In the heart of Polignano a Mare, where the village meets the breath of the waves and the stone preserves ancient stories, Meraviglioso Ristorante was born: a place where cuisine becomes a story and the space is designed as an experience, a return to the origins, an authentic celebration of Puglia.
The large outdoor space, just a few meters from the most famous cliff overlooking the sea in Polignano, welcomes guests with the natural backdrop of the sea, a place where matter dialogues with memory. The Chef’s Table opens up like a convivial stage, while an imposing olive tree becomes a symbol of roots and belonging.
The olive wood surfaces, salvaged from damage caused by Xylella, with their sage tones, and the seats restored with a color derived from a mixture of olive leaves, in the red earth color of Conversano, bring Puglia indoors, almost evoking a rural landscape transported to one of Italy’s most famous villages. Pietra di Trani stone brings light to the floors, Davide Groppi’s “Moon” lamps accompany your steps, and the minimalist arrangement of the dishes, curated by architect Paolo Pellegrini, celebrates the space through simplicity.
DINING ROOM AND KITCHEN
Leading the dining room with natural elegance is Ilaria d’Apollo, a maître d’ and sommelier with solid training, who grew professionally at Borgo Brufa, 1 Michelin star in Umbria, and is now the welcoming soul of Meraviglioso, capable of transforming the dining room into a place of care, rhythm, and listening. “The dining room must honor the kitchen,” she says, “and my job is to complement what happens behind the pass.” Leonardo Fontana, owner and operations manager of Meraviglioso Ristorante, is also often found in the dining room. He supervises management, the team, and hospitality, ensuring quality and care throughout the experience.
The creative heart is chef Andrea Vicario, born in 1992, 33 years old, from Lucera in Puglia, who grew up surrounded by the aromas of his homeland and matured in the kitchens of the world. From his experience at Don Alfonso at the Gran Melia Villa Agrippina in Rome to the team at Quattro Passi in London, moving on to Australia under the influence of Blumenthal, to the Therasia Resort and his experience as head chef at Tenerumi at only 27 years of age. Vicario brings with him a wealth of experience that combines rigor, sensitivity, and instinct.
Recognizing myself in my dishes is the primary goal that drives me to make the technical complexities behind each recipe simple on the palate, says the chef.
THE REAL PUGLIA IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES
The Meraviglioso’s gastronomic offering stems from a clear vision: to describe Puglia in contemporary terms, without erasing its identity. The focus is on the processing of raw ingredients, designed to extract their essence using techniques that enhance their natural flavor, without adding any salt. This concentration of flavors is the means of giving each dish a delicious and simple taste that makes it recognizable to everyone, so that everyone can identify with a flavor. An example and symbol of this concept is the tubetto with salt cod, preserved lemon paste, sour butter, and veal marrow, whose animal fat envelops the dish, giving it intensity without added salt. Or the mantis shrimp, shrimp, lupini beans, and corn, whose bite evokes a natural taste of the sea with cryoextraction processing and salt seasoning of the dish.
A tribute to the sea, which reigns supreme and hosts the Meraviglioso, is the raw food, with a careful selection that makes you feel “at home” without denying the centuries-old culture of Bari that surrounds it. Great attention is given to leavened products, with Apulian bread and focaccia, the result of the chef’s visceral attachment to his Mother Earth.
The dining experience is divided into two courses: “Inizi” is the most immediate, essential, and direct tasting, designed for those who want to get to know the restaurant’s style with a light and clear progression. “Divenire” is the complete course, a broad journey through techniques, raw ingredients, and ideas, which includes two exclusive dishes that cannot be ordered à la carte: “Cocktail di Gamberi” (Shrimp Cocktail), as the opening dish, historically used in the past as an event starter.
Here it takes on a new and surprising guise that plays on carefully studied and balanced acidity, and “Fusillone con seppia in cera d’api, peperone arrosto ed erbe mediterranee” (Fusillone with cuttlefish in beeswax, roasted peppers and Mediterranean herbs), a signature dish with a lasting impression. The menu concludes with a three-course white chocolate and carob soufflé. Alongside these courses, the Josper grill selection represents the restaurant’s most raw and powerful vision: essential cooking that enhances selected fish and cuts—such as aged tuna belly—through dry heat, smoke, crust, and internal juiciness.
Finally, the menu preserves the Apulian tradition through contemporary interpretations: Carpaccio of aged fish with citrus fruits and herb oil; scampi with pancotto di bietola (beetroot bread soup), which evokes the chef’s “two Apulias,” with the local culture of raw fish and that of a typical Foggia recipe, pancotto accompanied by fried fava beans from Carpino, a Slow Food presidium, to add crunchiness.
This dish aims to belong to the Apulian peasant tradition and the modernity of a young chef with a fish beurre blanc and faux scampi head claw to spread on suitable bread.
Risotto, potatoes, and mussels, a tribute to the ingredients of a great dish from Bari, starts with raw mussels prepared in every possible way to restore character to this dish. Turbot cooked in the Josper oven, potato mille-feuille, shallots, and fish skin, and its tripe fried and finished in a stew. Monkfish alla mugnania with black chickpeas from the Murge and puntarelle, in a balance of acidity, sweetness and contrasts, finished with chickpea bottarga.
Dishes that speak of the sea and the countryside, of ancient rituals and new gestures, of a territory that becomes a story.
Meraviglioso Ristorante is a place that embraces Puglia and reflects it through light, materials, sounds, aromas, and memories. A restaurant created to become a haven in the sometimes overly touristy village of Polignano a Mare: a place to return to, to recognize and rediscover oneself.
Meraviglioso Ristorante
Largo Gelso, 16 – 70044 Polignano a Mare
Tel. 080 424 9509
Open every day 12:30 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. | 7:30 p.m. – 10:15 p.m.
