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Last week, touring the Phlegrean Fields, I visited one of the historical restaurants in Bacoli, La Bifora.

It was opened in 1984 by Amedeo Grande and Maria Cristina Palma who worked in the kitchen. Now it is managed by Amedeo’s son, Michele, and his grandmother Maria who prepares the traditional dishes from the Phlegrean Fields.

Michele is also the co-owner of the Astaco & Cielo bar located in Bacoli, on lake Miseno, another place which can’t be missed by those who want to discover the charm of this land.

La Bifora is located in Bacoli, in the Fusaro neighbourhood, near the villa by Vanvitelli who was restored recently and is often the set of films like Pinocchio by Comencini with an unforgettable Mastro Geppetto interpreted by Nino Manfredi.

The near Ostrichina room, included in the Phlaegrean Field regional Park, will be a place of fine taste and will house meetings, internships, a market of local products and many other initiatives by the Slow Food and Campi Flegrei a Tavola Associations.

In short, this is an ideal place for those who want to enjoy a special day. You can come here by the historical Cumae railway which goes through the coast road as far as the Fusaro station. Here there is an embarrassingly wide choice of interesting places, there are the mythological Baths of Baia and La Sibilla winery whose owner is the Di Meo family (it can be visited, you have to book).

There is also the Fusaro park, lake Fusaro and La Bifora restaurant ahead.

You will be welcomed by Michele who works both in the room and in the kitchen. His grandmother Maria is a shy old woman, you can just perceive her presence thanks to the scents of her dishes.

The ambiance is warm and cosy, the atmosphere is intimate and homely, above all in winter when the clients chat near the fireplace and sip handmade typical infusions.

For this reason this restaurant still suprizes the clients, regular customers and food and wine connoisseurs.

There are local antique trade furnishings and hundred-year-old utensils which remind us of the old days.

They propose a simple but original seafood cuisine, the excellent raw materials are cooked in a traditional way. The seafood is from Bacoli.

The starter includes many dishes which alone are worthy of the journey.

I started my meal with a Prosecco wine (it should be replaced by one of the very good local sparkling wines obtained from the Falanghina grape in order to promote the territory and the local wineries).

Then I ate delicious raw seafood including “mussoli” (a very rare fish), Venus clams, king prawns, cuttlefish and calamari.

I recommend a special kind of octopus in the Genoese style which is different from the classic one as it is brick red and smooth, I soaked pieces of fried dough in the sauce…it was delicious.

When the raw materials are of high quality also an octopus salad or stewed octopus, of the right consistency, can’t be considered banal starters.

I also ate razor shells au gratin and then I enjoyed two first courses, risotto with lobsters and peppers, with a light touch of sweetness due to the lobsters and the peppers, and the “caserecce” fresh pasta with pumpkin and local mussels.

I drank a Greco di Tufo wine produced by Cantina dell’Angelo, this is a very fresh and mineral wine which I particularly appreciated at the “Parlano i vignaioli” event. The wine-list should be improved, it includes good wines from the area and Campania.

You can finish your meal with a good chocolate flan (70% fondant chocolate) or the one with white chocolate.
 

You will roughly spend 35-40 Euros.

Rosario Mattera

Traduzione in italiano su http://www.lucianopignataro.it/a/bacoli-la-bifora/9238/