"The greatest success in the kitchen is to fill your stomach with imagination" is one of the mottos of Luigi Pugliese, master chef of the lovely restaurant "Scinuá" in Putignano: and imagination abound all across the menu, which (as in the best Italian tradition) is composed of a handful of seasonal dishes. One of the basic rules of good dining out is to refrain from multi-page menus, it is practically impossible that all dishes are fresh and prepared with the necessary passion and care.
Luigi´s approach is clear and effective: a careful choice of excellent, fresh, seasonal, local ingredients, prepared according to classic regional recipes, with a creative touch in the magnificent presentation of the dishes, while at the same time recovering traditional ingredients which have been forgotten by contemporary cuisine. A typical example is "farinella", a chickpea and roasted barley flour which farmers used to add to pasta sauce or spread on ripe figs to create a full meal also in absence of the (expensive at the time) bread. The young, friendly, enthusiastic staff gladly explained us all these secrets, and their enthusiasm dripped as a magic "sauce" on all the delicious dishes.
Luigi´s approach is clear and effective: a careful choice of excellent, fresh, seasonal, local ingredients, prepared according to classic regional recipes, with a creative touch in the magnificent presentation of the dishes, while at the same time recovering traditional ingredients which have been forgotten by contemporary cuisine. A typical example is "farinella", a chickpea and roasted barley flour which farmers used to add to pasta sauce or spread on ripe figs to create a full meal also in absence of the (expensive at the time) bread. The young, friendly, enthusiastic staff gladly explained us all these secrets, and their enthusiasm dripped as a magic "sauce" on all the delicious dishes.
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We started our journey with a series of 6 starters: "capocollo" (tasty cured meat) served with figs and farinella, zucchini flowers filled with ricotta fresh cheese and mint, a cream of zucchini, red rice and burratina served in an "espressino" cup, quail egg on a nest of vine sprouts, a tasty caponata with zucchini, aubergines and peppers. The fresh ricotta with caramelised celery can be easily served as dessert, blissful. When our taste buds were already knockin´on heaven´s door, the miniburger with agretti (a wild herb known as well as "friar´s beard) arrived, and the doors opened. We could have heappily eaten a dozen of these tasty juicy miniheavens, but we needed to save some room for the main courses.
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"Tubetti" short pasta with prawns and black chickpeas, and spaghetti with a delicate zucchini flower and "guanciale" (cured meat) were equally delicious, paired with a full-bodied "Rinzacco " Nero di Troia red wine by Conte Spagnoletti Zeuli. The dessert trio made of tiramisu, dark chocolate mousse and profiteroles became a poker with the tasting of their flagship fig ice-cream which filled all our tasting buds with ultimate pleasure.
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PS. Our"stairway to heaven" actually started in the morning when we went deep into Mother Earth´s womb visiting the amazing "Grotte di Castellana": a natural wonder formed about 90 million years ago, the caves can be explored with a walking tour winding along a distance of 3 km to 70 meters of depth. An amazing scenario made of stalactites, stalagmites, concretions, precious crystals, incredible shapes, fossils and canyons terminating in the “Grotta Bianca” (white cave), defined for richness and the whiteness of the alabaster, the shiniest and definitely one of the most beautiful in the world.
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