Christmas Eve is a "lean" day in Catholic Italy, and the formal, celebratory meal in the south consists of many courses of fish.
The menu is divided into antipasti, pasta dishes (along with risotto and gnocchi), pizzas and main courses of fish and meat.
The solution was an appetizer course sampler of fish, pasta and salad.
Our lunch was an 18-course miracle of fish, eel and crustaceans, seasoned occasionally with his home-made soy sauce, and interspersed with sublime bamboo shoots, shots of iced hibiscus infusion and other treats.
You can also visit the fishing pier for great elevated views and of course, to fish.
Tripp Bowden, a former caddy at Augusta and the author of Freddie and Me, a memoir of his time spent apprenticing under a legendary August caddy master, says the course is full of fish.
As a meal progressed through the customary courses of soup, fish, fowl and meats, the wines traveled a parallel progression from light-bodied whites to bigger whites, lighter reds and heavier reds.
Ordinary citizens shouldn't miss the soba noodle restaurant, Roppongi Takeyabu, or the tempura place, Mikawa, where 20 courses of fresh fish are perfectly breaded under your nose by a master chef.
A main course of soft-fleshed fish is offset by crunchy almonds, and a dessert of chilied and spiced chocolate offers a pleasing balance -- the dark pudding after the white fish, richness following simplicity.
