28/04/2025: Ottimo ristorante a Crotone; locali comfortevoli ed eleganti, personale attento, cordiale ed efficiente. Tutte le portate di pesce provate, dagli antipasti, i primi, i sedondi e le fritture davvero molto buoni e freschi. Menzione per i tagliolini con i ricci ed anemone, superlativi. Vini all’altezza. Rapporto qualità/prezzo assolutamente buono, considerata la qualità di cibi.
25/04/2025: My dearest childhood friends took me to celebrate my SIXTY BIRTHDAY, in a seafood restaurant in Crotone, called Ercole, from the name of the owner.
A little legend: Ercole from the Greek “Eraclea” means “Glory of Hera”. Hera was the beautiful wife of Zeus and represented the “ideal woman”. Like the restaurant “da Ercole”, from now on, it will be my “ideal seafood restaurant”.
I don’t like raw food (Le crude delizie di pesce) but smelling their seafood scent, I couldn’t resist trying them: whoever ordered them was simply enthusiastic.
I love cooked food, and after last night my love has increased enormously. I can’t name them all because there were so many and so many: La barca di Nettuno, a true masterpiece; Ricciola rolls with shrimp and rocket; tuna rolls with pistachios and breadcrumbs; Gratin caldo; Zuppettina del giorno etc.
First courses:
Tubettini “Fantasia di mare” with seafood (simply wonderful: it looks like the pasta our grandmothers used to make… heavenly); Pythagorean carbonara, with Papotula, grey mullet eggs and sea bass. (PAPOTULA: in the Crotone area they call the “white musdea” also known as the mother of cod: a poor but extraordinary and tasty fish). Dear Ercole, I would change its name: calling it carbonara is very REDUCTIVE.
Desserts:
very good ice cream, tiramisu without mascarpone but with chantilly cream and pavesini made on the spot (I, like Saint Thomas, tasted it to feel the crunchiness of the biscuits: just unwrapped!).
Finally my beloved millefoglie with chantilly cream. I don’t really like chocolate on top and I asked to garnish it with berries. The divine mille-feuille… very small flaw: I would put less juice, it makes everything too sweet!!! But superb overall.
The high bill!!!
But those who do not want to eat defrosted and/or farmed fish know that they have to “PAY THE RIGHT PRICE”.
For the wine, having revealed our preference for rosé, we were recommended an ALMA RISA (Gaglioppo) from the “Russo & Longo” winery: excellent choice.
The chef and owner Ercole, was a discreet and constant presence throughout the dinner in recommending each individual dish.
The waiter Antonio, a little shy but very kind. The waiter Riccardo, on the other hand, pampered us with “loving sympathy” throughout the evening.
The gem at the end: Ercole, once he knew my love for SEA URCHINS” (Inspector Montalbano passed on this passion to me)… he kindly and affectionately showed me around (no CHEF does that… and I hadn’t even told him that I’m a “Google Local Guide Reviewer level 6”) their kitchen where a chef was opening and cleaning the SEA URCHINS. A beautiful memory that I will carry with me for the rest of my life: thank you Ercole.
In the photo the result of this visit.
What can I say?
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Giuseppe Stirparo, a Calabrian dentist who has lived in ROME since 1984
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