OSTERIA MALINDI

I’m not sure I like Octopus or Squid. There’s something  nightmarish about the bulbous heads, the creepy eyes, the touchy feely tentacles and all those rows and rows of horrid little suckers. I mean, what are all those suction caps really for? Sucking onto things of course. Like the bottom of wooden ships flying the Jolly Roger, or the keel of your bed, when you’re 9 years old and have just watched Pirates of the Caribbean and seen a Giant Squid, or Kraken, making a meal of sailors, instead of the other way round.

In Malindi, on Kenya’s Swahili Coast, there are so many resident Italians and one exceptional Italian Restaurant. Called Osteria, it’s located on Seafront Road and on a recent visit to Kenya’s Little Italy by the Sea, I dined there three nights in a row – Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The baked Scarmoza Cheese and Prosciutto entrata was a highlight. But the dish that really put wind in my sails was the Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia (Spaghetti with Squid Ink). I chose it as main course on our last Sunday evening.  Served in a big, white bowl, its arrival at our table sulla terrazza, made my companion feel nauseous.

So much so, that for a moment, I thought it might be better to walk the plank than tuck into what looked like a large dish of gooey, black worms. How wrong can you be? Rich, buttery and deliciously different, but definitely ‘of the sea’, it was a splendido piatto indeed. Two bottles of Nero d’Avola later, Tiramisu to cry for, Affogato of course, and the mandatory double Limoncellos, Osteria Malindi is on my menu forever.