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Archive for April 2025

Eating Lecce – Gimmi

Apr28

Restaurant: Gimmi

Location: Via S. Pietro in Lama, 23, 73100 Lecce LE, Italy. +39 0832 700920

Date: August 8, 2024

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Unusual format, but very nice meal

_

The location was unusual.

We were told there was a concert going on in the cloisters here, which led to a brief confusion about where to enter the ancient structure.


Gimmi is the gourmet restaurant at the Chiostro dei Domenicani in Lecce open to hotel guests and the public. The cuisine, led by executive chef Donato Episcopo, is a tribute to Salento, not without intriguing contaminations: each course is a discovery, where you can sense that many experiences and many emotions have passed through Episcopo’s hands. The wine list offers a rich and refined selection of regional, Italian and international labels.


And a lovely dining room.



Tree of amuses.

Veggies on bread.

Bite of tuna.

Tamborine of breads — very salty and very delicious

More breads inside.

MARINATED SALMON. with jasmine tea, tuna-fish, ginger, aubergine and apple.

Orecchiette pomodoro.

POTATO DUMPLINGS AND CHERRY TOMATOES CONCENTRATE. buttery cheese from Andria, sweet peppers, basil pesto and amberjack fish ceviche. This seemed weird, but was actually quite awesome.

CARNAROLI RISOTTO SOAKED RESERVE. with 25 years aged balsamic vineagar, saffran, and vegis. Classic!



FILET OF SEA BREAM “BOCCADORO”. beetroot, green beans, black olives crumble.

More bread.

PAVLOVA. chantilly meringue maracuja and black mulberry ice cream.



Petite Fours.

And more.

There was a concert!

I was actually worried when we booked because they locked us into a smaller tasting menu that was almost the same for all of us — and I eat very differently than my companions — but the food turned out to be quite excellent here.

For more Italian dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Lecce – Doppiozero
  2. Eating Lecce – Varius
  3. Eating Lecce – Duo
  4. Eating Milano Marittima – Ristorante La Frasca
  5. Eating Rome – La Pergola
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Eating Lecce, eating-italy, Gimmi, Lecce

Eating Lecce – Varius

Apr25

Restaurant: Varius

Location: Via Giovanni Presta, 5, 73100 Lecce LE, Italy. +39 320 263 4936

Date: August 7, 2024

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Modernizing local classics

_

Due to a combination of factors, we ran out of Michelin’s that were open on this particular night or were willing to deal with the complexity of our Gluten Free guest’s “rules.” It’s noticable how much less flexible top places have become post pandemic.

In any case, I picked this as it was the #1 place in Trip Advisor — yes, giving that lame site one last chance to fail. Plus it was named after one of the consuls who lost at Cannae.

The Varius Restaurant in Lecce was born from the owner’s ten-year experience in the restaurant business and from her dream: to open an intimate and elegant restaurant, furnished and managed with care and attention to detail, from the dining room to the kitchen.
Varius Food is therefore the realization of a dream, of a passion that takes shape in a few tables and 35 seats, in traditional and at the same time modern cuisine and in the warm welcome in the dining room.








The menu.

Fish fritter.

Ricotta and candied something.


Tuna cubes with tsuyu and lime, gazpacho. Marinated cucumbers and crispy rice nest* (Allergens: tuna, soy)

Fried anchovies Salento style accompanied by our aioli and spicy sauces (Allergens: gluten, fish, eggs, garlic)


Fried fish and mayo, just like the east coast shore places.

Frisella crumble with ricotta mousse, marinated anchovies, caramelized red onion and caper flowers (Allergens: gluten. Lactose, fish)

Orecchiette pomodoro.

Shellfish risotto with raw scampi in the mistral contrada li vecchi (Allergens: shellfish, sulphites). Sometimes it’s tough to chose between pasta and risotto!

Grilled or Gallipoli-style tuna fillet with flavoured breading (Allergens: gluten, fish)

Martinesi Bombette au gratin with caciocavallo fondue and toasted hazelnuts (Allergens: gluten, lactose, nuts). These cheese coated/filled beef rolls with hazelnuts were quite interesting.

TA didn’t fail. Sure, the food here was in the bottom third of our dinners this trip, but our standards were high and it was pretty solid — not to mention being quite fast.

For more Italian dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Lecce – Duo
  2. Eating Lecce – Doppiozero
  3. Eating Poggibonsi – Babette
  4. Eating Santa Margherita – La Paranza
  5. Eating Santa Margherita – dei Pescatori
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Eating Lecce, eating-italy, Italy, Lecce, Varius

Eating Lecce – Duo

Apr24

Restaurant: Duo

Location: via Giuseppe Garibaldi 11, Lecce, 73100, Italy

Date: August 6, 2024

Cuisine: Modern Apulian Italian

Rating: Great and creative

_

For dinner, another Michelin restaurant.

