Trattoria

Today the Brinca serves the traditional peasant cuisine from Valgraveglia, together with Ligurian “fruits of the earth” dishes. The menu is created around locally produced ingredients and the changing seasons. In tandem with the trattoria, the “Caneva con fùndego da vin” or the shop with cellar as it used to be known in the nineteenth century, offers a choice of the finest wines from Italy and abroad, as well as local produce and liqueurs and spirits.


Kitchen

Our trattoria offers a traditional degustation menu which varies slightly from week to week. The menu consists of a plate of mixed anti-pasta, or starters and a sample of two pasta courses and two main courses. The meal is rounded off with a plate of make your choice from our wine list and should you require advice, we are more than happy to help you with your choice.


Anti Pasta

Our menu changes according to the season so depending on when you come, here are some of the delicacies you will be able to taste: ravioli alla brace, which evoke memories of stolen ravioli from Grandmother's table, toasted on the stove. Prebugiun di Ne. This ancient peasants dish is made from potatoes and black cabbage and should not be confused with preboggion ligure, which is a combination of wild and domestic herbs and greens, which we use for the fillings of our ravioli and pansoti.

Other specialities are borage flowers, acacia flowers and onion rings, fried in batter, fried ravioli, stuffed with herbs, local ricotta cheese, pine nuts and sultanas, locally made Valgraveglia salami, baciocca, an onion pie and an ancien variety of potato, which flourished in our appenine territory and which is now being saved from extinction, the Genoese white quarentina. In the spring time we offer rice flan, and our focaccia alle erbe fritta (focaccia with fried herbs), la panella castagnaccio, made from local chestnut flour and panissa, made from chic pea flour, le frisciulleal pesto, or testaieu are an ancient tradition in Valgraveglia and were eaten by the ancient Liguria people.


The Pasta Courses

All of our pasta is home made and is knesded, rolled out and cut by hand. Always on the menu are ravioli di erbette “cu tuccu”, ravioli with an aromatic meat sauce) which was the traditional festive dish in Valgraveglia.

Other pastas we serve include losanghe di grano Tosella, a special pasta served with pesto made in the traditionally, using a pestle and mortar and served with vegetables. Wholemeal picagge with a vegetable sauce, gnocchetti made with local potatoes and served with pesto, tomatoes and almonds, green taglierini served with mushrooms sauce, stuffed lettuce in consommé. In autum and winter we serve picagge made from chestnut flour with mushrooms and walnuts, chestnut gnocchetti with pesto, prescinseua, a ligurian cheese served with vegetables.


The Main Courses

Once again, the dishes on our menu vary according to the season. Some of our specialities are, noix de veal, served with pine nut sauce. Brisket of veal, cooked in a wood oven with juniper berries, suckling pig with aromatic herbs, the so called “poor man's meat” of the middle ages which was rejected by the noble classes. We also serve stuffed meats, such as cima di faraona guinea fowl stuffed with herbs, roast rabbit stuffed with herbs roasted veal cima, a local variation of the Genoese stuffed veal dish which is boiled. But that is not all, we also serve rabbit casserole with scorzonera, a delicious vegetable and olives, lamb cooked with eggs and marjoram, the traditional Genoese mixed fry made with fried condesed milk, meats and vegetables. When in season we serve porcini mushrooms baked with potatoes and wild boar casserole.
At Easter we prepare shoulder of lamb baked with yarrow.


Our Cheeses

We have made it our policy to serve only selected local cheeses. Examples of these are SanSté, a cows milk cheese from the nearby Val d'Aveto, the cheeses from Valgraveglia and Val di Vara and the seasoned and fresh goats cheeses from Sopralacroce, which we serve with our home made onion pate, made from red onions from Zerli.


Our Desserts

Our desserts are served as a trio and vary according to the season. Among the delicious specialities we offer are, brinchetto, a dessert made from sponge cake, local halzenuts and cream, biancomangiare, a traditional pudding from the Ligurian Apennines, which can be found in various forms in other European regions, Gateau served with a sauce made from locally picked strawberries, semifreddo ice-cream flavoured with rose, mint, orange or nougat, our special chef's fruit or chocolate cake, fruit trance or our home made sorbets.