My wife and I will spend a few days in Piedmont in October. We have two nights to dine out, and we’ll likely be around Barolo.
We tend to favor smaller, rustic spots.
We have some ideas, but woud love to hear yours if you feel strongly. Cheers and thanks.
Ristorante Bovio La Morra captures the local cuisine beautifully and had a great list. Panoramic views toward Barolo and beyond from La Morra. Plenty of rustic wine dining in La Morra village too.
I try to get there every year. Holiday snaps-
There are lots of posts on this topic that you can hopefully find through search.
That said, I’d give a strong second to Bovio, which was well-described by the other poster. In addition, La Libera in Alba has great food and is probably the most popular choice in Alba, though I also really enjoy Piazza Duomo which is a MIchelin two-star with amazing food and exceptional service.
La Poste in Monforte de Alba is always great.
Il Centro in Priocca d’Alba was my favorite meal there. All the classic Piedmontese dishes and the atmosphere you want.
La Libera in the main town of Alba is also great and while the look of the restaurant is more contemporary, the food is just as classic.
La Ciau del Tornavento in Treiso is probably the most beautiful restaurant I’ve ever been in in my life. I didn’t like my meal there quite as much as other people have seemed to - a little too slick and modern - but I’d still happily go back.
I’d also go back in a heartbeat to La Luna nel Pozzo in one of the Barbaresco towns - this one was on the smaller and cozier side.
Oenoclub or La Libera in Alba.
Trattoria della Posta is great.
I would suggest a really nice restaurant called “Trattoria Cascina Schiavenza”. Azienda - Azienda Agricola Schiavenza - Vini e cucina di Langa
It’s on the hills of Serralunga d’Alba ina beautiful surrounding, great food and it’s managed by a small producer of very interesting “traditional” Barolos from Serralunga and Monforte. Search wines for 'schiavenza barolo' - CellarTracker
Btw, the tasting room is “under” the restaurant 
Giuliano
Maryland used to have the Schiavenza Barolo available back in the day. I bought some 1989s, and they were excellent. dc.
Found a note on the Schiavenza, written in DEC 2004.
“1989 Schiavenza Barolo. $19.99 at release. Solid old school Barolo that kept getting better and better as it breathed in my glass and warmed up from the cellar. I should have decanted this an hour or two before dinner but it was a last minute decision to crack it. Medium red with brick edge, mature but with plenty of life left in it - it can go another 5-10 years no problem. Floral, aromatic nose with red licorice, tobacco and red cherry/almost orange fruit, and some earthiness. Nice lightly tannic finish. A very nice wine from a great vintage and unheralded producer. Grade: B+.”
I have also had their Barolo Chinato - very good.
Hi Evan,
Here are a few reports I did on dining in the region from late last year.
Best Regards
Jeremy
La Coccinella
To get to La Coccinella in Serravalle you must endure more twists and turns than a Dan Brown novel but it’s worth it. We have dined here several times before and the food has always been fresh and modern yet deeply rooted in Piemonte. It is run by three brothers who speak excellent English and deliver service that only comes from mature,‘lifers’ in the hospitality industry.
The wine list is excellent and has some older gems. We chose a 1971 E.Pira e Figli Barolo to be the centrepiece to accompany our white truffle menu. The cork crumbled a little but was in reasonable nick as it was drawn from the bottle. The initial smell was of bitter chocolate and sweet cedar. The wine breathed up marvellously and emitted all sorts of ethereal smells including porcini, truffle, dried figs, roses, curry leaf, raisins and earth. In the mouth it was sweet and vinous with outstanding freshness and excellent acidity. A near perfect bottle of wine. Next to this wine we also tracked a 1996 G.Mascarello Barolo ‘Monprivato’, a wine on the same trajectory as the Pira albeit 25 years younger. Savoury smells of meat, cedar, freshly tilled earth, mushroom and iron. In the mouth it was sweet and vinous with great volume and poise. The acidity was brisk and tannins abundant, yet linked together to form a lovely chain to drive home the finish.
