The restaurant in Pesaro where eating is as fun as going to the beach

At a certain point, towards the end of dinner, just before dessert, someone at Nostrano in Pesaro brings you a colouring book, tears out a page and hands it to you along with a box of felt-tip pens in every colour. The drawing depicts a beach scene, in our case a series of towels spread out on the sand, ready to be filled with sunbathers at will. At first, we were shy, but then we couldn’t stop, and when the dessert arrived – for which the pastime was meant to help us wait – we finished colouring with regret. Surely, this happens to almost everyone.

Having fun and making others have fun

This scene sums up the spirit of a meal at the restaurant that Stefano Ciotti from Riccione has led over the past ten years to earn a Michelin star and a score of 85 in the Gambero Rosso Italy Restaurants Guide. Ciotti is not a young man; born in 1973, he has surpassed the half-century mark, but he still wants to have fun – and consequently, to make others have fun. His restaurant, located in the centre of Pesaro, facing the sea and close to Arnaldo Pomodoro’s Sfera Grande (a modern symbol of the Marche city), is among the most delightful of the many we have visited over the past year. Ciotti embraces the possibility of mistakes and imperfections (the restaurant’s Instagram profile features various flawed, blurred, overexposed images of dishes) as an expressive tool for a mood that is never stiff or over-starched but rich in tiny folds, sometimes invisible, where the true spirit hides – and always, unfailingly, in colour.

Chef Stefano Ciotti, 51 years old

Marche über alles

Nostrano is yet another demonstration of how the Marche region is one of the most vibrant gastronomic areas of Italy, represented at the highest level by Mauro Uliassi and Moreno Cedroni (the famed derby of Senigallia), Davide Di Fabio at La Gioconda in Gabicce Monte, Errico Recanati of Andreina in Loreto, and Richard Abou Zaki at Retroscena in Porto San Giorgio. The Marche region revels in its remoteness from much – if not everything – which inevitably turns interesting tables into destinations, granting chefs freedom and perhaps a touch of recklessness. Ciotti opened Nostrano nearly ten years ago, in July 2015 (a big celebration is planned), after numerous experiences across Italy, and he has slowly transformed it into the place he wanted it to be: a welcoming, bright restaurant where the sea floods the dining room through large windows without being evoked by kitschy decor. After all, Ciotti knows well that this land has always been as much about farmers as it has about fishermen and that it has always fed itself not just with fish stews and clam spaghetti.

Colombaccio

A day at the seaside

Despite this, his main menu is called A Day at the Seaside, and it playfully teases many clichés of the seaside atmosphere, which, for him – a Romagnolo born by the beach – is a personal memory. His menu features the 21st-century Gratinated Tomato, a contemporary take on a classic beach picnic side dish, revisited with crunchy bread coated in frozen wild garlic oil; a Cucciolone (ice cream sandwich) filled with smoked foie gras cream and a Verdicchio passito wine ice cream with drops of traditional balsamic vinegar; a Sea Spritz created with a marine bitter that Ciotti developed in collaboration with bartender Oscar Quagliarini; and a final Croccantino, mimicking an ice cream with praline, salted and caramelised peanuts, and Candiano cherries, made with sheep's milk yogurt.

Peas and sorrel

Summer hits

Of course, there are also dishes that go beyond simply humming a summer hit from the Eighties. There’s a fine Spring Oyster, a Gillardeau oyster dressed with an oyster sauce, garlic, oil, chilli, a touch of miso, all served on a shiso, basil, and green apple sorbet with pickled spicy strawberries and shallots. There are Peas with sorrel and a remarkable Squacquerone cheese aged for three weeks in a jar with rice koji (a result far removed from any theme-park impression one might have had). There's Tonnato Lamb, where the lamb is aged under salt in the fridge to achieve a salami-like texture, and fish plays a secondary role, serving only as a condiment. There are Red Mullet and Foie Gras Buttons topped with Paccasassi (wild herbs typical of the Conero area), and Campofilone Maccheroncini cooked in potacchio with citron and seaweed. There's Woodpigeon marinated in koji, served with whisky Béarnaise, candied green figs and turnip tops, and a Barbecued Guinea Fowl Skin Skewer.

How much it costs

The wine list pays due homage to the territory but "with judgement", and it is curated by the excellent Ion Chelici. There are also juices and extracts offered as an alternative to the wine glasses. The environment is elegant with a touch of modernism: pink marble tables without tablecloths, designer seating, and large windows. The A Day at the Seaside menu costs €120; there are two other tasting routes (six courses for €100, four for €75), as well as an extended à la carte option.