Duo Restaurant offers elegant and versatile spaces, in order to adapt to the needs of your small events. Whether you’re planning an intimate dinner for a few guests or a special event for a larger group, we can provide bespoke solutions to create the perfect atmosphere.

Fabiano Viva: I am 46 years old, I have two sons and a wife who I love and I own two restaurants. My life is passion, efforts and big changes, so it has been inevitable to work behind the stove. In fact, there is no cooking without passion, without fire and without changes. In the past, I worked as a radio host and a sport journalist, and then I worked for Mixer Media Management group. For this reason, I like being with my clients and tell them the beauty of our local products and how fantastic was to work them to create my dishes. My idea of cooking is simple: my leading guide is my land, my sea and my memory… nothing else. I have been lucky to work next to great experts who taught me first how to live. I must thank, above all, Enrico Crippa and Antonio Zaccardi of the Piazza Duomo Restaurant, 3 Michelin stars at Alba, for making me understand the importance of ingredients, the respect for the territory, and the art of cooking. Then, I must thank Enrico Bartolini, chef in the same name restaurant at Mudec in Milan, 2 Michelin stars, where I learnt the elegance and the aesthetic of the dish. But I owe a thank to all farmers, enologists, winemakers, fishermen, bakers, pastry chefs, pasta producers, dairymen, agronomists I met during the years and that I keep on meeting day by day more as a pleasure than as a duty. Finally, I thank my father and my mother, just because they exist.



Welcome cocktail of “apple juice” (really delicious)

Amuse of toasted legumes.

Artichoke.

Another amuse.

Another amuse.

An amuse of crispy rice cracker.

A mini pizza-like amuse.

A puffy “bread” amuse.

A cannoli amuse.

Meat and fish “olive” amuse.


Grisini.

Bread.

A salad to start. Salad composed of a number of ingredients that can vary from 40 to 50.

Amberjack marinated with Sichuan pepper and crystal grass.

Orecchiette pomodoro.

Pasta with cheese, pepper, mussels and sea urchins… Mezzemaniche rigate, Apulian pecorino, pepper and sea urchins. Mussels and pecorino have always been a perfect combination.

Orecchiette with tomato confit. Homemade semolina orecchiette from Paola and cooked in tomato water, seasoned with confit piccadilly cherry tomato sauce.

GF version.

Roasted fish fillet, white butter sauce and Beluga cod and lentils. Fillet of croaker (or similar fish) grilled and accompanied by a very tasty sauce made with fresh cod and butter.

Smoked lobster, albufera sauce and green leaves.

Almond ice cream with cupeta brittle and caramel. 100% Salento. A tribute to the cupeta, a brittle of almonds, honey and caramel that immediately refers to moments of celebration, to those moments of joy shared by the entire community on the most important day of the year: “The feast of the patron saint”!

My sea I don’t know you. The chef’s true iconic dish. All the Mediterranean in a single dessert. “Lemon mousse with caper meringue, anchovies and lemon peel”

Also a very nice meal. The Michelin stars and recommended have been consistently good. The chef came by for a while and was super friendly.

For more Italian dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Lecce – Doppiozero
  2. Eating Venice – Alle Corone
  3. Eating Milano Marittima – Ristorante La Frasca
  4. Eating Siena – Trattoria Pepei
  5. Eating Rome – La Pergola
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Duo, Eating Lecce, eating-italy, Italy, Lecce, pasta

Eating Lecce – Doppiozero

Apr23

Restaurant: Doppiozero

Location: Via Guglielmo Paladini 2 Centro Storico, 73100, Lecce Italy. +39 0832 521052

Date: August 6, 2024

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Great bright flavors

_

We were sent to this place by our hotel and it turned out to be just what I was looking for: authentic casual food from Puglia.


They had a huge interior but we (and nearly everyone else) sat outside.

Interesting.


Piazza patio.


The menu.

Bread. This wouldn’t be Puglia without breads.

Acciughe del Cantabrico e stracciatella su pane tostato carciofi e scorzette di limone. The stracciatella cheese is so good!

Burrata artiginale, gran misto d’insalta, pomodorini e noci.

Orecchiette pomodoro — of course.

Gargati con pesto di pistacchio, burrata e tartare di tonno. Pistachio pesto, burrata, and tuna. Sounds weird but it was totally awesome.

Spaghettoni con caponata di verdre uvetto passa, olive nere, pinoli e stracciatella. And putting the straciatella cheese in pasta with the strong sauces is also incredible.

Really tasty local place!

For more Italian dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Torre Canne – Autentico
  2. Eating Polignano – Tranquillage
  3. Eating Savelletri – Due Camini
  4. Eating Trani – Gallo
  5. Eating Porta Cervo – Renato Pedrinelli
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Doppiozero, Eating Lecce, eating-italy, Lecce, pasta, Salad
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