Puglia sums up all that is best about Mediterranean cuisine:
top-quality local produce (including olives, tomatoes, courgettes,
chickpeas, some of Italy's best cheeses and a succulent range of
fruits) combined and prepared in the simplest of ways, without fancy
sauces.
Friselle - crunchy bread rings, softened in water, are best sampled
with a topping of tiny local tomatoes, olive oil and oregano.
The traditional local pasta - Orecchiette or 'little ears' - is
classically served with cime di rape (turnip tops).
Puglia's historic links with the Arab and Byzantine worlds led local
cooks to experiment with spices, chilli (which goes in olio santo, the
local, fortified olive oil) and aubergines.
White fish was always a rich man's luxury, but 'poor' seafood such as
mussels, sea urchins and anchovies have a solid place in the regional
tradition.
Some of the best local restaurants are family operations that have gone
upmarket without betraying their home-cooking roots.
IN
CAROVIGNO
GIA SOTTO L'ARCO
Corso Vittorio Emanuele 71 (00 39 0831 996 286).
Owner Teodosio Buongiorno took over this traditional osteria from his
parents in 1998 and turned it into one of Puglia's top restaurants. The
interior is jazzily elegant, the cuisine is adventurous but still
faithful to local tradition in dishes such as pasta with ricotta and
wild fennel on a base of sour tomato sauce and pigeon with redcurrant
sauce. The desserts, too, are a treat, and the final bill is
gratifyingly light. Closed Monday.
IN
TRANI
TORRENTE ANTICO
Via Fusco 3 (00 39 0883 487 911).
This is the fiefdom of chef-sommelier Savino Pasqua di bisceglie, who
has one of the longest wine lists - not to mention surnames, in
southern Italy. Inside, a few tables are laid out in a small,
barrel-vaulted room with bare sandstone walls. The menu varies
according to the day's catch; raw oysters with walnuts could be an
improvised antipasto; a primo might consist of a delicate tagliolini
with courgette flowers, mussels and mint, while secondi are dominated
by fresh grilled fish and seafood. Closed Sunday evening and Monday.
IN
LECCE
PICTON
Via Idomeneo 14 (00 39 0832 332 383).
This does a fine line in upmarket local cooking, both land- and
sea-based, at a surprisingly reasonable price. Closed Monday.
Puglia also has an army of unpretentious osterie where you can eat well
at a reasonable price. These include:
MINERVINO
MURGE
LA TRADIZIONE
Via Imbriani 11-13 (00 39 0883 691 690).
Located in Minervino Murge, not far from Castel del Monte, this is a
good place to try two local autumn specialities, tunacedde snails and
cardoncelli mushrooms. Closed Thursday.
OSTUNI
L'OSTERIA DEL TEMPO PERSO
Via Tanzarella 47 (00 39 0831 303 320). At this osterie in Ostuni, the
selection of antipasti are a meal in themselves. Evenings only, closed
Monday.
MONOPOLI
OSTERIA PERRICCI
Via Orazio Comes 1 (00 39 080 937 2208).
Closed Wednesday. At this unbelievably good-value family trattoria in
the old town of Monopoli, you can feast on cavatelli ai frutti di mare
(short pasta with seafood), among the best in the region.
WINES
Local wines are good and getting better. Best-known of the reds are the
full-bodied Salice Salentino and Primitivo di Manduria, a strong,
almost black wine in which dedicated sniffers can detect strains of
pepper, tobacco and chocolate.
But for a really exceptional red, at a
price to match, seek out Patriglione, a wine produced in tiny
quantities by the Cosimo Taurino estate in Guagnano, near Brindisi.
Pulgia is also the only region in Italy to do a good line in
rosé, best exemplified by the Five Roses cru, turned out by
mega-winery Leone de Castris, which was the first rosé
bottled in Italy. If you see anything by Tormaresca, Francesco Candido
or Castel di Salve on the wine list, nab it before someone else does.
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