In the sunny peninsula of Salento for two weeks of sunshine and good food, we followed a strict schedule of cold swimming and happy eating. Salento is literally the heel of Italy So everyday, we looked for a beautiful natural cove to swim in the morning, and then we indulged in a very long liquid lunch in the best restaurant we could find somewhere by the sea.

So this post is about where to eat good seafood in Puglia, and one of the places I can recommend is a small restaurant called Taverna del Porto in a small village by the sea on the peninsula of Salento in Puglia.

On one of our many drives along the coast of Salento, I noticed a stylish restaurant by a tiny marina in a tiny village. I had to sit up and take notice of this blue-and-white restaurant because it had a sophisticated atmosphere even at first glance from the outside. This stylishness seemed rather out of place in this quiet town in the middle of nowhere.

INSPIRATION FOR GOOD FOOD IN THE SALENTO PENINSULA OF PUGLIA

“We must eat here,” I said to my companions. The restaurant is called the Taverna del Porto. I had never heard of it, as it really is a small restaurant off the tourist track in Salento. But somehow I felt it would have good food.

So one day, we drove over to this village, which is about 40 kilometers away on a coastal road, just to have lunch at Taverna del Porto.

LOTS OF LUCK AND NO RESERVATIONS

We were lucky we went early because we had no reservations. Every table was booked except for one, and we were able to get this because we were the first customers in.

At first glance, the Taverna del Porto in Salento did not disappoint at all. It had the most amazing array of fresh seafood I’d seen so far in the heel of Italy. Everything imaginable from the sea was arranged so beautifully on a long counter, and everything was fresh from the water.

DELICIOUS SEAFOOD IN PUGLIA

I ordered the local oysters of Salento, which were ever so tasty. Then I had a mixed plate of raw seafood. Basically, it was sashimi, but Italian style. So we had salt and olive oil instead of soy sauce and wasabi. This was very good and it was interesting how the seafood in Italy tasted so different from seafood in Japan.

INTERESTING PASTA COMBINATIONS IN ITALY

For a main course, I ordered a pasta with local fish. I can’t have the typical Italian meal of three courses and dessert. So I usually have an appetizer and a pasta, followed by dessert. I order pasta every chance I get in Italy because the chefs in Italy create interesting and delicious pasta that you cannot find anywhere else.

The pasta was delicious. At Taverna del Porto, there is no set menu for pasta dishes. Every day, the chef creates a set of pasta dishes based on the catch of the day and the ingredients available.

Click here to read about one of the best seafood restaurants in the town of Lecce, in Puglia

For dessert, I ordered a homemade tart with chocolate sauce. The tiramisu at the end was also excellent. The tiramisu is made by the mother of the owner of the restaurant, according to a special family recipe. Compared to tiramisu in other places, it’s full of fresh cream.

PRICE OF A GOOD MEAL IN PUGLIA

As for the price of the meal at Taverna del Porto, all I can say is that it isn’t cheap. We paid about the same price as a good meal in Tokyo. It’s obviously an upmarket restaurant in spite of its casual atmosphere.

And in spite of my initial impressions of this being just some small restaurant in the middle of nowhere. The clientele who arrived later, most of them obviously regulars, were certainly not your average Italian villagers. In fact, many of them looked like they walked out of a page of Travelife Magazine.

The post Where to eat good seafood in Puglia appeared first on TRAVELIFE Magazine.

Good afternoon from the sunny peninsula of Salento, which is literally the heel of Italy. I’m in Italy for two weeks of sunshine and good food, living a #Travelife. So everyday, we look for a beautiful natural cove to swim in the morning, and then we indulge in a very long liquid lunch in the best restaurant we can find somewhere by the sea.

This post is about where to eat good seafood in Puglia, and one of the places I can recommend is a small restaurant called Taverna del Porto in a small village by the sea on the peninsula of Salento in Puglia.

On one of our many drives along the coast of Salento, I noticed a stylish restaurant by a tiny marina in a tiny village. I had to sit up and take notice of this blue-and-white restaurant because it had a sophisticated atmosphere even at first glance from the outside. This stylishness seemed rather out of place in this quiet town in the middle of nowhere.

INSPIRATION FOR GOOD FOOD IN THE SALENTO PENINSULA OF PUGLIA

“We must eat here,” I said to my companions. The restaurant is called the Taverna del Porto. I had never heard of it, as it really is a small restaurant off the tourist track in Salento. But somehow I felt it would have good food.

So one day, we drove over to this village, which is about 40 kilometers away on a coastal road, just to have lunch at Taverna del Porto.

LOTS OF LUCK AND NO RESERVATIONS

We were lucky we went early because we had no reservations. Every table was booked except for one, and we were able to get this because we were the first customers in.

