10 Best Restaurants
Puglia stretches from the wooded Gargano peninsula to the harbours and beaches of Salento. Inland, olive groves surround whitewashed towns and the stone trulli of the Valle d’Itria; along the coast, Trani, Monopoli and Otranto reward time on foot. Lecce is the place for Baroque architecture, while converted masserie offer space to settle into the countryside. Choose two or more bases for a longer trip: the region is too extensive to explore comfortably from one hotel.
Due Camini
Savelletri di Fasano, Italy
Due Camini explores Puglia through a vegetable-led menu at Borgo Egnazia. Chef Domingo Schingaro draws on local growing traditions, giving seasonal produce the attention usually reserved for a restaurant’s most expensive ingredients. The setting is polished and the experience deliberately unhurried. Choose it for a meal that offers a different view of the region’s cooking, and check the current tasting and à la carte options when reserving rather than expecting an older seafood-focused menu.
Vegetable-led fine dining
Casamatta
Manduria, Italy
Casamatta brings chef Pietro Penna’s contemporary cooking to Vinilia Wine Resort, a restored castle outside Manduria. Produce from the garden and the surrounding countryside anchors a kitchen with French influences and a strong Puglian identity. Tasting menus, including a vegetarian option, sit alongside à la carte choices. It makes a rewarding destination meal in the region’s wine country; confirm service times before travelling, as the restaurant changes its lunch and dinner pattern with the season.
Contemporary cooking in a wine estate
Pashà
Polignano a Mare countryside, Italy
Pashà now welcomes guests at Masseria Mancini in the countryside around Polignano a Mare. Chef Michele Spadaro’s tasting menus give regional ingredients a contemporary treatment, with the historic masseria providing a generous setting for a leisurely dinner. Choose between the current menu lengths and ask the team about wine pairings from the cellar. When arranging transport, use the restaurant’s current address: this is the new Polignano property, rather than its former home in Conversano.
A destination meal at Masseria Mancini
Angelo Sabatelli
Putignano, Italy
Angelo Sabatelli serves precise, inventive cooking in a small dining room beneath historic stone vaults in Putignano. The menu balances established signatures with dishes that draw on the chef’s experience beyond Italy, including Asian influences. Wine is an important part of the experience, with his son Daniele involved in the dining room. Reserve for an evening with time to spare, and agree the menu with your companions: tasting selections are designed for the whole table.
An intimate tasting-menu dinner
Primo Restaurant
Lecce, Italy
Chef Solaika Marrocco gives Puglian ingredients a distinctive contemporary voice at Primo Restaurant in Lecce. Tasting menus and signature dishes make this a place to focus on the kitchen rather than simply pause between sights. The intimate setting suits a carefully planned dinner after exploring the historic centre. Discuss dietary requirements when booking, since the restaurant’s detailed menus are not easily changed at the table; vegetarian arrangements require notice rather than an assumption on arrival.
Creative cooking in central Lecce
Dissapore di Andrea Catalano
Carovigno, Italy
Dissapore pairs Andrea Catalano’s creative cooking with a welcoming dining room in Carovigno. Beneath the vaulted ceiling, the experience feels personal, with Franca helping shape the hospitality and the kitchen taking its cues from the surrounding region. Choose it for an evening that places seasonal ingredients and careful preparation at the centre of the meal. Reserve ahead and check the current menu directly, especially if you are arranging a visit around a particular dietary requirement.
A personal take on Puglian flavours
Quintessenza
Trani, Italy
Quintessenza is the Di Gennaro brothers’ restaurant beside Trani’s castle, with chef Stefano leading the kitchen. The cooking draws on Mediterranean ingredients and the seasons, presented with a contemporary approach rather than a conventional seafood-trattoria format. Its setting adds to the occasion, with dining spaces over two floors and a terrace looking towards the cathedral. Request your preferred setting when booking, and allow time before dinner to walk the harbour and the surrounding historic streets.
Contemporary dining beside the castle
Casa Sgarra
Trani, Italy
Casa Sgarra brings three brothers together on Trani’s seafront, with Felice’s cooking at the centre of the experience. Regional ingredients receive a contemporary treatment, while the dining room aims for warmth alongside the precision of a special-occasion meal. The cheese selection is another reason to leave room towards the end. Choose it for an unhurried lunch or dinner, and consult the current menus directly before booking rather than expecting a fixed set of signature dishes.
A relaxed special occasion by the sea
Cielo
Ostuni, Italy
Cielo sits within La Sommità in Ostuni, where pale stone vaults and a sheltered garden give dinner an unusually atmospheric setting. The kitchen interprets Puglian ingredients in a contemporary style, making it a good choice when you want the meal itself to be part of an evening in the White City. Dining arrangements change with the season, so ask whether your booking will be indoors, in the cellar setting or in the citrus garden.
An atmospheric dinner in the old town
Porta di Basso
Peschici, Italy
Porta di Basso occupies a dramatic position above the sea in Peschici. Chef Domenico Cilenti draws on the Gargano’s fish, vegetables and wild ingredients, shaping them into two tasting-menu routes, including a vegetable-focused option. The setting is a strong reason to build an evening around the restaurant, but the food deserves equal attention. Book ahead and discuss dietary needs directly: this is a fixed-menu experience, with no à la carte alternative to assemble on arrival.
Sea views and Gargano ingredients