We were sad to leave the Cinque Terre. We had really enjoyed our stay. My first instinct when planning our trip was to head back to Milan. But while planning things out, I watched Stanley Tucci's Searching for Italy and in the episode on Liguria he visited Genoa and basically indicated that it was the "home of pesto". The episode featured a restaurant, Il Genovese, yes I made sure to call Genoa, "Genova" during my time in Italy. Anyway, the owner of the restaurant established the Pesto World Championship. And heck, we'd had pesto almost everyday during our stay in Liguria, so it made sense to stay in the city, right?
It was a mere hour-and-a-half train ride from Monterosso to the main train station in Genoa. We were staying in near the Old Port, Porto Antico. It was an interesting half hour walk from the train station as we got an introduction to the Caruggi di Genova, the narrow alleyways of the city. Our hotel, the Best Western Hotel Porto Antico Genoa was right down one of these side streets. We had arrived too early to check in, so we stored our luggage and went for a walk.
Via di Sottoripa 113r
Genova, Italy
Edificio Millo, Calata Cattaneo 15
Genova, Italy
These seemed a bit over-stuffed, but heck, that shrimp was so good, I ain't complaining about proportion this time around.
Well, this was decent sized portion. The chicken was haphazardly chopped with pieces not completely sliced thru. Unlike the rather 
Sadly, this was just as bad as the version I'd had here 
If you're keeping score, that's the sisig with the rice and the dinakdakan in the container. Both were somewhat similar. The dinakdakan was mushier, lacking in sour tones, with quite a bit of liquid on the bottom of the container. It didn't have the creaminess I enjoy and the lechon had become rubbery. It seemed to be on the blander side of the scale.
Well, in terms of the chicken and sauce this was a pleasant surprise! The chicken had been nicely sliced, only two pieces with bones were on the plate; one wing and one part of a leg. The chicken was so moist and tender. But the highlight was definitely the sauce. It's usually too watered down; but this one had a good amount of ginger, but was both aromatic and not over-powering. It had a good amount of seasoning, but the star was the ginger. The chili sauce was way too sweet for me.
As for the other parts. Well, just by looking at that boiled egg you can see the greyish tone to the yolks which means it had been boiled too long. So yes, there was a bitter-sulfuric tinge to the dry and crumbly yolk. If you look closely, you'll see a piece of white-grey matter in the yolk. I took that out and didn't eat it.
Though I really couldn't make out truffle. This was bit too much for me in terms of cheese….yes, I know, it's a grilled cheese, but this really needed more than rich-milkiness. The tomatoes weren't ripe enough to add the sweet acidity to help cut the richness and there wasn't enough onion to add pungency. If you just want gooey cheese-land, this might work for you.
This was a pretty good sandwich; nothing fancy mind you, the turkey was totally Sysco stuff; but the bread was nicely toasted and held out well. The herbaceous-savory-nutty pesto, the sweetness of the roasted red peppers, the bitterness of the greens, the creamy, slightly sweet avocado all worked well together. And this was enough for both the Missus and I for a light brunch. I think we'll go ahead and add the bacon for an upcharge next time.
