Arte dei Sapori — Restaurant in Lecce

I walked past their courtyard with candlelit tables underneath red umbrellas, a guitarist was playing live music, serenading the guests. The aroma of the fresh seafood was so enticing, I had to stop and ask if they had an open table available. My boyfriend and I actually had reservations somewhere else for dinner, but walking past this restaurant, we could not resist.

Luckily they had just one table open for us, we sat down excitedly. We started off with a small carafe of the house rose, they offered also a house red and house white. For appetizer, we had a deliciously fresh burrata with local tomatoes, probably the best burrata I’ve ever had.

The entree we both ordered the sagne ‘ncannulate frutti di mare, the spiral pasta noodles with fresh seafood (in my photo). Again, best pasta dish I’ve ever had. So delicious that neither of us spoke a word to each other during the dinner.

If I’m ever in Lecce again, definitely...

Recommended by our hotel (which was amazing) But sadly food service and atmosphere were a let down. We had the 5 sapori starter - which was 7/10. Local flavours nicely prepared. Mains had Ciceri e tria and the millefoglie of Seabass. The sea bass was overcooked and ciceri was ok but overcooked. The worst bit was the wine. We ordered a reasonably expensive bottle, they arrived with a different bottle (retails at 50% of what we ordered) and they charged us the same. It felt a bit like a tourist trap and somewhat dishonest. Came away feeling like we had overpaid for a pretty...

Arte Dei Sapori - excellent hidden gem after a few unsuccessful tries at other places. At first we really wanted to taste some horse meat at another place so we were reluctant to settle here because they mainly do seafood. But at the end paying the most expensive meal of this trip and we were still happy as clams at high tide. The portions are just massive (I could barely finish my steak) and the taste so authentic, all dishes take us to heaven. Father is the chef and daughter is the manager good at recommending their best dishes. We are definitely hoping for...