At first glance, the Taverna del Porto in Salento did not disappoint at all. It had the most amazing array of fresh seafood I’d seen so far in the heel of Italy. Everything imaginable from the sea was arranged so beautifully on a long counter, and everything was fresh from the water.

DELICIOUS SEAFOOD IN PUGLIA

I ordered the local oysters of Salento, which were ever so tasty. Then I had a mixed plate of raw seafood. Basically, it was sashimi, but Italian style. So we had salt and olive oil instead of soy sauce and wasabi. This was very good and it was interesting how the seafood in Italy tasted so different from seafood in Japan.

INTERESTING PASTA COMBINATIONS IN ITALY

For a main course, I ordered a pasta with local fish. I can’t have the typical Italian meal of three courses and dessert. So I usually have an appetizer and a pasta, followed by dessert. I order pasta every chance I get in Italy because the chefs in Italy create interesting and delicious pasta that you cannot find anywhere else.

The pasta was delicious. At Taverna del Porto, there is no set menu for pasta dishes. Every day, the chef creates a set of pasta dishes based on the catch of the day and the ingredients available.

Click here to read about one of the best seafood restaurants in the town of Lecce, in Puglia

For dessert, I ordered a homemade tart with chocolate sauce. The tiramisu at the end was also excellent. The tiramisu is made by the mother of the owner of the restaurant, according to a special family recipe. Compared to tiramisu in other places, it’s full of fresh cream.

PRICE OF A GOOD MEAL IN PUGLIA

As for the price of the meal at Taverna del Porto, all I can say is that it isn’t cheap. We paid about the same price as a good meal in Tokyo. It’s obviously an upmarket restaurant in spite of its casual atmosphere.

And in spite of my initial impressions of this being just some small restaurant in the middle of nowhere. The clientele who arrived later, most of them obviously regulars, were certainly not your average Italian villagers. In fact, many of them looked like they walked out of a page of Travelife Magazine.

The post Where to eat good seafood in Puglia appeared first on TRAVELIFE Magazine.

We landed in Bari in Italy yesterday to start our two week holiday by the sea in sunny Puglia in southern Italy. It was a warm and dry day, and driving out of Bari towards the coast, there was really no scenery to recommend it. But we began it with a nice lunch in the lovely and historic town of Lecce.

WHAT TO DO IN LECCE

But eventually we reached Lecce, a prosperous and ancient Roman town with beautiful architecture. It’s the perfect size. It’s big enough to have some sophistication, but small enough to walk around in in a day and feel happy.

We didn’t have a particular itinerary on this trip to southern Italy, and deliberately so. Practically every hour of my Travelife is usually accounted for because I like seamless trips, and I actually dislike missing out on some great dining and sightseeing experiences just because I didn’t do any advance planning for it.

HOW NOT TO PLAN A HOLIDAY IN ITALY

But just before Italy, I was just way too busy. I’d hosted several lunches and dinner, packed enough work for a month into my only week in Manila between trips, and just had my hands full. So when we arrived in Puglia for our Travelife, I had no maps, guidebooks or printouts.

Just a vague reservation at a hotel I’d never heard of and a document guaranteeing that I had a Jaguar SUV waiting for me at the airport packing lot. I had no idea where to go or what to do.

USING SKYROAM ON HOLIDAY

But everything always works out in a Travelife. With the aid of my Skyroam, I used the two-hour drive to get to Lecce, the biggest city on the coast of Puglia, to check out what to do and where to eat in Puglia on my phone.

This was still a #Travelife, after all, so my requirements for a really good lunch, the real deal gelato and a nice walk around the city were non-negotiable.

THE BEST RESTAURANT IN LECCE

We booked the best restaurant in Lecce for lunch from my phone using a new App I just downloaded. The prices at this local restaurant were about the same as the price for lunch a fancy Italian restaurant in Tokyo. This was rather a surprise, but the food was done in a new style for me and rather nice.

I had a very fresh local buratta from Noci, which is near Bari, to start and a plate of raw seafood caught from the sea a few kilometers away. I order fresh buratta everywhere in Italy when I see it on the menu, by the way, because Italy is the only place in the world you can get the real burrata.

A NEW KIND OF PASTA

The biggest surprise for lunch was a seafood pasta I ordered simply because this entire holiday by the sea will be about seafood. The noodles were homemade and perfectly al dente, and on these rested coarsely chopped raw shrimps and heavy cream, that needed mixing. Then there was just a hint of lemon oil.

This was certainly a combination I would never have thought of. And what a nice surprise on the first day of my holiday in Puglia, and it was definitely an omen of things to come for this holiday on the wild side of Italy, living a Travelife.

The post Perfect summer holiday in Puglia appeared first on TRAVELIFE Magazine.