The truffle menu was essentially classic Piemontese dishes served with a ‘shit load’ of white truffle that is charged out by the gram. The starter of raw, minced veal tartare was sublime with truffle and accompanied the two wines brilliantly. I felt like Ray Winstone’s character in Ripley’s game as I signalled ‘keep em coming’ to the waiter as he shaved the thin slices of this most sensuous tuber all over my entree. Fresh pasta, Tajarin (the local specialty) was next with plenty of truffle then a fondue of Bra Tenero, a local cheese, that was a spare tyre just waiting to wrap itself around your midriff and a runny poached egg on top. This was perhaps the best dish as a conduit for the truffle and again worked supremely well with the wines. The children had an excellent gnocchi with mushroom, chicken and nuts. For dessert we all opted for different things, a lovely semifreddo of hazelnut on a biscuit base for me, a delicious looking hazelnut and chocolate log for Helen, a soft chocolate tart for Heidi and Geoff had a selection of the regions dessert specialties. Excellent coffee to finish and the boys let us buy a couple of takeaway botts for that evening at reasonable prices. An excellent restaurant, highly recommended.
La Coccinella
Via Provinciale, 5
Serravale Langhe
01 73 74 82 20
'L Bunet
There’s an official looking certificate on the wall here and I think it translates to an award for a restaurant that is at the outer most reaches of normal civilisation that still manages to operate an ongoing concern. This is a restaurant, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, about 50 minutes drive south of Alba that was recommended to us by Alessandro at La Coccinella .The windy road that takes you here makes the journey to La Coccinella seem as if its gun barrel straight along the Hay plain in comparison.
This restaurant was set up by Emilio Banchero’s father some 32 years ago and Emilio has been here for 21 years, it is a special restaurant with real soul. We left ourselves in the capable hands of Emilio regarding food and were presented with three excellent antipasti before we had to make a choice. A kind of Vitello Tonatto to start but the veal’s mayonnaise had no mayonnaise or tuna but was comprised of anchovies, spices, vinegar and egg yolk. It was served with a little veal tartare and a whole anchovy in vinegar on the side, quite a wonderful dish. Filo pastry then encased some local cheese then was floating upon a fondue of similar (in fact probably the same) cheese. White truffle was liberally shaved over the top, thank you very much. The third Antipasto was sublime. Cocotte of egg with freshly picked porcini from the area at the bottom and black truffle shaved over the top, simple, earthy and quite possibly the world’s best comfort food.
I can hear you all questioning, did they have three Barolo to accompany the food? Well yes we did (Lunch did go for nearly 4 hours). Emilio is a passionate wine chap and the list is both well chosen and well priced. We had a 2001 Gianfranco Alessandria Barolo ‘San Giovanni’ that was textbook Barolo. It reeked of tar and roses and breathed to show some liquorice notes. It was rich and chewy in the mouth with engaging savoury flavours and excellent balance. In a nice spot now but plenty more upside. The 2001 Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo ‘Vigna Capella di S. Stefano’ was quite sweet and fleshy in comparison, with some sappy, resinous aromas coupled with sweet red berry aromas and flavours. It showed some tar and chestnut with air and it too should improve with further bottle age. The 2004 G. Mascarello Barolo ‘Villero’ is ridiculously youthful but emits the most wonderful perfume of rose petals and red fruits. It is fresh with sweet red berries and possesses lovely fine, minerally acidity and moderate tannins.
There was a choice of 4 pasta’s followed by a choice of four meat courses. Helen’s Mezzalune Verdi looked delicious and Heidi’s Ragu and Fungi was. Geoff and I decided to keep the white truffle theme running and had Tagliatelle al tartufo bianco, awesome! The wild boar hunted by Emilio’s father was rich and intense and came with polenta and carrots and the de-boned rabbit with thyme was sensational. The cheese course consisted of only local cheeses many that are not available in shops; it was a fabulous experience for this cheese tragic.
Desserts rounded off the perfect meal. The kids had a Panna Cotta with coffee and organic honey and as I type this report the kids are bouncing off the walls of our agriturismo from the caffeine. The hazelnut mousse with chocolate centre was kind of like deconstructed Ferrero Rocher and hazelnut cake was a recipe from Emilio’s grandmother and tasted like firm hazelnut creme caramel.
