9 Best Restaurants in Siena, Italy
To explore a city of art like Siena, one must also try to get to know its truest flavors. The olive groves and vineyards surrounding the city speak of the importance of oil and wine, protagonists on the Sienese tables, with vegetables, meats, cheeses, and game, all the ingredients that make up the mosaic of local cuisine. Here are the restaurants where you can find the best Sienese cuisine.
Le Logge
A charming historic restaurant, very close to Piazza del Campo, which the bottles and the many memories on the walls make it warm and familiar. Those who love retro atmospheres will find here a room of other times, a former grocery with an entrance counter and antique glass cabinets, while on the menu there are various ideas of Tuscan cuisine, but most of the dishes are creative, sometimes with some more exotic ingredients. Well-known in the city, the Osteria le Logge restaurant was born from a passion for food and wine. This place with an ancient atmosphere offers dishes made with respect for tradition, starting with great care of the raw materials. The restaurant today winks at gourmet catering and signature dishes. The proposals of Nico Atrigna, the chef, focus on carefully selected ingredients and on his undoubted skills. Whether you choose the tasting menu or à la carte, you will taste traditional Tuscan dishes with some creative touch. For example, Spaghettoni with rigatino, onion and pecorino; the stuffed rabbit; Tortelli with smoked ricotta in beech wood, mortadella and pistachios. Good wine selection. Wine lovers can ask to visit the nearby winery, a tunnel of Etruscan origin.
Osteria La Mossa
The Osteria is located directly on Piazza del Campo, in a position that alone makes the experience of eating in this place special. In good weather, you can also eat at some tables, in front of the restaurant, with an extraordinary view of Piazza del Campo. A large, friendly and welcoming environment, embellished by a particular and rustic furniture, characterized by the exposed bricks on the walls of the structure. The Osteria “La Mossa” is composed of two small and welcoming rooms (in the Middle Ages they were the base of a tower), about 25 seats, the first room is accessed by descending a few steps from the entrance, the second one through an opening in an ancient wall of great thickness. The restaurant offers a rich menu of dishes prepared following the regional tradition. Meat dishes are the protagonists of the cuisine. The raw materials used are always fresh and genuine: this is to guarantee high quality. Aperitifs, croutons, cold cuts and great traditional dishes such as ribollita: all of quality, everything takes flavor even from the special location. Try the pici with cheese and pepper, the pumpkin ravioli, butter and sage, the excellent tagliata and the dish with pecorino cheese and radicchio.
All’Orto de’ Pecci
A vegetable garden complete with courtyard animals, but in the center of Siena, just behind the Torre del Mangia. Here a social cooperative offers a seasonal menu, which varies according to the production of the organic garden and includes typical dishes such as pappa col pomodoro or pici with sausage ragout. It is a vegetable garden where various types of herbs and vegetables were grown. The spaces available are two frescoed interior rooms, with a wood-burning fireplace, a large covered and heated gazebo for the winter months; the pergola and gazebo available for outdoor dining in the summer months. There is also a small educational farm. On the menu we have: flavored ciaccini; spinach and gorgonzola cheese risotto; chicken nuggets with lemon and flavored potatoes; mixed crostini; pici with cheese and pepper; stewed in Chianti wine with chickpeas in oil; tagliatelle with ragu; yellow squash risotto; red radicchio tagliata with flavored potatoes; Tuscan appetizers and pici with garlic. The tagliata and the Florentine steaks are excellent. And for dessert: ricotta mousse; orange pie. The desserts are homemade. In the evening, it also serves as a pizzeria. The service is excellent.
Guido
The Guido restaurant has been a popular destination for the jet set since the 1930s, place of memory for those who want to retrace the history of Italian cinema and that of entertainment through the black and white photos that cover the room, warm, spacious, and with an ancient charm. The Guido restaurant offers Tuscan cuisine with a strong focus on past flavors: delicious dishes based on truffles, fresh mushrooms, and the famous Florentine steak. The dishes are made up of first-choice ingredients. Among the typical dishes of the Tuscan tradition, we find a selection of cold cuts from Chianti with tomato bruschetta; spleen pate and artichokes in oil; homemade pappardelle with hare ragout; wild boar stew with vegetables. And again: the terrine of aubergines, peppers and courgettes with the pecorino cheese of Pienza; pici with cheese and pepper; pici with ossobuco sauce; basil lasagna with Apulian meatballs; grilled meats, guinea fowl, beef fillet with Brunello wine sauce; lamb shank cooked at low temperature; cheeses, desserts. In season there are also mushrooms and truffles, and on request, you can eat boiled meat, pork, tripe and ossobuco in the Sienese style.
