Il Carrettino
££££ │ Burgers, Beers & Soft Drinks
Evenings (closed Mondays) │ Directions & Opening Times on Google
Burger patties are different in Salento. They’re redder, leaner, and kind of taste like the inside of a meatball from the 90’s that has about 40% pork in the mix. That’s just a fact of life here and something to bear in mind in terms of expectations before getting a burger anywhere in Salento. I don’t know why it is, I guess the butchery is different here, and perhaps the animals don’t eat as much grass as UK herds. I don’t know, I am merely speculating. If you’re coming from the US/UK though, those chunky monster burgers that you’re used to, with a high fat content, crispy maillard crust, and a soft, juicy medium rare middle just do not exist in the same way here (from my experience).
Once you get past this difference in meat though Il Carrettino is a pretty decent burger spot. There’s a good selection from American classics to Italian inspired options. You can get bbq sauce and bacon and american cheese, or you can have creamy italian cheese with more classic local panino fillings. We had a lovely evening here with friends and all four of our burgers were really great. They’ll ask you how you want your burger cooked. I was the only one who ordered my burger medium, and it came, at best medium well, but I’d probably describe it more as well done. I don’t really care about this personally but if you’re into a precise cook on your patty I would advise you to downgrade your cooking preference by at least one (maybe two) levels. Aka if you like an American medium rare, I’d ask them to do it rare here. I have sympathy with Il Carrettino (and all Burger restaurants trying to cook authentically in Italy tbh) because they have to balance the locals (who basically all want their meat cooked through) with the visitors (who want different cooking options). You can also hear plenty of people who like to ask for medium or medium rare (cos they think it makes them sounds foodie or whatever) but then say ‘but I don’t want any blood, no blood’. Shit like this obviously messes up the whole system because these people are asking for something that doesn’t exist so I’d encourage you to be patient with the Salento burger joints, they’re dealing with a minefield of requests, plenty of which are dumb and make no sense.
Il Carrettino is in Mazzini, the newer part of the centre that feels more like Milan than it does the rural traditional south, and its priced accordingly. Burger and chips is over a tenner, which for Salento is a lot. In fact its too expensive for what it is. But they do care, I expect the beef is of a higher provenance than average, and with a super friendly team and a very buzz interior it probably could be argued that it’s worth the value for money (if only just).