This is a brilliant restaurant, we cannot recommend it highly enough but you will need to book, have a sat nav and set aside several hours. It is way off the tourist map and is full of locals but is one of those rare experiences where you experience pure, regional, unadulterated food that panders to no one.
'L Bunet
Via Roma, 24
Bergolo
01 73 87 013
www.lbunet.it
La Libera
We were running late after our visit at Voerzio ran over-time and Heidi received a fairly surly greeting from the hostess. We were short of time, as we had to make a 2.30pm appointment at Giacosa so we opted for just a main course each and a good bottle. The unhospitable greeting from ‘Segnora Bitchface’ was well and truly made up by a delightful, tall bearded chap who served us with grace and style. Our initial bottle of 95 Giacosa Barbaresco ‘Gallina di Nieve’ was a little oxidised and he took it back, no questions asked without any fuss. We ended up with a 1996 Renato Ratti Barolo ‘Marcenasco’ that was showing a little decaying rose on the nose along with some tar and truffle. In the mouth the tannins are softening but it is still a wine of excellent poise and is utterly delicious.
Food choices were for Helen, a fish that was described as Cappers, we assumed may have been kippers but ended up being a kind of white fleshed bream with veg, pronounced very good by the notoriously ‘hard marking’ Helen. Geoff had a magnificently earthy dish of ribbon pasta with fresh porcini. Heidi, ravioli stuffed with spinach and a runny egg with a mountain of white truffle shaved over the top and I, plain pasta with aforementioned mountain of white truffle. The children’s pasta was first rate.
We have heard good things about this place from a few mates and the wine list is very good with plenty of depth from top vintages such as 89, 90, 96, 98, 99 and 01 at reasonable prices. We’d like to return for a longer meal at some stage and give the full menu a work out.
La Libera
01 73 29 31 55
Via Elvio Pertinace, 24
Alba
Osteria Veglio
I’ll have the (insert good year)‘insert (good maker)’.(insert Barolo) per favore’ was what I had to say 5 times, each time several minutes later the waitress came back and said ‘I’m sorry we don’t have that one’ which could have been code word for ‘we have it but funny looking Australian man is not getting it’ or they may not have had it. So anyway we finally got a 2000 Revello Barolo ‘Vigna Conca’ that breathed up beautifully in the glass showing notes of dark chocolate, tar, Indian spice and dried flowers. In the mouth it was relatively sweet and supple with sugar coated tannins, delicious right now. An accompanying bottle of 2007 Sandrone Barbera was ripe, silky, slippery and low acid. It was syrup of cherries laced with dried flowers and slid down quickly but lacked a little freshness.
This is a restaurant that is a favourite of a couple of our Piedmont ‘tragic’ friends and the dining room is lovely, with good glassware and a nice feel to it. There’s a magnificent terrace and I can imagine whittling away several hours on a warm sunny afternoon. Food here is excellent and entree’s included a dish of potato, cheese fondant, soft poached egg and rabbit ragu which Heidi adored and a marvellous dish of chicken, potatoes and truffles in a rich creamy broth for me. Vitello Tonnato was fresh and correct and the region’s specialty of tajarin with a ragu sauce kept the kids entertained for minutes. My main course of pork chops with crackling served on mashed pumpkin was chock full of flavour.
We were again a little pushed for time and had to miss desserts but will definitely be back, maybe taking our own bottle next time?
Osteria Veglio
01 73 50 93 41
Frazione Annunziata 91,
Annunziata
La Pignetta
This is the best pizza in Alba, well it’s actually the only Pizza we’ve ever had in Alba but a local, in the know, proclaimed it so. He wasn’t sure whether they did ‘takeaway’ and we were looking for something to take back to the agriturismo so we parked out the front and Heidi ran in to test out her rusty Italian. ‘Parla Inglese’ was met with ‘non’! Great, how was she going to explain what we wanted? ‘Mangia a casa’ (eat at home) was what she said and the lady then replied ‘oh, you want takeaway?
