Exploring the port town of Bari in Puglia. 

 I❤️ Markets: Bari

Inside the old city you will find so many small stands with fresh fruit and vegetables and small alimentari, shops with meats and cheeses and places to buy pasta and your basics.

The covered markets are in the newer residential areas. there are also the moving "weekly markets" which are a simple one day market which is in different areas on different days, they have more than just food.

The dock with the fresh fish has a couple of places.

Puglia has so many wondeful street food snacks. I like to alternate having one large meal and the rest snacking. The aperitivo's in Puglia are huge, often you recieve large amounts of food with your drinks.

In some areas, there are also butcher restaurants which I adore. They are called Braccerie. The butcher shop is a shop during the day and at night becomes a restaurant. These are famous around Martina Franca area, but saw a couple of small ones in Bari

I have also had an articoke( carciofi) version

The area around Martina Franca and Cisternino have butcher shops which also have grills! You pick your food first, pay and then they bring it to the table when cooked. I go crazy for the small bombette, usually thin slices of pork wrapped around fillings and grilled on a spit.

There are also other shapes of pasta from the same dough. Cavatelli, Strascinate.

They eat horse in Puglia! "Cavallo" often used to make the braciole. It's delicious. just warning you. Another word for horse meat is Carne Equino.

North of Bari is one of my favorite restsaurants in Italy, Pietro Zita. He also has a small vegetable garden/farm around the corner from the restaurant.

Make a day trip by stopping by Trani before lunch and after lunch tour the Castel del Monte

Panzerotti-Fried dough stuffed with tomatoes and mozzarella ( main combination)

Focaccia Barese -A fluffy foccaccia with cherry tomatoes cooked on the top

Tiella- Rice, potatoes and mussels. All baked together.-

Cheese-Mozzarella, Burrata and Stracciatella, which is like burrata but stuffed with pulled cheese strips as well

Taralli- These little round "breadsticks" melt in your mouth.Great for snacking.

Orecchiette con Cima di Rape- The flour and water dough pasta is a classic. Cima di Rape is the bitter green, usually boiled in the pasta water and then sauteed in garlic, olive oil and a little chili.

You may want to watch out for Cavallo on menu-

Bread from Altamura and Matera- HUGE loaves of bread, made from the Semola di grano duro. Amazing.The bread is almost golden inside.

Olive oil and olives- Olive oil and olives. Puglia produces 60% of Italy's olive oil. Recently the trees have gotten some illness and are being cut down. In Tuscany we keep our trees short as the olives are harvested a little unripe by hand. The olives are left to turn black on the trees and shaken off, so they grow really high and also are really old.

If you want to learn to cook and feel like you found your long lost cousin.

Contact Rita, she has offers cooking classes and rooms for rent at her Masseria outside of Mola di Bari.

Will be some of the best food you have. She offers culinary weeks as well.

There are so many places to visit. It's a large region with so much to see and do. The best way is renting a car and exploring. I break it up into areas, pick one to base in and then tour from there.

Tette delle monache or sospiri pugliesi - These breast shaped desserts are delicious. A baked pastry which is so light filled with an even lighter cream.

Sporcamus- "dirty your mouth"-These powdered sugar puff pastry desserts are hard to eat without getting it all over you face, hence the name.

Pasticciotti- A oval shaped pastry filled with cream and black cherry

Alberobello, Locorotondo, Martina Franca, Cisternino, Ostuni.

Farther south, Lecce, Gallipoli, Otranto.

Antichi Sapori Montegrosso

Castello Svevo di Bari

Bari

Cucina in Masseria - Masseria Serra dell'Isola - B&B and Cooking School

Al Pescatore

Panificio Fiore

Antica gelateria Gentile

N' dèrr'a la lanze

Nunzia Pasta Lady extraordinaire of Bari Vecchia

I❤️ Markets: Bari

Buy to unlock full guide