The best restaurants Apulia

A correct pizzeria if you want to dine on the Galilei lungomare with a glass of Primitivo.

In this restaurant, you can only treat yourself! The chef Daniele Caldarulo, and Emilio at the service, always with a smile on his face, will know how to pamper you to give the best of their cuisine. Excellent pizzas, like the whole menu. On the menu, tartars, risottos and pasta with a thousand flavours, fish with unimaginable recipes... The ricotta cake with its caramel cream is a delight, as is the dark chocolate cake with its white chocolate flowing, excellent value for money and very good wines.

A festival of the senses, a culinary and human discovery: this is what Gigi, the young chef of Scinuà (pronounced "Chinese") offers you. At the entrance, a sign: "The greatest success in the kitchen is to fill your stomach with imagination": the tone is set! You could well enjoy the best meal of your trip here. Red carrots, ancient vegetables and other surprises are cooked with art and know-how. Vegetarian dishes, meats, desserts: everything is a delight. And for an extraordinary price-quality ratio. To discover absolutely!

Just behind the port of Monopoli, a carriage entrance opens onto an inner courtyard and a hall with a successful industrial decoration, chic but not stuffy. This address has recently become the ambassador of Puglia's greediness. Fine, mischievous and precise cuisine in a marine register. Numerous proposals of raw seafood products, to be combined as desired, pasta dishes between peasant traditions and noble ingredients, some meats. In short, we fell in love with this special place, very gourmet, and which offers reasonable prices as a bonus.

An unusual setting for a meal at the water's edge, a trabucco where fishingnets are cut out against the sea in the background. The Ottaviano family, owners of the trabucco for five generations, concocts traditional or more innovative recipes with the fish caught in the fishing nets and the vegetables from the Peschici vegetable garden. Very pleasant also for the aperitivo, with a glass of Apulian wine accompanied by some seafood. Live jazz sessions in summer. This small refuge, once a secret place, is now known by many tourists.

We fell in love with this organic restaurant! Nestled in a beautifully restored traditional trulli house, you can sit under the vaults or on the veranda facing the vegetable garden where the owners pick the vegetables in front of you. Short circuit guaranteed! The welcome is warm and humble, and the decoration, with its menus and quotes written directly on the walls, contributes to this enveloping atmosphere. One feels good at Terra Madre and the cuisine, multi-vitamin and delicately cooked, is a parade of flavours.

An address not to be missed if you are passing through Savelletri. Fish and seafood are served raw. They are of course very fresh because you are here in a fishmonger's shop. "No salt or olive oil": this is the advice of the owner, Vito, to get the best possible taste of the sea. The large carpaccio allows you to taste about six different fish and seafood, depending on the day's catch. Many tartars and the possibility of choosing oysters, shrimps, etc., individually. To be accompanied by a good glass of local white wine.

Prepare yourself for a sweet journey of scents and flavours orchestrated by the great (and very modest) chef Pietro Zito, a true ambassador of Puglia's cuisine, of the raw materials offered by its generous land, of the know-how of its producers. Here is a place where you feel as if you were invited to a friend's house. You can see the cooks happily stirring through a bay window, the atmosphere is cosy, authentic. A traditional cuisine made with fresh seasonal produce, many of which comes from the nearby vegetable garden. A delight.

Authentic Salento cuisine and products from zero mileage: this is the guarantee of this osteria, open since 1999 and run by Salvatore Campilongo aka Totu, who always keeps an eye on the dining room and an eye on the kitchen. Expect to find a casareccia cuisine, "like at home", without fuss but always generous. The menu satisfies all tastes, from hearty antipasti to share, fresh fish and typical meat dishes like turcinieddrhi.

As the name suggests, theosteria is located near the Santa Maria Maggiore cathedral, in the historic centre. Its cuisine is unpretentious but quite good. The menu offers many regional fish and seafood specialties, with orecchiette with cime di rapa e vongole (shellfish), soups and fried sea food, pasta with shellfish bisque, all fresh and cooked with simplicity. The products of the land are also represented, with some meat dishes and platters of mozzarella and cured meats.

