Best Budget Eateries Restaurants in Sicily

Local Recommendations from our My Guide Sicily team

Travelling on budget means eating at McDonalds? Not in Sicily - even if you could, but don't you dare!

At every grocery and butcher shop, in bars and cafes you'll find a range of panini on offer, fried rice balls called arancino, filled pastries like focaccia, parmigiana, caponata, and also pizza to go and pasta dishes. Stay away from sights and centres, walk a little further and you'll find restaurants which are usually no frills but provide honest cooking. Just look out for places where the locals go - you'll see well dressed business people eating in absolutely plain and simple trattorias and bars, together with workmen. We have dined at fishermen's tavernas, illuminated by garish neon lights, with plastic table cloths and paper napkins, where the wine is served in carafes and you drink it from a water glass. Not that we don't appreciate a dinner in sophisticated surroundings, but in these plain places we were served really good food and wine, and you get easily in contact with locals because all want to know why you are there.