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You must visit these Michelin Star Restaurants in Puglia 2021

Antonella Ricci and Vinod Sookar - Ceglie

There are ten Michelin Start restaurants in the  2021 Michelin guide for Puglia . Even though it has been a very difficult year for restaurants and  catering, there has been a small growth in contemporary Apulian restaurants, with the assignment of a new Michelin star this year, that for Casa Sgarra in Trani.  A  couple in life and work has done what all successful couples should do: transform their diversity into a value to focus on. Thanks to the teamwork of Antonella Ricci and Vinod Sookar; their restaurant is one of the most sought after Apulian restaurants. The Apulian cuisine and ingredients - are here treated with the utmost respect for tradition - but are refined with flavors, spices and scents of the East. All in an elegant country house with a genuinely Apulian atmosphere, thanks to the warm welcome of the Ricci family. All elements that keep the attractiveness of this historic Michelin-starred region high.  Recently on Sempre Mezzogiorno on RAI, she took us straight to her magical Puglia, preparing a typical Apulian Easter dessert, or rather two. The Apulian Scarcelle and the Fingers of the Apostles , or Easter sweets.

Angelo Sabatelli - Puttignano Bari

The cuisine of Angelo Sabatellli , demonstrates a highly experienced chef well rooted in Puglia while allowing himself some important digressions around the world. For example, dishes such as Dim-sum ”with crab, vermicelli, laksa or the Scampo“ on ice ”are born, with yuzu, kaffir powder and lime; placed side by side with dishes that are clearly Mediterranean, such asthe vegetarian starter of  roasted aubergine with burrata, tomato and basil, or the traditional stuffed pepper. A creative cuisine, which uses local products but also outside of the box, depending on the Chef's inspiration.....


Bros Restaurant - Lecce

Isabella Poti is head chef and partner of Michelin-starred restaurant Bros in Lecce, Puglia; a small historic city in Italy’s heel often labelled the “Florence of the South”. The young pastry chef and sometimes-fashion-model from Rome was named by Forbes magazine as one of its “30 under 30” in 2017, and has also featured as a guest chef on the televised cooking competition, Masterchef Italy In addition, she opened with her partner Floriano Pellegrino. Part of the Pellegrino Brothers business, they  opened a trattoria, Roots, on the outskirts of Scorrano, the country of origin of the two chefs in the Salento countryside, about 20 kilometers from Lecce. Most recently, Isabella, in the midst of forced closures, she started a super pink pastry delivery project, Sista, while she was included last year among the "30 under 30" of Forbes. Both, Floriano and Isabella continue their activity as social influencers, and carry on the passion for rugby with the project of a team. This  mix of entrepreneurial ability and glamour makes them an irresistible couple of the Italian cuisine.

Enjoy specialties like the “Fucking Cold Egg” (one of the very first shocks, and not just temperature-wise; on the menu since the restaurant’s beginnings), a dessert egg eaten with a spoon and served on the rocks or the "Spaghetti timbale" with duck tartare and apple compote atop black truffle cream, or  just the plain Pasta, garlic, rancid fat and chili.

Casamatta Ristorante  - Manduria

Last year, the Casamatta restaurant , located inside the beautiful Vinilia Wine Resort, an ancient noble summer residence transformed into a luxurious restaurant with spa and restaurant, brought another Michelin star to Salento. Gourmet oasis in the land of the Primitivo,  Casamatta restaurant is led by Pietro Penna , French-trained but with an Apulian heart. The land of origin is present almost everywhere: in the proposals (from beans and leaves to spaghetti with nuptial, oregano and Cuttlefish), and in the ingredients, with local raw materials that also come from the Castle's garden. The technique and the French inspiration peep out here and there, without invading the territory of what is a menu with an exquisitely Mediterranean flavor.


Refined dishes such as the appetizer  of traditional fava beans and chicory: dry beans in cream are combined with wild herbs and chicory, turnip greens and tomato confit. The first course of the traditional sauce brasciole comes with buttons pasta stuffed with meat stew with tomato sauce, immersed in a canestrato cheese broth. The dish is a tribute to the Apulian peasants Sunday and lunches, and then for the main a lamb composition with its bottom, chestnuts, cardoncelli mushrooms and arugula. The lamb is served in three parts: costina, gnummariedd and pulp. Creamy sauce, tasty and the lamb perfectly cooked with pink flesh and juicy. The gnummariedd (roulade of lamb entrails- a typical Pugliese street food) flavorful and with intense flavor.

Casa Sgarra - Trani

The new Apulian Michelin star of 2021 arrives at Casa Sgarra, where there are three brothers behind the success of this restaurant: the maître Riccardo, the chef Felice and the sommelier Roberto. Underpinned by a cuisine focused on the Puglian flavors and the regional culinary traditions.  Raw or delicately treated seafood dishes, but also inland dishes and interesting mixes between the two souls of the territory as in the Tajarin 32 yolks, caviar, bottarga and truffle scent. Guests will find "traditional" recipes, Sunday ragù with fish or meat. Fresh pasta made strictly by hand and pasta shapes selected by small family-run pasta factories with almost extinct and rediscovered grains. Try the 

Insalatina di crostacei crudi, panna acida, yuzu e limone or  the Melanzana, burrata di Andria e pomodoro cotto e freddo or for dessert the Cassata di Casa Sgarra

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