Salento is an earthly paradise and a place where you can taste many culinary specialties. For food lovers, here is the top five with the best restaurants in Nardò, to taste culinary dishes and gastronomic specialties of both fish and meat.
Who visits the Salento does it for the nature, for the beauty of the sea and the villages of the coast or of the hinterland.
But those who choose to spend their vacations in the "heel of Italy" do so also because they are sure to find culinary specialties ranging from fish to meat.
If someone were to pass NARDO, a citizen who has seen me grow up, I would like to propose 5 restaurants, the first three in the historic center and two in the marinas of Santa Caterina and Santa Maria al Bagno.
1. Sira
The first place is an Italian pub, in fact typically Neretine, from the name pronounced in dialect.
The Sira was born as the most classic idea, four friends sitting around a table talking about this and that, eating a sandwich while drinking some local wine.
From that table an Italian Bistro where it is possible to taste dishes of IGP and DOP products, all local and selected, the salads or the 12 refined sandwiches, accompanied by a glass of good wine or a craft beer.
But the Sira is not only food, it is also music, with the lives of the most famous local artists and DJ sets that will make you dance and have a cocktail inside but also outside, in the heart of the city. Old quarter.
2. Dispensing the recommended
La Dispensa dei Recommended was born in 2016 with Marca Paglialunga, well-known surname of the seafood restaurant neretina, with a famous restaurant in Quattro Colonne.
In the historic center, this small but refined restaurant seats 50 people for dinner from Tuesday to Sunday, the holiday also for lunch.
Fresh fish dishes flanked by the typical flavors of Salento are the characteristic of the menu of this young but now well-known restaurant in Neretva.
3. Hostaria Corte di Santa Lucia
A tavern with a millenary taste that offers modern flavors. This is what I think best describes Hostaria Corte di Santa Lucia.
The best of the typical cuisine of Salento, proposed in an innovative way, improving combinations and creating new flavors.
Opened in 2007, the tavern houses about 70 seats inside under star vaults and stone arches, while summer expands with another 80 seats on a patio shaded by a cool citrus orchard.
If you visit this restaurant in summer and like to pinch yourself, the tip is to go there on Mondays or Thursdays, nights when you'll find songs, sounds, dances and flavors of Salento.
4. Jazzy
After three rooms in the center of Nardò we moved to the sea, in two of the marina of neretine.
The first is Santa Caterina, the lounge of the Neretines. In the center of the square, in the middle of the pedestrian area, is the Jazzy.
Landmark among the clubs of Santa Caterina, has changed face and management several times.
Since the spring of 2016, the young owners have made a decisive change of gear and have dispelled many taboos on the premises.
Always fresh fish, local vegetables and freshly prepared dishes, without precooked and ready-made sauces, are the winning weapon chosen to relaunch Jazzy.
The local dishes, the pizza for dinner and the proposals for vegans give that extra choice.
Also open in winter, the summer extends to a terrace on the side overlooking the square.
5. Art Noveau
Moving to Santa Maria al Bagno, we find the Art Nuveau, an elegant and refined restaurant facing the sea.
From a family of restaurateurs, "La Pergola" is a historic trattoria in the marina, the new culinary proposal is aimed at a different target.
Mediterranean cuisine, fish and raw food these are the choices that have made the success of this refined restaurant since 2004 until today.
Open all year round, in summer you can dine outdoors, on a large terrace with direct views of the beach and the sea of Santa Maria al Bagno.
Scegliere 5 restaurants to eat in Nardò It was not an easy task, especially if you are a good fork.
The proposals are varied and many, if you can make a leap, not only in summer, perhaps we could find ourselves in two neighboring tables. See you next time.
