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travels for friends, food and wine - in exactly this order
From
San Sebastian, Spain
Born
July 21
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at Bittikesu at Bittikesu
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at PAZ at PAZ
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Skerpi the moveable fermenting house of Ræst.
as fresh as it gets as they use the mooring in front of the house as a refrigerator.
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Botteghe Antiche sits in the historic center of Putignano, on Piazza Plebiscito, in what was once the area of the town’s old artisan shops. Chef-patron Stefano D’Onghia came relatively late to professional cooking, graduating from ALMA in 2007 and training with Gualtiero Marchesi before working in several Italian kitchens and eventually returning... More
Botteghe Antiche sits in the historic center of Putignano, on Piazza Plebiscito, in what was once the area of the town’s old artisan shops. Chef-patron Stefano D’Onghia came relatively late to professional cooking, graduating from ALMA in 2007 and training with Gualtiero Marchesi before working in several Italian kitchens and eventually returning to his hometown. His stated philosophy is straightforward: preserve the memory of traditional Apulian cooking, respect seasonality and small producers, and bring those dishes back to life without unnecessarily modernizing them. In 2025 he described the restaurant’s direction as a deliberate return toward the idea of a true village trattoria.
This was an unbelievably good lunch — quite simply one of the best osteria meals I have had in Italy.
What impressed me most was how precise the cooking was while remaining completely recognizable as traditional Puglian food. Nothing felt heavy or rustic for the sake of being rustic. Instead there was excellent balance, clean flavors and surprisingly sophisticated layering.
We started with the Apulian gazpacho with burrata, followed by fava beans and chicory, one of those deceptively simple dishes that depends entirely on ingredient quality and proportion. The fried zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta and mint were equally convincing.
The exceptional dish, however, was the fried lampascioni with capocollo, farinella and fig reduction. Lampascioni have their characteristic bitterness, but here the balance between bitter, salty, sweet and earthy flavors was extraordinary. Even more remarkable was the texture: incredibly crisp outside while retaining the character of the bulb. The layering of flavors and sheer precision of the frying would shame many Michelin-starred kitchens.
The handmade cavatelli with octopus and chickpea purée continued at the same level — tender octopus, excellent pasta texture and the creamy chickpeas bringing everything together without overwhelming it. Homemade tagliatelle with guanciale, zucchini flowers, roasted cherry tomatoes and farmhouse cheese was richer but still remarkably controlled.
We finished with perhaps the most uncompromisingly local dish: marretto, lamb offal wrapped into a roll, grilled and served with potatoes. Proper Puglian cooking, executed with confidence rather than dressed up for visitors.
Botteghe Antiche calls its approach “authentic tradition, modern simplicity,” and that describes the meal extremely well.
Perfect execution, deeply rooted cooking and tremendous flavor. I will definitely come back. Less
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Osteria del Tempo Perso is one of Ostuni’s long-established institutions. The restaurant has been operating since the 1980s and is set in atmospheric historic rooms carved into the pale stone of the old town, including a former oven dating back several centuries. The surroundings are certainly memorable, but the food remains firmly grounded in traditional... More
Osteria del Tempo Perso is one of Ostuni’s long-established institutions. The restaurant has been operating since the 1980s and is set in atmospheric historic rooms carved into the pale stone of the old town, including a former oven dating back several centuries. The surroundings are certainly memorable, but the food remains firmly grounded in traditional Puglian cooking rather than trying to turn the setting into the main attraction.
By this stage of our trip we had eaten many variations of exactly these dishes, which actually makes judging them easier: after enough repetitions, one becomes something of a specialist and starts comparing the details very directly.
We started with grano pestato with Caciocavallo fondue and black truffle, a very satisfying combination of rustic, chewy grain and rich melted cheese. The traditional parmigiana di melanzane was equally good: comforting, properly cooked and without any unnecessary attempt at reinvention.
The chargrilled octopus on rosemary chickpea purée was one of the strongest dishes, the octopus nicely charred outside while remaining tender, with the chickpeas giving it the earthy backbone that works so naturally with this style of southern Italian cooking.
The spaghetti with fresh sea urchin was perhaps the most delicate dish of the evening: simple, marine and properly focused on the ricci rather than overwhelming them with additional ingredients.
We then had the slow-cooked pork ribs glazed with honey, accompanied by potato chips, rich and comforting, with a simple mixed salad providing some necessary relief.
Almost as an extra, we added the Fassona tartare with stracciatella and black truffle as the final dish. Richer and more luxurious than the rest of the meal, it still worked very well at that stage and was another confidently executed plate.