One of Bari's emblematic addresses, where you can enjoy local cuisine in a chic atmosphere, with a small covered terrace and a rather "proper" clientele. Particular attention is paid to the choice of local and seasonal raw materials and to the freshness of the fish and seafood from the Adriatic Sea, which are grilled or served as raw and cooked antipasti. Lovers will rush to the large sea urchin platters. Homemade pasta and a fine selection of wines. Close to the Petruzzelli theatre.

The regulars' meeting place! Here you can find ultra-fresh seafood and Bari specialities, such as the simple and delicious riso potato e cozze (a traditional dish which, as its name suggests, consists of rice, potatoes and mussels, all baked in the oven), the polpo arrosto in panino (grilled octopus sandwich), or the crispy fried fish. You pay first at the cash register where you receive a number, then you pick up your order when it's ready! Typical and popular, all with a view of the small harbour, almost with your feet in the water.

A narrow room, stone and ceiling ceiling, located next to the old town. Typical dishes of the region without a map. Please know that the antipasti and dessert are imposed without any choice. Side menu, three entries and two dishes (meat or fish). On the way out, a night walk to enjoy along the walls.

It's not easy to offer vegan cuisine without resorting to the endless soy steaks! The challenge is taken up by this address which finds its inspiration in the diversity of the beautiful products of the land of Puglia, declined in unexpected associations, embellished with wild herbs, spices, dried fruits. It's good, it's tasty, and the simple reading of the map creates curiosity. To be tested with children (without announcing the colour beforehand) to be able to observe them delightfully swallow the vegetables they sulk at home!

Close to the station, in a modern room with a careful and design decoration, the Peppo offers at any time of the day traditional dishes (cavatelli with wild boar and cardoncelli mushrooms) and more innovative suggestions (tuna in taralli crust), plates that are both generous and aesthetically pleasing. Young and dynamic team; behind the bay window you can see the staff busy in the kitchen. Good selection of wines of the day. In the morning, you can have breakfast there. A pleasant address with good value for money.

Situated at the entrance to the old town, in the pretty and romantic Piazza Mercantile, La Cecchina offers a fine cuisine and well-stocked plates. Choose between the interior setting, where the modern decoration harmonizes with the old stones and the vaulted ceiling, or the terrace overlooking the square and the first buildings of the old town. In both cases, an ideal place for a successful candlelight dinner. Typical Apulian recipes, fresh fish of the day, good pasta, and a beautiful wine list.

You really have to know the place or be caught by the tasty smells of the pizzas on the street to get to this small place, located next to the Santa Chiara church. An arty atmosphere, very colorful and warm, with a choice of six kinds of pizzas of all sizes to eat in or take away. Large rectangles sprinkled with cheese, mushrooms, salmon, arugula and other flavorful ingredients are displayed, offering a pleasure for the eyes that will be confirmed by that of the taste buds. Nice selection of local beers.

On the large terrace on the edge of Piazza Mercantile, or in the cosy room with partially exposed stone walls, one can appreciate the atmosphere of this address and its simple and well-made Apulian local cuisine. The menu takes us on a journey from Bari, with its fresh fish and orecchiette alla brasciola (slowly simmered meat rolls), to the Itria Valley with its cold meats and bombette (slices of pork stuffed with local cheese). Antipasti of land and sea in profusion.

A trendy establishment that offers a concept of street food from the sea to be enjoyed take away or on the spot. A whole range of raw fish and seafood, in tartar or carpaccio, or cooked in fried and panini, accompanied by grilled vegetables and enhanced with a touch of organic olive oil are prepared before your eyes. La Pescaria also offers its vegan menu, which is very popular here in southern Italy! But beware, this new place is also a victim of its own success and will certainly ask you to be patient on weekends!