For a mellower literary meal, try IS THERE A NUTMEG IN THE HOUSE?
We just nodded, feeling mellow after a meal that did seem to be the essence of the island: pasta with fresh artichokes and homemade chilli oil, a splendid grey mullet (caught the night before by Dino, out in his boat with a harpoon), and a beautiful lemon cake.
Soups are one of the strong suits in that part of the world and they are here, especially the mellow carrot-flecked meal-in-itself lima bean ($4.50) brew.
A flask of "pigdincello" arrives at the end of the meal, a mellow liqueur they make from vodka, lemon and herbs, and a delicious piece of real hospitality.
It is easy to make a fetish of Sichuan cuisine's numbing heat, but a balanced meal requires mellower dishes, like the boulders of ground pork and water chestnuts, giant meatballs nearly liquid inside, adrift in a vivid green-flecked soup.
They gorge on honey, in preparation for a quick exit, and, like humans, they mellow out after their big meal.
But at his new restaurant, where he is in charge of the whole meal, he seems to have mellowed.
The combination of three gourmet meals a day and limited activity – mellow hikes, dinghy rides, trips to the sauna – was only going to lift one thing to another plane: my midriff.
Salvaje del Moncayo La Garnacha, Spain 2014 (£8.99, majestic.co.uk) For the roast lamb that will be at the heart of my own Easter Sunday meal, the splash out option would be a mellow mature traditional old Rioja.
Our meal starts with winkles to wiggle out of inky shells and dab into mellow, scarlet cabbage vinegar, and finishes with a dense chestnut and chocolate tart of architectural perfection.