La Taverna di San Giuseppe
A few steps from Piazza del Campo, in a restaurant dating back to 1100, you can taste the historical dishes of Siena and others that interpret the Tuscan gastronomic culture in a modern key. The building tells the origins of Siena, from the cellar (open to visitors), an Etruscan house in the third century BC, to the restaurant room, a brick gallery from the Roman era. Informal but refined environment, solid wood tables and furniture, and soft lighting. The atmosphere is that of a typical Tuscan trattoria, and the cuisine offers some of the region’s most famous dishes. Starting with the old-fashioned livers cooked in Vinsanto (dessert wine) and served with a grilled crouton of bread and oil; tagliolini with fresh truffles; homemade pici with wild boar ragout and porcini mushrooms; tartare, burgers, and the inevitable Florentine steak. Without forgetting the ancient recipe for wild boar with milk: the meat is cooked in white wine and milk for 8 hours and topped with bay leaf, rosemary, and sage. And for dessert, the house Tiramisu in a cup with hazelnut brittle. The proposed menu respects the genuine and peasant tradition of the area, the raw materials are used with passion and creativity. The cellar is an original Etruscan house, dug into the tuff. Good wine list with 700 labels among the best local and national proposals.
Gallo Nero
The balance reached by the Black Rooster is difficult: on the one hand, a postcard of Tuscany, with a medieval atmosphere, to be discovered by exploring a 15th century palace in the heart of Siena; on the other hand, local cuisine which, while maintaining authenticity and tradition, manages to project itself into the contemporary world. Here you can savor the Middle Ages on the table: in medieval dinners, in themed evenings, in cooking lessons. Each dish is the result of careful study and has its own story to tell, which speaks of the territory and the time. On the menu, we find specialties such as the Cecco soup, with peas, bread, cheese, nettle, chicory and crispy bacon, or the pappardelle with truffles from the Crete Senesi, or the Bocconcini di venison in Senese style with juniper. Other dishes are crunchy egg, pecorino cheese foam, shiitake, cocoa, and black truffle; sea bass rolled in bread crust, celery and melon; beef tartare, balsamic vinegar, and 36-month aged Parmesan cheese; linguine, artichokes, thyme, lemon, and black pepper foam; tortelli of pasta with black olives stuffed with creamed cod; burnt wheat pici, anchovy and dried tomato sauce, parsley and cauliflower cream; wild boar sirloin with wine, celery, turnip, cardamom, and cocoa.
Antica Osteria da Divo
Between the Duomo and Piazza del Campo, an evocative setting from the Etruscan era with an ancient well and the remains of the second city walls. Although it is easy to find and located near Piazza del Campo and the Duomo, it is located at the same time in one of the quietest areas of the historic center. The atmosphere is unique, welcoming and intimate, perceptible from the moment you cross the threshold of the entrance. The historic restaurant is very particular, the dishes are excellent and prepared with always fresh ingredients, high quality and impeccable service. Chef Pino is used to proudly show his creations to guests and the restaurant is also well suited for lunches, whether for business or pleasure. The creativity of the chef of the ancient Da Divo restaurant, respecting the tradition and values of the Sienese land, offers its guests dishes prepared with seasonal foods, regularly renewing their menu. The kitchen, visible from the rooms, offers Tuscan gastronomy dishes, with first courses in evidence, such as pici with wild boar, Taggiasca olives and toasted almond fillets; red tuna steak with poppy seeds, leeks and caper pesto. Wide choice of Italian and foreign wines. Very professional and courteous service.
Campo Cedro – via Pian d’Ovile, 54 – Siena
A stone’s throw from the center, but not on a busy tourist street, you have to look for this restaurant a bit, and yet it’s really worth it. The cuisine combines tradition and innovation with notes of oriental taste. Chef Sugihara arrived in Italy from Japan 20 years ago, and his cuisine perfectly matches the Italian gastronomic culture with oriental techniques. The dishes are extremely well-finished, and the very fresh fish comes from the Maremma coast every day, as are the vegetables and aromatic herbs grown in a vegetable garden outside Siena. Among the dishes, we find octopus with crispy potatoes, black bean puree and fried sardines; pappardelle with artichokes, guinea fowl, and lemon cream. From the oriental flavor, the breaded turbot with cuttlefish ink, seaweed cream and seasonal vegetables. Desserts and semifreddo are of their own production as well as fresh bread and pasta. The cellar dug into the tuff under the hall is delightful with essentially wine labels from local producers, and in general, the environment, with vaulted ceilings, is characterized by minimal and well-finished furnishings in line with the cuisine. Fresh and elaborate, with different Mediterranean features, Campo Cedro is one of Siena’s most interesting gastronomic stops.
Boccon del Prete
In this restaurant, you eat at the tables in the entrance hall with the wine counter (excellent choice, even the wine by the glass), and eat in the internal rooms, which also host a few groups. From the kitchen come the dishes of the menu of the day written on a blackboard, or those of the ordinary menu, more or less all of Tuscan tradition, plus a few seafood dishes. In addition to traditional local cuisine, the chef’s delicious creations are usually served. The service is impeccable and the staff are kind and always available. Among the dishes to taste: polenta with sausage and pici, with sage and almonds; carpaccio with black truffle flakes; artichoke flan on a bed of parmesan cream; egg noodles with meat sauce, potato ravioli. We proceed with a crouton with broccoli and dried tomatoes; crouton with tripe; Tuscan cold cuts: raw, salami, finocchiona; bread passatelli with meat sauce; pork fillet with onions in balsamic vinegar; cod crepes; the chickpea soup; the pappa al pomodoro soup is served with a seared eggplant roll and mozzarella. It ends with the panforte parfait or the pear pie with vanilla sauce. The wines and craft beers are also excellent.
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