The best places to find the real street food of Bari, five typical dishes to eat standing up or in Bari Vecchia, from focaccia, to panzerotto, from sgagliozze to popizza to finish with orecchiette, a must in Puglia.
Bari it is definitely a city worth visiting, not just for the Bari Old but also for its food, for it street food that I met during my last trip and that literally won me over.
I didn't think I could eat so many good things in one evening, and instead thanks to a tour in the historic center of Bari, I had the opportunity to discover many places that I want to recommend here.
Focaccia at the Fiore bakery
The first stop was al Fiore bakery and already this place would have been enough, I would have stayed there eating focaccia with tomatoes all evening until I felt bad. I believe that the Panificio Fiore is one of the most renowned and well-known bakeries in the city, so much so that another author, Carmela, had already talked about it a few posts ago talking about the best foraggerei in Bari.
What can I say, at Panificio Fiore there is not only focaccia, with tomato or with olives, but there are also taralli, with rosemary and turnip greens for example, and also all the pasta production made by the bakery. A goodness to eat on the spot, at most you can leave the bakery, but I am convinced that you will not last long without biting into the incredible Fiore focaccia.
Sgagliozze and Popizze
In the Marche, my region of birth, polenta is eaten on a long long cutting board, all together and left over, at most it is grilled on the fireplace the next day and eaten with some cold cuts. The fried and salted polenta, that is the sgagliozze, as they are called in Bari, I had never tasted them. Fried and salted polenta, to eat while walking, while watching television, to finish a meal.
The popizze are also delicious and delicious, even if for me a little heavy. Popizze are nothing more than fried pasta, salty also in this case - but there is also the sweet version - which resembles what I call the damselfish, typical carnival cake.
Turnovers
Panzerotti are a must in Bari and Puglia and I had already tasted them, I must be honest, but in Piedmont, at the home of a relative of my partner who is from Puglia. Of course, eating them in Piedmont, no matter how excellent, is not the same as consuming them in the center of Bari, steaming hot, classic, stuffed with tomato and mozzarella. To taste between best panzarotti of Bari, we went from Food.
The line is not very short even if the variety of choice of filling is very wide and not only panzerotti are made. The cost of a panzerotto is about € 1, € 1.50 also based on the filling you choose, but the goodness is indescribable. Inside the restaurant there are some tables and stools, but my advice is to eat it calmly outside, in the open, and be careful that the panzarotti are very hot!
Orecchiette
In this case we are not talking about street food, it is true, but talking about Bari and not mentioning the orecchiette it was really impossible. Walking around for Bari Vecchia in one day, one cannot not pass by Low Arch, the street where the ladies of Bari still make orecchiette as in the past. Here Francesca, sua figlia Nunzia, Angela, Rosa, Lenuccia, Vittoria and Benedetta make orecchiette from morning until evening. They prepare orecchiette all day with an incredible technique, without tricks and indeed, showing and explaining their tricks in detail.
Surely a cultural cross-section, of history and tradition impossible to lose, even for the folklore of the ladies, for the goodness of the orecchiette that you can also buy in industrial quantities, because I am sure, you will end up falling in love with them!
Bari is not just what you have to eat when you visit it, but it is a lot of culture and visits to the historic center, to Bari Vecchia as the people of Bari call it. See Bari in one day only that is not enough, but in the absence of time it is certainly an excellent starting point or an excellent base also to see all the most beautiful places in Puglia, starting right from Bari.
From Bari I advise you then to reach also other places like Ostuni, Monopoli, Polignano a Mare and again the magnificent Alberobello and Martina Franca. Each city of the Apulia it deserves a week, because they are so beautiful and characteristic and you never want to leave.
Last note, among the experiences to do in Puglia and in particular in Alberobello and its surroundings, there is that of sleeping in a trullo in Puglia. A unique experience to do at least once in a lifetime also to understand the culture of this region, its traditions and how to discover them by living them firsthand.
