Restaurants in Puglia
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Gelateria Natale
One of the best ice-creams in Lecce is available here. You might have to queue but this will give you time to choose. It’s also a fabulous confectioner, gleaming with jewel-like treats, truffles, panna cotta and dark chocolate cakes that pool like oil slicks on golden plates.
reviewed
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Pizzeria Enzo e Ciro
The most celebrated pizzeria in town, tucked away down elegant Via Cardassi. The pizzas are wafer thin, the atmosphere boisterous and the beers as cheap as chips. Start with the mushroom antipasti - large frilly mushrooms grilled with a light cheese-and-breadcrumb topping.
reviewed
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Osteria al Gambero
Also recommended this is a good fish restaurant close to the port.
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La Ripa
Near the Chianca Amara, this family-run restaurant in a converted stable has lots of character - and plenty of half-melted candles that would do a goth proud. The meat and vegetables are home-grown and organic (as is the podolico cheese). For a pasta mouthful try the foglie d'ulivo con gamberi, rucola, ricotta e julienne di zucchini (olive-leaf shaped pasta with prawns, zucchini and rocket).
reviewed
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La Cantina Ti l'Artisti
An original restaurant, established by a family of artists right across from the cinema. The walls are lined with black-and-white photos and there's a great buzz in here when the place fills up with Brindisi's bohemian crowd which comes for the occasional live music. The food is traditional, with local dishes like taiedda di riso patate e cozze (a dish of rice, potatoes and mussels).
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Cucina Casareccia
Ring the bell to gain entry here. This place feels more like a private home, with its patterned cement floor tiles, desk piled high with papers, and charming owner Carmela Perrone. She’ll whisk you through a dazzling array of Salentine dishes from the true cucina povera (cooking of the poor), including horsemeat done here in a salsa piccante (spicy sauce). Booking is a must.
reviewed
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Trattoria da 'Vito'
This place is so obvious that you'll probably walk right past it, but that would be a huge mistake. Da 'Vito' serves up the freshest fish in Brindisi in a nice vaulted restaurant. Expect your fish antipasti to be served crudo (raw) and look out for the rare schiuma di mare (literally 'foam of the sea'), a mass of gelatinous baby fish served with lemon, olive oil and pepper.
reviewed
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Il Trullo d'Oro
Hidden behind the main drag in the new town is this cute trullo restaurant. Start with a dizzying array of stuzzichini (literally 'stimulants') - fried black olives and green peppers, eggplant, wild mushrooms and fried dough-balls - before ploughing through generous plates of pasta and on to thin salsiccie sausages or morsels of veal wrapped in pancetta.
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L'Osteria di Zio Aldo
A candle flicker from the cathedral, this osteria is overseen by ebullient Aldo Massimo, who seems a celebrity chef in the making. Passion and eccentricity produce some memorable dishes where traditional antique plates are given a unique interpretation. There's no menu - the waiters give you the low-down. Ask for red wine with fish at your peril.
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Terranima
Peep through the lace curtains into the cool interior of this rustic trattoria. Worn flagstone floors and period furnishings make you feel like you're dining in someone's front room. The menu features earthy offerings like capocollo (thin slices of lard), potatoes and cardoncelli mushrooms, and sporcamusi (lemon custard in filo pastry).
reviewed
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Al Focolare da Emilio
An unobtrusive restaurant which attracts a crowd of lunching families and local bigwigs. The décor is plain, but the food is something to shout about, especially the homemade pasta dishes. When ordering pasta it's best to order the same dish as it's all cooked on the spot and can take some time. The tagliatelle with mussels is their signature dish.
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Trattoria di Nonna Tetti
A warmly inviting restaurant that is popular with all ages and budgets and serves a wide choice of traditional dishes. Try the most emblematic Pugliese dish here – braised wild chicory with a puree of boiled dried fava beans, along with very more-ish contorni (side dishes) like patate casarecce (home-made thinly sliced fries).
