Re Mida

££££ │ Classic Lecce Restaurant

Open All Day │ Directions & Opening Times on Google

Re Mida is a touristy restaurant, right in the middle of the touristy action. It’s on Via Giuseppe Libertini a few hundred meters down from duomo, where the road narrows, and a stones throw from Porta Rudiae. It’s busy round there.

But despite being a known tourist spot I was actually taken to Re Mida by local Lecce pals, who grew up here, and who enthusiastically told me if we were gonna eat the classics, its one of the best spots. There were about 7 or 8 of us packed onto two of the signature wine barrel tables outside which was great fun, though having said that my daughter was in a highchair that didn’t even reach the height of the bar stools (which was no sweat and gave me a reason to eat together with her on my lap) but if you’re not up for that, bear it in mind before you bring super young kids.

Food is rustic hearty local fayre, there were meat boards with lots of salumi, burrata, pezzetti di cavallo (traditional local horsemeat stew) and polpette (meatballs and tomato sauce). There’s also lots of Orecchiette on the menu and local wine. It’s worth mentioning the earthy textures and flavours of the salento cuisine are very different to the silky egg pasta and refined cooking of the northern regions of Italy (which is the type of Italian food you genuinely eat in northern Europe too). So come to Re Mida/Salento with an open mind, and remember even if you know a lot about Italian food in London/Paris/Berlin, you might never have eaten the food you’re going to eat here, and it might be a little different (but equally as delicious!).

The cooking in Re Mida is good, in many traditional and touristy restaurants here they slop out the local classics without much attention to quality/flavour/seasoning and charge you/treat you like you’ve had the privilege of some sort ethereal, other worldly, once in a lifetime experience; thus adding insult to an already shite experience. From my experience that is NOT the case in Re Mida, it’s priced firmly (its actually too expensive for what it is, but hey it is the touristy part of the old town) but the food is flavoursome and well executed.

Service is friendly but chaotic, they might seem rude if they’re busy but they’re alright in there.