Ristorante Caruso Hotel Caruso, Italy

Your jaw will drop when you see the terrace view, then your mouth will water as you try the amazing local ingredients at the Ristorante Caruso in Ravello, Italy

I have eyes only for the fading light of dusk over the olive trees and grapevines of the Amalfi coast, the fairy lights that twinkle where land meets sea and the gentle mist moving in over the Gulf of Salerno.

On this balmy, early September evening, I am sitting on the al fresco terrace of Ravello's newly reopened, five-star Hotel Caruso, literally hanging over the most glamorous and romantic shore-line in all of Italy. And I am nervous.

With very few exceptions, luxury five-star hotels conform to luxury five-star hotel cuisine: lethal quantities of truffles, foie gras, lobster and rich cream soups, and much pomp and ceremony. So it is with great relief that I find that Caruso chef Franco Luise has built his menu with a strong sense of regionality.

That means deep-fried anchovies stuffed with lettuce and marjoram, fresh scampi (langoustines) marinated in olive oil and Amalfi citrus, local scialatielli pasta with seafood sauce, and fresh whole fish delivered daily by the coastal fishermen, served with cherry tomatoes from Vesuvio, olives from Gaeta, capers and herbs.

You can have your shaved goose liver with spinach salad if you really must. Far better to start with an homage to the most famous product of the Amalfi coast: gorgeous, glossy, fresh mozzarella made from buffalo milk and shaped by hand into smooth, round balls.

A platter of mozzarellas and local tomatoes (£13) showcases a giant half-ball of creamy, curdy buffalo mozza from Battipaglia; sleek, chewy trecia (plaited mozza) from Sorrento; flawlessly smooth burrata and fior di latte (cow's-milk mozza), and pungent provola (fresh, runny, smoked mozza). The subtle, lactic, lightly nutty character of the cheese is spiked by an assortment of sweetly acidic tomatoes, including the famed plum tomatoes from San Marzano and sweet, fruity cherry tomatoes from Vesuvio and Corbara. A deep green corsage of long, pointy-leaved basil is the most basilly basil I have ever had.

More local pleasures arrive in the form of paccheri (£15), large floppy pasta tubes made from durum wheat in nearby Gragnano, served with a light rockfish sauce made from "cuoccio", a local gurnard-type fish and cherry tomatoes from Vesuvio. The pasta is relentlessly al dente, and the sauce, correctly, coats rather than smothers. It is rustic and peasantish, which makes a fine contrast to my sophisticated surrounds.

Local wines are also well represented, with a large slice of the 48-page wine list devoted to Campania, including the region's highly regarded whites such as Falanghina and Greco di Tufo. The sommelier, Marianna Capotto - feisty, funny, knowledgeable - advises a citrus-scented Colli di Lapio Fiano di Avellino 2003 (£31) that is delicate and deeply refreshing.

Most of my fellow diners are, obviously, the sort of people who can afford to stay at this new jewel of the Orient-Express empire, so there are a lot of Roberto Cavalli dresses, casual jewels and Hollywood heels; the men in cool linen and I-own-a-yacht shoes worn without socks. Maître'd Giovanni Frusciante knows many of them from his time in Gstaad.

One of the most prized fish caught off the Amalfi coast, the pezzogna, a deep-sea spotted blue bream (£22), is cooked "all'acqua pazza" (in "crazy water"), a traditional southern Italian method of poaching fish in a bath of seawater, wine, olive oil and tomatoes. The fish is brought to the table whole, still wallowing in its tomatoey juices, in a large copper pan. It is quickly, skilfully, filleted and served bathed with its sauce, and it is as fresh and as sweet as fish can be. A squeeze of zesty, fresh-tasting Amalfi lemon - the secret of the famed local Limoncello liqueur - lifts the dish even further.

With the ocean in front of me, it's hard to be too interested in the veal escalopes, fillet of buffalo and rack of lamb. Far more alluring is a simple dish of five split scampi the size of small lobsters (£26), that have been grilled expertly so that they are golden and lightly scorched on the surface, and sweet and juicy beneath.

There being nothing better when in Italy than a slow stroll after dinner with a gelato, I pass on the rum baba with limoncello ice cream, delizia Amalfi lemon sponge and traditional aubergine and chocolate timbale. Any quibbles? The pianist. And giving my wife a menu without prices (she then pinches mine).

Ravello has several good restaurants cheaper than this one, and two other five-star hotels with the same killer views. So why eat here? The joy is in the fact that the very local produce is in the hands of chefs so proud of their own region that they offer it at its best, never dreaming of reshaping it through their own egos. You know exactly where on earth you are with every mouthful. As if, with that view, you were in any doubt. *

15. Ristorante Caruso Hotel Caruso, Piazza San Giovanni del Toro, 2, Ravello, Italy, tel: 00 39 089 858 801. Dinner daily, around £135 for two people, including wine and service

Scores 1-9 Stay Home And Cook 10-11 Needs Help 12 Ok 13 Pleasant Enough 14 Good 15 Very Good 16 Capable Of Greatness 17 Special, Can'T Wait To Go Back 18 Highly Honourable 19 Unique And Memorable 20 As Good As It Gets

Second helpings: Other restaurants with views

Holbeck Ghyll Holbeck Lane, Windermere, Cumbria, tel: 01539 432 375 From the oak-panelled dining room of this 19th-century former hunting lodge, you can make a meal of the prime Cumbrian views across Lake Windermere, to the mountains beyond. You can also make a meal of the solidly crafted French-based cooking, including seabass with Puy lentils and sauternes jus, and daube of beef with pomme purée and root vegetables.

Le Mont Urbis Centre, Cathedral Gardens, Manchester, tel: 0161 605 8282 Perched on the fifth and sixth floors of the gleaming steel-and-glass Urbis Centre ("the museum of the modern city"), this sleek modern restaurant enjoys panoramic views of Manchester's Exchange square and the city beyond. Also enjoyable are the closer views of chef Robert Kisby's Bresse pigeon with port sauce, red mullet with sauce bouillabaisse and lemon charlotte with blueberry compote.

Blueprint Cafe Design Museum, 28 Shad Thames, London SE1, tel: 020 7378 7031 Blag a window seat here, to take advantage of the glorious, in-your-face, up-your-nose views of the Thames and Tower Bridge. It's a fitting setting for Jeremy Lee's predominantly British-driven cooking, including jellied pork with pickles and toast, smoked-haddock fish cakes, and roast grouse with bread sauce.

Email Terry Durack about where you've eaten lately at t.durack@independent.co.uk