The Hungry Man goes to Palermo

I'm so exited to present a new (and handsome) collaborator to this blog: The Hungry Man!

I'm not gonna waste time with introductions, the name is already quite obvious.
To get to know him better just scroll down and read his first post about Palermo. 
Enjoy!

It's been awhile already since we took a short trip down to Palermo, but I felt the need to share some things about food and Sicily. You see, during the five months or so that we have been running around in Italy, I doubt that I have seen anything as chaotic as Palermo. And more chaos = more street food (just invented that).

So yeah, the first night there - as we landed pretty late - we took the advice to eat at a place our host recommended. Meh. Your run of the mill Italian place for locals. Good and affordable, but nothing that I would remember (I don't, actually).

So the next day we were hiking around the city, stumbling upon this auspicious (or was that suspicious, can´t recall) looking place at the corner with a small terrace. They offer everything you possibly would want to stick into a bread - and they did it without a smile (which I found comforting). So we ordered a couple of panini with salsiccia, and they were great. I mean great in that street way, when the atmosphere is basically making up for at least half of the meal. After eating out pretty much every weekend for god knows how long, it was more than amazing to just have your basic sandwich at a run-down place by the local corner.

Well so far this have just been rambling. The real thing I wanted to talk about happened at Saturday night. We were debating where to eat, when we happened to walk by this dark shitty alley. I mean it was shitty, but oh my god it really smelled good. You see, they were having this totally awesome barbecue in between the houses - and the fumes were just pouring out on the streets. You did not just have one huge bbq, but three. One for meat, one for fish and the third for octopus or calamari or whatever it was.

We went for a drink, to gather our thoughts. Then we followed the smell back, hungry hungry hungry. In the end it became a race to try everything they had. And let me tell you that fish sausage just blew our minds. I mean, we had fish with bread, fish without bread, shrimp, pork, unknown meat on stick and unknown meat rolled around unknown meat on stick - and all of it was great. But that fish sausage just left us plain drooling. I seriously doubt that we would have found better in any restaurant in the city. Couple this with great atmosphere, a not so cold February night with beer and you have a winner.

So if you are around Palermo and thinking about where to eat, just stop. Walk around and follow the smell, and it will reward you. Trust me on this one.  Check the images for confirmation, and consult the map for directions.

The Hungry Man.