Da i Gemelli

Da i Gemelli is the Razzore-family-run Ligurian fish restaurant on Calata Marconi — the harbour-front pedestrian street one row back from the Piazzetta — and is the village's most reliable mid-tier seafood institution. The restaurant has run on the same harbour-front location since the 1980s and is, by reasonable consensus, the village's go-to address when Da Puny is booked out for the night.

The menu is recognisably Ligurian seafood. The signatures are the harbour-fresh primi: spaghetti alle vongole with hand-shucked clams that arrive each morning by boat; trenette al pesto with the original mortar-and-pestle preparation; a hand-rolled tagliatelle with Mazzara del Vallo prawns; a wood-fired Mediterranean sea-bass with rosemary and lemon confit; a Monterosso anchovy crudo with green olive; the famous 'fritto misto del Tigullio' — a mixed-fish fry of the Gulf's daily catch.

The wine list runs to 250 references with a Ligurian core — Cinque Terre Vermentino, Pigato from Albenga, Rossese from Dolceacqua — and a tightly chosen Tuscan and Piedmontese section. Glass pours start at €7 and the by-the-glass programme is one of the most generous in the village. The cocktail bar runs a serious aperitif programme that opens most lunch-and-dinner sessions.

The terrace is the experience — twenty tables along the harbour-front, a 270-degree view of the Calata Marconi pedestrian street and the moored fishing boats, and a south-facing afternoon-sun aspect that is the canonical Portofino lunch setting. The kitchen runs continuously through the afternoon, which makes Da i Gemelli the village's most reliable late-lunch destination. Service is family-run and Italian-warm; the captains have worked the room for years.

Da i Gemelli is the easy-first-date room in Portofino — quieter than Da Puny, less formal than the Belmond restaurants, and the harbour-front terrace's south-facing afternoon-sun aspect is the canonical Portofino lunch setting. The lunch-into-late-afternoon format gives a date a long, unhurried mid-day window without committing to a full evening. Book the corner two-top closest to the harbour view; order the fritto misto and a half-bottle of Cinque Terre Vermentino.