Sardinia: From Porto Rotondo to Cagliari, six restaurants with a view and new gastronomic proposals to put on your agenda for next summer.
In Sardinia, restaurants are reopening their terraces and terraces and hotel gardens are being transformed into lounges open to outside guests. Whether it is a lunch break in the greenery, an aperitif overlooking the sea or a dinner by the pool, there is no shortage of opportunities to enjoy the summer and try some of the island’s most popular cuisines.
Frades la Terrazza, Costa Smeralda, Sardinia
On the terrace with the most beautiful view of the entire coast, Executive Chef Roberto Paddeu offers his idea of non-traditional Sardinian cuisine. The menu is never the same, it changes according to the time of the season and what the best the market has to offer. Before dinner, while the sun hides behind the sea, you can enjoy the unfailing Frades aperitif, which offers the great classics such as roasted Culurgiones with camone tomato gazpacho or the Tacos di pane lentu accompanied by a selection of cocktails with a strong island spirit such as the Spitz Frades with Vermouth, Bitter and Sardinian bubbles or the Frisku, created with Vernaccia Riserva di Oristano and citron liqueur. In the evening, the yachts light up the bay while at the table you can enjoy signature dishes based on the local catch such as prawn crudo, mango, green apple and cucumber or Fregula with scorpionfish brodetto, stracciatella and liquorice. The kitchen is accompanied by the fresh pasta workshop, the charcuterie counter. and the shop where you can buy selected regional products.
Pasigà Restaurant by Claudio Melis, Porto Rotondo
The fine-dining restaurant led by Michelin-starred chef Claudio Melis, part of the boutique hotel Sulià House Porto Rotondo, is in its second season. A restaurant with an innovative soul and modern design, with a terrace that enjoys a unique panorama over the Gulf of Cugnana. Here the chef proposes an ethical-sustainable cuisine that puts local products at the centre of everything. Essential dishes, zero waste, made with a few ingredients emphasised by his creativity, such as Culurgiones, potatoes, saffron and clams, Lamb in Barbagia, myrtle, egg and undergrowth, or Risotto with saffron from San Gavino and stewed morsels. Two tasting menus or à la carte for a dinner with a view, anticipated by the resort’s excellent signature cocktails to sip at sunset.
La Terrazza del Mirto, San Pantaleo, Sardinia
This is the gourmet rooftop at the Petra Segreta Resort & Spa in the hills of San Pantaleo, behind the Costa Smeralda. The terrace boasts an amazing view of the La Maddalena archipelago: an exclusive lounge to enjoy the magic of summer evenings. The menu, which changes every week, offers a selection of the dishes that have made the cuisine of chef and patron Luigi Bergeretto famous, to be shared in a relaxed and informal setting.
Completing the resort’s gastronomic offerings are the Osteria del Mirto and Il Fuoco Sacro, the Michelin-starred restaurant, whose menu is the result of a collaboration between chefs Bergeretto and the multi-award-winning Enrico Bartolini.
From this year, for the first time, all restaurants at Petra Segreta are also open to outside guests.
Capogiro Restaurant, Baja Sardinia
The fine-dining restaurant at the 7Pines Resort Sardinia, the new five-star hotel part of Destination by Hyatt in Baja Sardinia, just a few minutes from the Costa Smeralda, is a panoramic terrace facing the sun setting over the sea. The menu, signed by Executive Chef Pasquale D’Ambrosio, recounts a Mediterranean cuisine interwoven with the fragrances of the island’s gastronomic tradition, in which the use of local raw materials and cooking techniques that preserve their freshness, taste and quality prevails. Red mullet, filindeu, aubergine and almond pesto, lentisk mayonnaise, and sea grass powder; artisanal spaghetti, clams, Piennolo tomatoes, smoked almond oil; and Maialino tonnato, annurca apple, smoked lemon, caper leaves and flowers are some of the dishes he has designed for the season. The wine cellar contains a fine assortment of local, Italian and international labels of which many of the best vintages are represented. The service, which in the style of the resort is attentive but never intrusive, contributes to the informal ambience typical of seaside holidays.
The Garden of Casa Clàt, Cagliari
The garden of Casa Clàt, a suite hotel with an eclectic soul, is the green living room in the heart of Cagliari to be enjoyed all year round. Guests enter from the entrance on the central Viale Regina Margherita and reach the garden where aromatic plants, olive trees and pools of water distinguish the different areas. The lounge area on the lawn, with its large sofas and armchairs, invites guests to take a break with an aperitif accompanied by raw fish and local catch to be chosen directly at the counter. Just above, the restaurant terrace offers a menu where Mediterranean and Oriental flavours meet the island’s aromas: red prawn ceviche; kimchi octopus, toasted panko and citrus mayonnaise; risotto fregula, Nieddittas, spicy tomato and tomato powder; and grilled sea bream fillet, sun-dried tomato cream, olives and thyme are among the dishes that Executive Chef Filippo Monaco has created exclusively for the garden.
Il Salotto del Re in Gallicantu, Luogosanto, Sardinia
It is in the shade of the centuries-old wild olive tree that at Gallicantu, a retreat in the heart of Gallura, aperitifs are also served to outside guests. In this ever-fresh garden, you can enjoy platters of local produce accompanied by honey from the estate and a wide selection of labels from all over the island. From the kitchen come traditional dishes such as handmade chiusoni served with cherry tomatoes and basil from the garden or freshly baked panadas. From the end of June, every Thursday evening, Jazz under the Trees, a series of live concerts continues throughout the summer. wikipedia.org