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Alberosole
Dine alongside bankers in Brioni suits at this elegant restaurant. The contemporary menu is complemented by a traditional dining room, complete with old stone floor and cathedral ceiling. The linguine con gamberi di Gallipoli, pesto di fave fresche e zenzero (linguine with prawns, fava bean pesto and ginger) comes recommended. Reserve ahead.
reviewed
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Alle due Corti
For a taste of sunny Salentina, check out this no-frills, fiercely traditional restaurant. The seasonal menu is classic Pugliese, written in a dialect that even some Italians struggle with. Go for the real deal with a dish of tajeddha (layered potatoes, rice and mussels) or ciceri e tria (crisply fried pasta with chickpeas).
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Scoglio delle Sirene
With tables out on the ramparts overlooking Purita beach, this restaurant couldn't get much closer to the sea if it tried. The kitchen is devoted to all things marine: mussels with gorgonzola, macaroni with prawns and mint, and great big lobsters that you have to do battle with. The word is, if you can't afford La Puritate, come here instead.
reviewed
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Al Cantinone
Run by a charming Italian-Spanish couple who have a passion for cooking; the food is exceptional and exquisitely presented. Try the asparagus risotto or penne with fave beans, potatoes and pecorino cheese. Out of the approximate 100 restaurants in town, this is one of the 15 or so that stays open all year – hooray!
reviewed
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Picton
This backstreet restaurant has an elegant dress-for-dinner feel. It is housed in an old palazzo with a cool barrel-vaulted interior and a refreshing internal garden, and the cuisine is traditional with a twist, including dishes such as saltimbocca (veal dish with sage and prosciutto meaning ‘leap in the mouth’).
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Al Grottino
Since 1918 Al Grottino has been dishing up pizzas and is one of the best pizzerie in town. See if you can name the famous Italian actors in the photo montage on the wall. If the pizza was good enough for them…. Try the house special pizza quatro formaggi con salsiccia piccante. Pizza is only served at night.
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Al Buco Preferito
It doesn't look like much, but Al Buco has a port side location and is frantically busy due to the fact that it serves up myriad different varieties of wafer thin pizza on wooden boards. Most folk sink a few cocktails at the nearby Caribbean Bar and then try and cajole the staff to find them a seat amid the crowded tables.
reviewed
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Vini e Cucina
Run by the same family for more than a century, this boisterous osteria (wine bar serving some food) chalks up its daily specials of well-prepared and filling Pugliese dishes. Grab a seat in the brick-flanked tunnel of a dining room and wait (and wait) to be served by the one impressively indefatigable waiter.
reviewed
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Osteria degli Spiriti
Possibly the best restaurant in Lecce with the Slow Food badge of approval and an intimate vaulted dining room. The menu is also more varied than usual with some Sicilian-inspired dishes such as caponata and arancini. Otherwise, the orecchiette with chickpeas and clams and the lamb stand out.
reviewed
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La Locanda di Federico
An elegant restaurant in the corner of Piazza Mercantile. Its pseudo-medieval décor - colourful canvases of crusading knights - is tasteful and the service is impeccable. The focus is on simple seasonal dishes, including risotto with potatoes and mussels, horsemeat in a tomato ragu, as well as fresh fish.
reviewed
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Trattoria Amatulli
Excellent trattoria with a cheerily cluttered interior papered with photos of smiley diners, plus superb down-to-earth dishes like orecchietta al ragù con carne (‘little ears’ pasta in a meat-and-tomato based sauce). Wash it down with the surprisingly drinkable house wine costing the lordly sum of €4 a litre.
reviewed
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La Bella Idrusa
In a prime position right by the huge Porta Terra, this may seem like an obvious tourist trap. But go inside and you'll see it's one of Otranto's most popular pizzerie serving enormous pizza Napolitana. It is also the one place that will be full outside high season when many restaurants are pitifully empty.
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La Cantina
Although tourists have discovered this place, it has maintained the high standards established back in 1958. There are just seven tables and one frenetic waiter, who serves dishes like tagliolina (fettuccine-style pasta) with porcini mushrooms and chestnuts, grilled meats and superb seasonal vegetables.
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