Restaurant tips and beer in Bari

Eating and drinking keeps body and soul together and gives enough energy for great city explorations in and around Bari.

We visited a few restaurants, took food back to our holiday flat and, of course, cooked. We present some restaurant tips here.

It is certainly noticeable that we do not present a typical Italian meal with pizza and pasta. Of course, we also had pizza during our time in Bari! But we never ate it in the restaurant, but took it home with us. The opening hours of the restaurants rarely fitted into our daily schedule and a look at the prices often showed that many offers were overpriced for tourists. In contrast, there were many take-away places in the streets of the old town or with only 1-2 tables in front of the door, which were extremely good and cheap. So if you fancy a pizza, all you need to do is wander through the alleyways for a while.

You’re sure to come across fried/ deep-fried panzerotto. You shouldn’t pass it by here. The filled dumplings are one of the local specialities and are simply great!

Mastro Ciccio

On our first evening in Bari, we were drawn to a restaurant that looks like fast food, but the quality of the food is miles above the well-known chains. The offer is a bit more expensive and in the season it is certainly the most touristy place of all. In November, we were almost the only foreign visitors.

In the middle of the week at a rather untypical meal time for Italy, it was relatively empty in the restaurant and we were even able to get a seat. At later times, you sometimes have to take a waiting number and plan for longer waiting times. The food is ordered at a counter, warmed up and can then be picked up there.

One look at the offer was enough for me quite quickly and the decision was clear. I just had to try the squid burger. Patrick decided on a burger with a meaty topping. We each ordered a beer to go with it. Apparently there is also the possibility to order the food as a menu. In any case, the communication (they only spoke Italian) was not so clear and when we picked up our food, there were still two bags with small potato balls (Pupozz) on our trays. What luck – they were just great!

Address:

Corso Vittorio Emanuele, 15,
70122 Bari BA, Italien
Webseite

Lo Svevo – Beer in Bari

The Lo Svevo is located in the old town. Here you can get the brewery’s beer and also eat well. The restaurant is quite small and if you want to eat there spontaneously, you need a bit of luck or should be there right after opening. Even in November, most of the few tables were reserved.

The beer in Bari is really good and worth a visit. You can also eat, of course, there are excellent burgers, for example.

Address:

Str. Arco Meraviglia, 1,
70122 Bari BA, Italien

Opening hours:

The times change frequently. The current times can be found on the Website.

Birrifico Bari

Rather by chance, we ended up at the Birrifico Bari during a walk. This brewery is located on a large site with an event centre, the planetarium and, when we visited, the city’s vaccination centre.

Paola Sorrentino is the brewer here and her beers in Bari really excited me. We tried the two bottled beers #Mollotutto, which already inspired with their unusual bottle label. #Mollotutto – la Bionda is an IPA with 4.7% alcohol. It has a fresh citrus flavour. #Mollotutto – la Rossa is a doppelbock craft beer. The alcohol content is 7% and the beer tastes of roasted malt with a light caramel note.

There are also beers on tap. During our visit, there were 6 different beers to choose from. I chose the Birra San Nicola 1087 – Nicolaiana. A Bari beer that reminds me of a lager and has a beautiful golden yellow colour. It tastes only slightly of malt and has 5.4% alcohol. Patrick’s choice was the KTSM a Black IPA. The alcohol content is 7%. The beer smells wonderfully of roasted malt and chocolate.

If you would like to eat something, the brewery offers something that goes very well with the beer in Bari. Here I was also able to try the orecchiette (ear-shaped pasta) famous for Bari.

Address:

Lungomare Starita 4 – Fiera del Levante – Pad. 126 –
Bari
Website

Fresh fish

For the small hunger in between, or if you like to cook yourself, we can recommend fresh fish. During our walk through the city, we passed numerous fish shops. Many also offer ready-to-eat fish for sale.

You can get freshly caught and raw fish, as well as sea urchins and prawns, in the small fishing harbour.

Fresh prawns, fish coated in egg or fried fish – the offer was huge and we could hardly decide.

Coffee, cake and ice cream

I have rarely seen so many cafés as in Bari. You can have a typical Italian café (i.e. an espresso for the German palate) on almost every corner. Whether standing up at the bar or sitting down on the street, which is a bit more expensive. Many offer cake to go with it, which really often looks too tempting.