On my most recent post, I presented my first glimpse of the ethereal cliff town of Positano.
My husband and I shared the most romantic stroll to our dinner reservations that night at the delightful Elisir di Positano, a locally owned café by the most charming Italian family.
Elisir di Positano specializes in cuisines genuine to the stunning Amalfi region. Situated at the heart of this bustling, quaint coastal town, Elisir di Positano was as warm and gracious as one might expect. I was immediately drawn to its alluring white, yellow and blue décor, which was visible from outside. We shortly discovered that the family also owns an elegant home boutique next door whose focus is to bring attention to home adornments, ceramics and decorative pieces unique to the area.
Menu Details
Appetizers | Positano Pearl and Tuna Carpaccio
Seafood Pasta | Pappardelle Pasta and Taglioni Pasta
Dessert | Delizia al Limone, Ricotta Pirra and Smufaddi Amalficaddo
Served with House Wine with Peaches & Cappuccino
The bustling, locally sourced café has been around for a couple of years and the family owners, headed by good-natured Mr. Ambrogio Carro, have always lived in Positano where both the locals and tourists alike come to enjoy their accommodating restaurant. I must say that having a unique pricing structure for a restaurant must go well for them, as it is one of the few restaurants we’ve encountered positioned in a high touristic area whose sit-in price is the same as their to-go or takeaway price. It also keeps the prices known to foreign travelers as some restaurants present takeaway prices outside and would later startle you with a bill based on a different dine-in pricing structure. This kind of pricing structure is particularly important to be known when traveling to a country that has a different native tongue. Let me tell you that Elisir di Positano, instituting one pricing scheme, is truly a gem.
When my husband and I sat down, we were served their house wine featuring peaches swimming in the wine. Apparently, this is a local drink typical to the Amalfi region. Now, fresh peach is my favorite fruit so I naturally found it to be very refreshing while not losing any of the natural flavors of the wine.
Our amicable evening started with the first appertizer dish, the Positano Pearl, which highlights fresh grilled prawns on Amalfi Coast’s zesty lemon leaves. For prawns, I found them to be incredibly meaty and flavorful. It went very well with the accompanied sliced effervescent oranges, lemons and salad.
Our second appetizer dish was the Tuna Carpaccio that features a fanciful salmon. When the dish came in, I immediately smelled the aroma of fresh citrus. What a wonderful, very refreshing and flavorful dish. It astounds me just how much flavor fresh fish really provides – truly marvelous and fantastic. Elisir di Positano genuinely does pride themselves for their locally caught Mediterranean fish after all.
Our second course is made up of two types of pasta. The first is the Pappardelle Pasta with delectable clams. The pasta is quite wonderfully thick and gives a great base for the enticing clams. I was very thankful that the portions were quite generous. It is quite rare to find pasta that’s so proportionate to its seafood toppings. The clams came with their shells to demonstrate how fresh they are.
The second pasta dish is the Taglioni Pasta with tasty prawns and savory pesto basil. The lovely scent of fresh pesto and basil was indisputably noticeable when it was served on our table. The prawns are consistently flavorful as they are as meaty and delicious as the ones we enjoyed as an appetizer. I appreciate the way the café cuts the prawns as they are prepared for easy eating. A secret ingredient to this dish was the presence of pistachio in the pasta that contributes a slight gratifying sweetness to the overall taste. The fresh basil is from plants in the establishment. It was so mesmerizing to see the chef exit the kitchen to grab some produce, which are arranged all around the restaurant. The café has an impressive display of herbs, colorful fruits and regional vegetables. At first I thought they were just decorations but as soon as I started seeing the chef go around and pick from them, it just made me that much ecstatic about the freshness of the ingredients.
For dessert, we were informed that the café’s in-house chef makes the dessert on the spot that explains why there’s no fixed dessert menu. Evidently, this approach actually made it more exciting as we learned that the lovely Mrs. Carro, the owner’s engaging wife, also home makes an assortment of the desserts. We first sampled the most famous Delizia al Limone, also known as Amalfi Coast’s Lemon Delight, a sweet pastry featuring a perfect balance between the fresh lemon flavor without sourness or over-tartness. It may look simple but the flavors and its unique soft texture are extremely impressive. It actually reminded me of a lemon flan.
Next we enjoyed some Ricotta Pirra that was quite sweet and rich. The textures were complementary to the richness of the pastry. There was even a small cut of fruit, a pear (pirra), which was a nice and pleasant surprise that further elevated its flavor. The third dessert is the Smufaddi Amalficaddo. It may not look it but it is absolutely fantastic.
From the attentive Mr. & Mrs. Amborgio Carro, family owners who are greatly passionate in sharing their love for authentic Italian cooking, to the zesty, lusciousness of the dishes they prepare exclusive to the Amalfi region, this marvel of a gem is truly worth a visit on your journey to the romantic town of Positano in the Amalfi coast.
Thanks to Elisir di Positano | Viale Pasitea, 90, 84017 Positano SA, Italy | +39 089 875780