After booking other people at Cantina di Miky in Monterosso al Mare, Cinque Terre for literally years, I finally dined here myself on a late September Monday evening! My dinner was wonderful and I will absolutely return (and continue to book others there!). This post reviews my delicious dinner at Cantina di Miky in Cinque Terre, Italia!
Monterosso al Mare at sunset (note – this is not from Cantina di Miky).
CANTINA DI MIKY RESTAURANT IN MONTEROSSO AL MARE
Cantina di Miky is a seafood restaurant in Monterosso al Mare, Cinque Terre. Owned by locals, Cantina di Miky has been around for at least a decade. My in laws dined there waaaaay back in 2015, and I don’t think it was a new restaurant then… Cantina di Miky’s philosophy is “Il Km 0,” meaning that all of its ingredients are sourced from the hyper local area of the restaurant, here Cinque Terre! This philosophy is quite popular in Italy, and it always makes for delicious, local dishes that change with the season. In fact, you cannot find a “standard” menu for Cantina di Miky online because it changes so frequently.
Cantina di Miky logo. I love this little diver.
LOCATION & SPACE OF CANTINA DI MIKY
Cantina di Miky is located on Via Fegina, the main drag of new town Monterosso al Mare. Cantina di Miky is a short walk from Monterosso’s small train station (like really close) in the direction of the Gigante di Monterosso. Cantina di Miky offers both indoor and outdoor seating and if the weather is nice, you’ll want to sit outdoors. Trust me.
Il Gigante di Monterosso for reference. And if you are in Monterosso, walk all the way down (away from the train station) in New Monterosso to see this work of art.
We dined indoors at Cantina di Miky, as it was a late September evening (read – a bit chilly). The interior of Cantina di Miky is modern with a seaside twist – picture a really cool ceiling piece, as well as driftwood sculptures adorning the wells. Everything felt very chic – clean, crisp lines, very European. In fact, this would make a great spot for a fancy dinner in Cinque Terre.
A ceiling art installation with the driftwood to the right. It looked better than I photographed it.
Seating at Cantina di Miky. You can see more art on the wells here.
WINE AND DRINKS AT CANTINA DI MIKY
Cantina di Miky is rumored to have a very good wine list in the area. We unfortunately only ordered single glasses of wine, as we had been drinking earlier, but we did end our meal with a very delicious espresso martini.
Espresso Martini at Cantina di Miky.
THE FOOD AT CANTINA DI MIKY
The food at Cantina di Miky is really what made me love this restaurant. Food in Cinque Terre, and Liguria in generally, is really, really, really great. Some of the best in Italy in my opinion. However, since Cinque Terre has gotten so popular, some not so great restaurants have popped up…. This means that you must do your research when eating in Cinque Terre. In any case, Cantina di Miky had great food – just like that I had back in 2008, 2010 and 2015 in Cinque Terre. Fantastic.
Our meal started with an amazing pumpkin soup, pictured below. The presentation was a work of art, but it also tasted fantastic. It was also gluten free! For mains, Dan and I split an order of fried calamari, which was similar to its US counterpart, but so much better. The calamari was super fresh and only lightly fried (not deep fried at all). Uncommon for Italy, it was served with an American-style aioli. A couple vegetables were also thrown into the fry. I loved this and could have absolutely ordered an second. We also split the the pesto pasta which, while not seafood, is a Liguria specialty. The pesto was also excellent, but I preferred the calamari.
A beautiful and terribly delicious seasonal pumpkin soup.
Calamari fritti.
Pesto pasta – a classic Cinque Terre dish.
DOLCI AT CANTINA DI MIKY
Desserts, or “dolci” in Italian, were 9 euro each, which is pricey for Cinque Terre (and Italy in general). But, that didn’t stop us from ordering two, especially when we found out that all the desserts are made in house! The first dessert pictured is a Cheesecake Scomposta al Limone. Per our waiter, this translated to cheesecake cream (a popular dessert in Italy we noticed) with marmalade made from local lemons, basil and almonds. This dessert was very good – I love the cheesecake cream base (we had another one with peach at L’ancora della tortuga).
Cheesecake Scomposta al Limone.
The second dessert that we ordered was called a Namelaka al Due Cioccolati, and I have no idea what that translates to in Italian! It was described to us as creamy chocolate made with hazelnuts and salted caramel. The dessert was topped with dark chocolate, some fruit and a sprig of mint. Like the cheesecake, this was also wonderful.
Namelaka al Due Cioccolati
As you can probably tell, I very much enjoyed my dinner at Cantina di Miky and recommend it to anyone visiting Cinque Terre. I strongly suggest making a reservation in advance. The attire is casual (but no beach attire of anything of that sort) and credit card is accepted.
STEAL OUR DINNER
Cantina di Miky: Via Fegina, 90, 19016 Monterosso al Mare SP, Italy
Tantalizing pics