![]() |
Home - City Guide - Bologna - Food and Drink | ||
![]() |
||
Food and Drink Bologna la grassa (the fat one) is Italy's gastronomic capital and a city fabled for pigging out. Just about everybody has heard of spaghetti bolognese, but do not expect to find this hackneyed dish here. The Bolognese call their meat sauce ragu, and prefer to eat it with tagliatelle. Bologna is also famous for its mortadella (baloney) - a huge sausage, often over a foot wide, named after the mortar in which butchers used to pound the pork. But the most famous ingredient to come out of the city is the egg-rich pasta used to create tortellini. Tortellini, tiny round stuffed pasta, can be found in restaurants all over the city: stuffed with spiced meat (traditionally the leftovers from the Sunday roast) and upended in broth, or coated with a tomato and butter sauce. Emilia-Romagna is not one of the better-known regions for Italian wine and the regional selection, though adequate, is nothing to write home about. Sangiovese di Romagna, a light red table wine, and Trebbiano, a non-descript white, line the supermarket shelves. Most surprising of all is the Lambrusco - the young Lambrusco drunk in Bologna (and not available for export) is both crisp and dry, gently fizzing on the tongue. Picnic food and hot lunches can be found at tavola calda, self-service restaurants, often tucked at the back of delicatessen. Osterias are typically wine bars serving snacks and the occasional plate of pasta. Trattorias were originally a cheaper, less formal version of restaurants, but today the two are fairly interchangeable, both serving full meals complete with pomp and ceremony. Most restaurants are open 1230-1500 and 1930-2400, with one day off. In Bologna, the best restaurants are booked up by locals most Friday and Saturday nights, so reservations are recommended. Visitors should expect to pay upwards of L40,000 for a three-course dinner with wine. Tourist menus (menu turistico) are available from L25,000, but are rarely exceptional. That said, it is difficult to find a bad meal in Bologna. For a quick bite and plenty of bonhomie, head for the University area - otherwise stick to the historic centre, if only for the ease of getting home. Restaurants: For the swankiest meal in Bologna, load up your wallet (a full meal costs L80,000 upwards) and head for the glitzy Diana, Via dell'Indipendenza 24 (tel: (051) 231 302; closed Monday). Slaver over tortellini in brodo and tagliatelle con ragu in a restaurant which prides itself on traditional Bolognese cuisine. Torre de' Galluzi, Corte Galluzi 5 (tel: (051) 267 638; closed Sunday), is a haven of reserved elegance featuring local specialities like zampone (stuffed pigs' trotters). A full meal costs about L80,000. If you prefer fish, Le Maschere, Via Zappoli 5 (tel: (051) 261 035; closed Sunday), conjures up lightly spiced seafood dishes. Try the house speciality, Aragosto alla Catalana (boiled lobster served with a tomato and rocket salad), which costs L50,000 for two; or the seafood risotto for L15,000. For an intimate night out, romance your loved one over a candlelit feast at Sale e Pepe, Via De Cotelli 9/2 (tel: (051) 228 532; closed Sunday). The creative Mediterranean cuisine is spot on, and whatever you eat, it costs L35,000 - the fixed price for a full meal with wine. A more raucous alternative is the Osteria Il Cantinone, Via del Pratello 56a (tel (051) 553 223; closed Tuesday). Dine out on hearty pasta and good quality plonk for about L30,000, in an area bursting with cheerful osterias and popular among young locals. Local opinion is divided on the best pizzeria, but you cannot beat the view from Pizzeria Vito, located at the top of San Luca hill, Via Monte Albano 5 (tel: (051) 437 711), and the pizzas are not bad either. Prices start at L7,500. CafÉs:It is worth bearing in mind that as soon as you sit down in an Italian cafÉ, prices go up considerably since you have to pay for service. Most Italians simply down their coffee and run. If you want to blend in with the locals, order cappuccino for breakfast and espresso after meals. If you want anything longer, or weaker, ask for a caffe americano and wait for the shrug of disapproval. For the perfect end to dinner, try an espresso topped up with the Italian digestive, grappa (caffe corretto). Zanarini, just behind the Basilica di San Petronio, is Bologna's grandest cafÉ. The elegant upholstery and renowned pastries make it a favourite with Bologna's fur-coat brigade. Caffe Commercianti, on Strada Maggiore, is a popular haunt for the local intelligensia and is apparently frequented by author Umberto Eco. For a ringside seat on Bologna's main square, the Caffe Piazza Maggiore promises a slice of urban life with your cappuccino. Mingle with the students at the Caffe al Teatro on the corner of Largo Respighi and Via Zamboni, reputed to have some of the best bomboloni (doughnuts stuffed with crème patisserie) in Bologna. |