Above the sea. All year round.

Italian kitchen above the sea of Durrës, from seven in the morning until one at night, 365 days a year.

Rruga Agaveve, Durrës

The place

Every rooftop in Durrës is above the city. This one is above the sea.

There is nothing between the tables and the water. No road, no promenade, no other building. You sit, you look out, and the only thing in front of you is the Adriatic.

It is not a claim about taste. It is a fact about the address — and it is the one thing here that nobody else in this city can copy without moving a building.

The kitchen

Italian hands, Albanian sea.

Porto Vivo is a seafood restaurant in Durrës. The raw bar is cut to order — oyster, langoustine, tiger prawn, sea bass carpaccio. Fish is sold whole, by weight, so you choose it before it is cooked. Pasta is Rummo, risotto is Carnaroli, and the dishes this coast has always made are still on the page: japrak rolled by hand, tavë spinaqi, fish soup made with the catch of the day. The wine list is Italian and Albanian.

• Mix krudo — the whole raw bar, per person1.600 L
• Catch of the day, whole, by weight3.500–9.500 L/kg
• Caviar & Tito’s vodka, ten grams5.000 L
• Coffee on the sea, from seven07:00

October to April

When the coast closes, the light here stays on.

Most of the Albanian coast shutters in November and reopens in May. We don't. Forty minutes from Tirana there is still a table above the water, a kitchen running, and coffee at eight on a morning when the sea is rough. Birthdays, anniversaries, Sunday lunch, the dinner that needed somewhere to happen.

The Blog

All entries

Guide · Durrës

Where to eat genuinely good fish in Durrës

How to tell a fish restaurant that buys well from one that doesn't.

Guide · View

The restaurant with the best view in Durrës

Above the city, or above the sea? The difference decides your table.

Guide · Evening

Rooftop with live music and the best sea view

An evening in Durrës with a DJ set, the sea, and a dinner worth staying for.