It wasn't long ago that eating along Mazzaro Beach meant tucking into one of the numerous family-owned beach club eateries that scatter the shoreline and enjoying a homemade fritto misto and plastic pint of beer. Some better than others, the atmosphere was almost always cheap and cheerful. But alas at the far northern section of the infamous rocky beach, Villa Sant'Andrea by Orient Express offers a seaside dining room and bar that puts the glitz back in the Taormina seaside. Captured under a cluster of mature pine trees and palm grove, a brick-lined courtyard just a few feet from the sand offers an outdoor dining room arranged in overtly formal chairs and white-clothed tabletops that's the must-book dining room of summer. The crowd is an aristocratic sampling of the new Taormina, showing offer their best beachside resortwear from Cavalli to Missoni.
The Food
Divided between a small outdoor cocktail lounge and large dining room, a seasonal menu is derived from Sicilian specialties utilizing locally-sourced ingredients and produce. By day, the restaurant acts as a compliment to the nearby beach club also used by the hotel’s sister-property the Grand Timeo. Dinner is a more formal affair with warm seafood salads drizzled in local olive oil, eggplant parmigana with tomato compote or sautéed squid as appetizers. Main course includes traditional chicken breast with rosemary, grilled shrimp scampi and rack of lamb in one of the prettiest dinner settings in all of Sicily.
Last Word
Beach club-style dining room and bar at Belmond's chic Villa Sant'Andrea along Mazzaro Beach in Taormina Mare.