The pizzas are excellent although they lose a little bit of crunch as a takeaway. We had one that was bresola, porcini, rocket and oregano and one with ham, tomato and buffalo mozzarella. The Pizzas needed a simple dolcetto or barbera so we cracked a 1999 Paitin Barbaresco ‘Sori Paitin’ Vecchi Vigne’. It had some salty plum on the nose along with coffee, liquorice and decaying roses. With air it becomes quite perfumed. In the mouth it was dense and sweet and still had some chewy tannins and crisp acid.
La Pignetta
01 73 29 09 26
Corso Cortemilia, 8
Alba
I concur with “Trattoria Cascina Schiavenza”. Did not go last month but was there the year before. Loved the place.
And a couple of favorites-
Nice views too. Looking toward Monforte.
Quite possibly, the greatest restaurant in all of Piedmont is in Monteforte di Alba. It has won huge praise throughout all of Italy, and is not to be missed. The name is Il Giardin Da Felicin. It has a website so reservations are easy. Ask for a table outside if the weather is nice. Don’t order, just ask for the fix menu and prepare for 3 glorious hours of eating. Choose a great Barolo, at very reasonable prices from the wine menu, or just ask the waiter for suggestions. Perfect English is spoken by the wait staff, so have no fears about translation. The owner is such a wonderful guy the entire evening will be one you will remember a life time. My recomendation is to call(or email) the Felicin and stay in their beautiful rooms for your entire Piedmont stay. We did, and it was surely a delight.
I had a very nice meal near Barbaresco in Rabaja (or perhaps Rabaya) just above the vineyard. A smallish place with good local food; make sure you ask for the Barbaresco wine list as there is one regular list and one that’s just Barbarescos.
If you want smaller and rustic, I can think of no better place than Gemma in Diano d’Alba… Nondescript, simple, you better make a reservation though. No menu… you sit down and they bring food family style. The wine list is nothing to brag about, you might want to bring your own. Gemma is special!
Down the stair way that is right behind Enoteca Germano Angelo in Barolo (say hello to Angelo for me - yes, I import these wines) is Osteria La Cantinella… Slow food glory! The daily menu is posted on the chalk board.
More e Machine in La Morra is my new favorite. Classic Piemontese food. Great wine list, and if you like champagne, a great selection. This is THE hangout out for La Morra’s wine makers and you are likely to see the Corino’s, Silvia Altare, Marco Molino or any number of wine makers holding court on the entrance level dining/coffee area, but do try to get a table downstairs. Again, please give Itoh a “big ciao” from me!
I’ll be in town on October 23rd… Please PM me if I can help with setting up any visits in La Morra or Barbaresco.
have fun!
George,
I can only agree wirh your recommendation. Da Gemma is very special!
But is is not located in Roddino?
Are we talking about this one? http://www.leradicieleali.it/
One of my rules of thumb: The more primitive the appearance of the website ist, the better is the restaurant!
Greetings,
Eric
I second the choice of La libera, the chef is not only a god cook but also a very nice guy, if you start talking about wine you can have him a lot at your table (if the restaurant is not too crowded anymore). Bovio is especially worth the visit for the view and the wine list, the food is good but not great. Cantinella is good as well.
About Felicin I’m less positive, I have eaten there 2 years ago and even tough the food was not bad (but not spectacular either) I will never go back, when we left a mouse came out of the kirchen running over the feet of my other half and 2 cooks running behind it, sorry but that is unacceptable. Even tough the wine cellar is really great, you can go in a choose a bottle. If you want eat very good in Monforte, go to la salita. It is maybe not the most beautiful place in monforte but the suggestion dishes are truly great (I remember a fabulous bacalau with fondant tomato and basil ice, heavenly and by far one of the best dished I ever had in Italy) and they have monfortino’s for 350€ on the list.
Culpa Mea!! Eric is absolutely correct… I almost hate exposing this place as reservations are already difficult enough. Again, this is not Cesare, this is not Massimo… This is the piemontese grandmother you never had cooking for you!