"My husband and I took the train from Rapallo to La Spezia because we had read about andree. We are so glad that we did. We chose the three course lunch and liked that there were so many options for each course. Once we experienced the food and the perfect wine pairings, we can say that the quality/price ratio was outstanding. My husband saw beef and oysters on the menu, but since we don’t eat meat, Chef Andrea kindly prepared an extra off menu appetizer for him of three raw oysters. Our ordered appetizers were sweet succulent mussels in a velvety cauliflower cream sauce and a delicious artichoke heart with almonds and Castelmagno cheese. For our pasta course we chose the calamarta pasta with black eyed peas and rosemary and the tagliolini with clams both were delicious. For our secondi piatti my husband ordered the red mullet with broccoli, anchovies, pistachios, and a light orange sauce, while I chose today’s catch, which was amberjack wrapped in chard. We switched plates midway, and we were hard pressed to say which was better, because both were fantastic. Each of the courses was paired beautifully with lovely wines from small production vineyards. Unfortunately, we lingered too long over each course and realized after we had ordered dessert that we only had 30 minutes to catch our train back to Rapallo. They insisted that we eat dessert while they called us a cab, and while we wolfed it down (instead of savoring it the way we would have liked to), we only saw after we got back that they never charged us for dessert. Chef Andrea is an extremely talented chef and a warm and generous man who genuinely wants his diners to enjoy his food. What a pleasure it was to briefly make his acquaintance and to have the opportunity to experience this exquisite lunch."
