Re Artù
££££ │ Puccia, Pizza by the slice, Whole Pizzas, Beers, Wines & Soft Drinks
Evenings │ Directions & Opening Times on Google
Re Artù (King Arthur) is a predictably gothic and regal joint. It has a distinctly euro-irish-pub feel to it, even though the fayre is much more salentino than gaelic. And it doesn’t appear to have changed since its inception in 1986. My history isn’t brilliant but if memory serves me well Arthur, Gawain, Lancelot, Percival, Tristan, Galahad and the rest of the lads were on tour quite a lot before 86’. That said, if at some point they did stop in for a puccia, I’m sure they would’ve been extremely merry and content.
Puccia (a particular type of sandwich from Salento) is the main draw here, as they do it extremely well. Unlike the Puccia joints in the old city, which tend to have a paired back menu of 4 or 5 options, at Re Artù you can have whatever you want. Puccia is €7 (which is pretty pricey for salento), all the toppings are laid out and you point and ask (which is kinda more how the locals do it). Process wise (for ordering) it’s exactly the same as subway basically. I don’t think all the ingredients here are homemade, but a significant proportion probably are, which sit side by side with ketchup and mayo etc which people here love a bit of in their Puccia. You can make it as highbrow or lowbrow as you like, it’s your Puccia, its up to you.
Pizza is by the slice (or rather by the square) or you can order a whole pizza. I’ve only had squares of pizza here and they’ve been pretty good. It’s that old school pizza that kinda reminds me of our school canteen, aka white fluffy style of pizza base (but with much better toppings).
I can’t quite bring myself to give Re Artù an out and out recommendation only because of price - it’s too expensive for what it is. We’ve eaten in with wine in other pizzerias for less than the price of a takeaway here. But if you’re on holiday and have a few euros to chuck around, this is as good a place as any to try the kind of everyday puccia & pizza that have been keeping the Leccese fed and watered for many many years.