Pescheria Con Cottura

££££ │ Fish Restaurant

Dinner (Lunch and Dinner weekends) │ Directions & Opening Times on Google

Booking at Pescheria con Cottura was refreshingly easy as it could all be done online via The Fork. There’s a catch though, when we arrived we were told we would be inside and there was no option to sit outside, which given it was a beautiful evening was a tad annoying, so bear that in mind when booking (maybe phone or pop in if you can before and ask for a table outside if that’s important to you, I don’t think there’s an option to choose on the online booking system).

Inside is lovely though, it’s definitely on the posh side, but it’s really tasteful done with homely and well chosen ceramics and rustic yet fancy tableware. You order when you arrive (standing up), as there’s a fish counter. You’ll be ushered over to the counter when you arrive where there are blackboard menus and all the day’s fish laid out. Staff are helpful and will guide you through (in both English and Italian). It’s obviously seafood led, there’s an antipasti list and range of primi/secondi piatti.

We were three and chose grilled octopus, mussels, and range seafood from the counter (baby squid, prawns and anchovies) which were deep fried for us, and some potatoes on the side. We also shared a plate of linguine vongole just to try a pasta dish. Everything was absolutely delicious, notably the octopus had been tenderised and grilled to perfection and the little side of potatoes was delightful. Our linguine vongole was rich and flavoursome, we noted it was more of a clam sauce than a traditional vongole (where usually at least half the vongole are cooked to order with the pasta in their shells). All this was washed down with a superb local chardonnay frizzante.

One gripe would be that we asked where the fish was from and were told simply ‘various places’, and when I asked if it could be from the local ports (Gallipoli, Porto Cesareo, San Foca) we were just told again ‘various places’. All of our fish was delicious though and I do believe it was fresh (I suspect they have a savvy fishmonger sourcing for them genuinely across various places) but it seems lazy not to leave the labels on, given the seafood undoubtedly arrives marked as to where its from.

Pricing is not cheap, but fair, and given it’s a stones through from Piazza Sant’oronzo, as I’m writing I cannot think of anywhere with food as delicious, that is better value for money, with such a nice interior, and in such a central location. Recommended.