And finally to last nights street food tour. The tour is organised by Streaty who run tours in various italian cities. It was founded by a Palermo resident who will make a guest appearance later.
The group was scheduled to meet outside the theatre by 7pm and was supposed to be a full group of 12. After some waiting we eventually had 9 gathered, one cancellation and 2 missing by the time we departed to our first stop.
These food tours work best when the group gels and for this tour it was 50/50. The australian and british couples were not really interested in engaging with anyone but their partners, the Tunisian and German couples were fully engaged and great fun.
Stop 1 was Basilio Friggitoria Panneria where we were given bacom wrapped spring onion. I have no idea what the bacon had been seasoned with but you’ll hear no complaints from me on deep fried bacon. The spring onion however was just an oily slightly soggy nothing. This was accompanied with a bottle of Seme Dorato which, like all the evenings beers, was pleasing and refreshing.
It was here that our wayward guests appeared, an irish couple who could not find us at the meeting point. He seemed like a really nice guy and spent most of the time with his head in his hands at the antics of his very inebriated partner. She somehow quickly managed to insult and offend the Australian guys by taking exception to their sexuality! As we left stop 1 the owner of the tour company appeared, having been summoned by our guide, and took them aside to tell them they would not be continuing along with us.
Stop 2 was Furneria B.Bonnacorso to collect some delicious sicillian ‘pizza’ topped with cheese, onion, and anchovy and I am no ashamed to say I had second serving thanks to our missing guests.
Stop 3, just along the road, was Maggiore Taverna. This part of La Vuccurio was packed with people. Our guide tried his best to talk about the Sangue Siciliano in this incredibly noisy bar but managed to get to the point of ‘sicilian sherry’ simplifying it for the london ladies. It is a sweet wine, akin to Marsala and for me, reminiscent of Vermut but not as aromatic. Dangerously sweet, I’d have been happy to have another one, or two, or….
Stop 4 was the Dal Pannellaro Matto food cart. This offered three variations of fried food, a flattened chickpea disk, a spiced potato nugget, and another that is formed from both chickpea and potato. These were ok and reminiscent of indian fried goodies, and I would have loved something spicy to eat them with.
Stop 5 was the spleen and lung sandwich. Apparently Rocky is a Palermo institution and has been making these his entire life. Personally I didn’t get this one. You can see from the photo the immense amount of lard that goes into it, and for me it was a chewy lard and salt roll.
Stop 6 was Nui Franco u Vastiddaru for a deep fried cheese and ham sandwich. This was good, really crispy on the outside, not oily on the inside. I’d happily have many more of these. My arteries might not be as happy
Stop 7 was Ganci for a soft pastry bun filled with bolognese sauce. Once again, delicious, filling, and I could eat these all day long
Stop 8 was Lakala gelateria. This was the last stop of the night and here everyone was given a choice. A tub, a cone, or a traditional sicilian brioche. I chose the brioche, of course. Only one other person picked the brioche, everyone else was a more cautious. What our guide hadn't mentioned was the portion sizes varied. The tub was a serving, the cone was two servings, the brioche was stuffit full until you cannot carry it, at least 4 servings, possibly six, it was gigantic, and unwieldy and there was absolutely no way to photograph this so you will have to use your imagination! I had English soup, cookie, and dark chocolate in mine and it was delicious.
Our guide left us here and the australian and british couples wandered off leaving the rest of us to chat for a bit and review the tour amongst ourselves. Universal praise for our guide, Claudio, and we all agreed the tour met and exceeded our expectations taking us to places we would not have found on our own and food we would not have tried. A five star experience that I do not hesitate to recommend to others.