12/02/2025: One of the most renowned restaurants in Ceglie. It offers traditional dishes reworked in a "dissident" way (Cit. menu).
Is it worth making a stop? Yes, assuming that we are a little higher than the average prices of local restaurants.
12/02/2025: His fame precedes him! We had wanted to come here for a long time, and we found the opportunity on a quiet Saturday in February.
The location is beautiful (as they now say), in the historic center of a well-kept Ceglie. The restaurant is divided into various rooms all in local stone and well kept; If I wanted to make a suggestion, I would try removing a couple of place settings per room, but the atmosphere is still pleasant and warm.
A nice menu based on local ingredients. Very focused on vegetables, grains and meat (as it should be). Dishes that also have a beautiful stage presence, but which are focused on substance and flavours; I found olfactory and gustatory references to dishes from my childhood, even if the appearance and consistency of what I had in front of me was completely different.
Bonus is the tasting of cheeses, which are refined by the owner: all (or almost all) produced in the area and all (or almost all) of the highest quality.
I would make a note on the quantities (especially the second courses); I had difficulty finishing the donkey stew (I never leave anything on the plate, my limit) and the flavour, excellent but intense, challenged me, but I repeat, it's my limit, and I could have asked for a "doggy bag", which I have to learn to do.
Courteous but somewhat alternating service; some difficulty in indicating a winery in the area and some "empty" during lunch, but nothing transcendental, everyone was kind and helpful.
Wine list not particularly extensive and focused on the territory (I would add some Apulian bubbles). Fair account considering the raw material.
A really good reference, the right place to introduce the flavors of this part of Puglia to acquaintances and friends from outside.