting about Vassalli Pasticcerie there in a week or so…

10 – Perfection, 9.5 – Sensational, 9 – Outstanding, 8.5 – Superb,
8 – Excellent, 7.5 – Very Good, 7 - Good, 6.5 - Above Average, 6 – Average

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Contact details:
Albergo Ristorante Alla Noce
Via Monsignor Daniele Comboni, 33
25010 Limone Sul Garda
(BS) Italy
Tel. +39 0365 954022
info@albergoallanoce.it
www.albergoallanoce.it

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Tags: Alla Noce, dining out, food, Italian, Italy, Lake Garda, Malcesine, Quantum of Solace, restaurant review, restaurants, Salo, travel, traveleating, vegetarian