It was June 20, 1997 when the Comet company, chaired by Ivo Blandina, inaugurated the Marina del Nettuno port in Messina. Exactly ten years later it would be opened the restaurant-lounge bar of the same name, from which you can admire the Calabrian town of Villa San Giovanni in the distance (here we are a few metres from the Strait).
If the restaurant has been in the Michelin Guide for several years, the cocktail bar is writing an increasingly personal story, thanks to the work of the bar manager originally from Messina Christian Constantine, arrived here in 2017.
Marina di Nettuno, two souls in one sign
The restaurant-lounge bar we are telling you about today is located inside the Marina del Nettuno Yachting Club: the brand has two souls, each of which boasts an exclusive outdoor area that overlooks the members' boats and which in the evening wears a bright and intimate look.
If the restaurant prefers white tablecloths, black chairs, a white ceiling with wooden beams and parquet, the cocktail bar is a smaller space where the space dedicated to the preparation of cocktails is divided from the service space.
In winter, the parquet floor always provides the backdrop to the evenings hosted in an open room overlooking the port, while in summer the bar counter communicates without filters with the outdoor area, from which the waiters bring and collect orders.
The cocktail bar menu changes twice a year (the last one was on May 1st) and ranges between 15 signature, more sincere expressions of Christian Costantino's mixing, and classics, declined in two variants.
THE signature they work on two elements: seasonality and saleability. The menu features only creations linked to the time of year and bestsellers, i.e. the drinks most appreciated by customers.
The aim is to use paper to create culture around the classics, even in the signature section. Relax and smile It’s an Old Fashioned style, made with two types of whiskey – Jeam Bin and Laphroaig – salted lemon honey, chamomile and bay cordial and dry bitter tonic instead of soda. The reason for the name? “On the rim of the glass is a gummy bear, which can make anyone smile”.
The Negroni in white revisits a great classic, with gin, white vermouth, bergamot rosolio flavored with basil and frozen watermelon cubes, which flavor the drink as you drink it.
“The Artist takes up my great passion, which is expressed here with a sour – gin, lemon, almond, peach cordial and basil – and with an edible rice wafer, on which is depicted the work of Banksy Girl with Balloon (The Girl with the Balloon)”. Several cocktails on the menu focus on another aspect: the nutritional one.
Thus, the Negroni AntiAge is made with turmeric honey, lemongrass infusion and celery, An Apple a Day is a Margarita with tequila, lemon, green apple and bergamot cordial, dehydrated celery crust, edible apple paint, while the Gim let it be It's a twist on the Gimlet, a cocktail created to help sailors against scurvy. Three multivitamin ingredients, bay leaves, turmeric and dandelion, were added to the lime cordial, and to complete the recipe, gin and a cotton candy of orange, grapefruit and lemon.
The proposal also talks about the territory: Sicilian gins are used in the menu, sea water, hemp oil drops, olive and carob leaf infusion, prickly pear, limoncello, zibibbo, garden herbs, and so on.
The classics are instead prepared both from a traditional recipe and in the do-it-yourself formula, in which the customer can choose the distillate for your favorite classic from a range of 14 gins, 4 tequilas and 6 vodkas.
The restaurant and the attention to sustainability
As for the restaurant, the kitchen elegant and refined is guided by the chef Anoj Sandaruwan, which highlights the local fish paired with homemade pasta, bread and desserts with local ingredients and ancient grains.
The menu consists of four dishes per course, each prepared with 3-4 ingredients. Technique and creativity are used with mastery and never for stylistic purposes only: they are often functional to revisit iconic dishes of local and national culture, like the raw seafood with caper caramel, mustard and passion fruit; Anchovy a beccafico, with lemon sauce and crispy bacon; Linguine with prawns, with cream of peppers and toasted pine nuts, or Baked sea bass, with orange honey and sautéed vegetables. The desserts once again speak the local dialect, especially in the Cassata millefeuille.
The choice of pairing ranges from bubbles, Italian and foreign, to rosé wines, white wines And red, which include some island labels. Cocktail pairing is not offered, but you can choose your favorite drink from the menu and pair it with the dishes as you like.
The Marina del Nettuno port is one of two in all of Sicily to have obtained the Blue Flag recognition. The reason? The commitment to environmental issues carried out for years and which is evaluated according to 33 criteria - from the suitability of the water to the separate collection - by a Danish NGO, the Foundation for Environmental Education, has proven to be excellent.
As evidence of its interest in the environment, the port has also signed the “LifeGate Plastic Less” project several years ago, which aims to remove plastic from the sea. And, precisely for this reason, the restaurant does not use plastic and serves its customers a menu made with eco-sustainable, recyclable paper and with zero CO emissions.2.
Who is Christian Costantino?
Born in Messina in 1985, Christian Costatino studies Communication and Education Sciences, subjects that he will combine with his passion for art in his work as a barman.
His first experiences at the age of 21 saw him working in discos and clubs in the province. Then he climbed the ladder towards the research cocktail bars, first as a bartender and, for the last two years, as bar manager and director of the structure of La Marina del Nettuno in Messina. His favorite cocktail? Martini. His favorite spirit? Gin.