Overall, everything was good. Nothing revolutionary, and it does not need to be. After eating our way through Puglia and repeatedly encountering many of the same ingredients and preparations, Osteria del Tempo Perso held up very well in direct comparison. The cooking is traditional, assured and polished through decades of repetition rather than transformed into something it was never meant to be — and that is precisely its strength. Less
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U Curdunn sits in the historic center of Locorotondo and is very much a restaurant of the Valle d’Itria rather than a generic Puglian trattoria. Its approach is deliberately traditional: local ingredients, seasonal cooking and dishes that remain recognizable, with only a light degree of modernization. The restaurant itself describes the philosophy... More
U Curdunn sits in the historic center of Locorotondo and is very much a restaurant of the Valle d’Itria rather than a generic Puglian trattoria. Its approach is deliberately traditional: local ingredients, seasonal cooking and dishes that remain recognizable, with only a light degree of modernization. The restaurant itself describes the philosophy rather nicely through the seasons—tomatoes, basil and olive oil in summer; orecchiette with tomato and braciola when the weather turns colder.
The setting reinforces this sense of place. U Curdunn occupies an old building with white-stone cross vaults in the middle of Locorotondo’s extraordinarily attractive old town. The interior combines local stone, wood, linen and regional ceramics, giving it considerably more atmosphere than the usual rustic restaurant aimed at visitors.
The cooking follows the same principle. This is not a restaurant trying to deconstruct or intellectualize Puglian food. The emphasis is on good ingredients and familiar combinations: orecchiette, braciole, local cheeses, vegetables, olive oil and meat, alongside slightly more elaborate preparations such as hand-cut beef tartare with combinations of pecorino, stracciatella, pistachio or black truffle. Less
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Vitantonio Lombardo is one of Matera’s established fine-dining addresses, occupying a beautifully restored ancient cave in the heart of the Sassi. Lombardo, born in Savoia di Lucania in 1979, trained with chefs including Paolo Teverini, Gianfranco Vissani and Fabio Barbaglini. He first earned a Michelin star in 2011 at Locanda Severino in Caggiano.... More
Vitantonio Lombardo is one of Matera’s established fine-dining addresses, occupying a beautifully restored ancient cave in the heart of the Sassi. Lombardo, born in Savoia di Lucania in 1979, trained with chefs including Paolo Teverini, Gianfranco Vissani and Fabio Barbaglini. He first earned a Michelin star in 2011 at Locanda Severino in Caggiano. In 2018 he returned to his native Basilicata, opened the restaurant bearing his name in Matera, and regained the Michelin star within the same year.
His cooking is firmly rooted in Lucania but deliberately contemporary: traditional ingredients, memories and combinations are reconstructed using modern techniques and often rather playful presentations. Michelin particularly highlights this connection between regional tradition and Lombardo’s highly personal interpretation. The spectacular cave itself is an important part of the experience and makes this one of Matera’s most distinctive dining rooms.
Unfortunately, our dinner did not live up to that reputation. Lombardo himself was absent, attending his daughter’s birthday, and the difference in the kitchen was noticeable. The sous-chef was obviously not able to reproduce the same level of precision and consistency. Nothing was disastrous, but for a Michelin-starred restaurant the meal was OK at best, with several dishes under-seasoned or simply not executed perfectly.
We chose a selection largely composed of dishes from different periods of Lombardo’s career. The Tagliolino of the King Shepherd – Matera Capital 2019, with milk, lime, spring onion and Osetra caviar, showed the conceptual ambition of the restaurant, combining humble pastoral references with luxury ingredients. Drone View of the Murgia – 2018, bringing together fava beans, chicory, oyster and green apple, was another very Lucanian idea, translating one of the region’s classic combinations into a contemporary composition.
The Rice with Butter, Figs and Anchovies – 2015 continued the theme of combining richness, sweetness and salinity, while the Sea Bass in Black Olive Crust – 2017, accompanied by green beans, white chocolate and vinegar sauce, was perhaps the clearest example of how ambitious these combinations can be—and how much they depend on absolutely precise execution and seasoning.
Finally came CalaMarro, squid combined with lamb entrails and rosemary apricot. It is one of Lombardo’s signature dishes and Michelin itself singles it out, describing the combination of squid and lamb offal. It is exactly the sort of dish that explains Lombardo’s reputation: strongly regional in spirit, technically ambitious and completely individual.
The setting remained impressive and the ideas behind the food were clearly those of a talented chef. But ideas alone are not enough at this level. On this particular evening, too many dishes lacked seasoning, precision and final refinement. Perhaps simply bad luck that we visited on the night Lombardo was away, but based purely on what was served to us, this was unfortunately not a Michelin-star-level meal. Less
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at La Lopa at La Lopa
