The Japanese restaurant that takes on the best in the world

Open since 2001, Ossidiana is the oldest Japanese restaurant in Catania — and one of the few in Italy that can stand comparison with Europe’s best sushi bars.

Sashimi and nigiri prepared to order with carefully chosen fish. Inventive gunkan with truffle, salmon roe and sea urchin. Omakase tastings put together by the chef. The design is spare, the kitchen is open, the room is intimate. The service follows the Japanese idea of hospitality — present, never intrusive.

People who know it say the quality is comparable to addresses like Yamazato in Amsterdam or Umu in London, but at prices that stay human — between eighty and a hundred and fifty euros a head.

A Sicilian restaurant competing with the world’s top chefs. That is not sales talk: it is what the regulars say.

Via Conte Ruggero 4, Catania. Dinner only, closed Sundays. Booking advised: +39 095 505502