Home-made Lasagna and Melanzane alla Parmegiana/Cooking Lessons
Maria Antonia can prepare and deliver to the house freshly made lasagna or melanzane alla parmigiana. She needs one day notice for this. The price is 15 euros per person. A salad is included.
Maria Antonia can also come to our house for a lesson in traditional Sardinian and Italian food, for example ravioli followed by tiramisu. Or make your own suggestions of what you would like to cook. You prepare the dishes under her guidance and then eat them. 25 Euros per person.
Contact Jonathan to book either.
Chocolate and Ice Cream
At Cioccolateria Masala, Via Lamarmora 58, Valeria makes handmade chocolates of the highest quality. Both classical and some quite daring, like chocolate with different Sardinian cheeses and chili peppers. Two years in a row, she won the prize for the best chocolate makers in Sardinia. She also make her own ice cream in the summer season. One can also order ice-cream cakes, or Semifreddo. Highly recommended.
Home-made Thai Food
After many years in Milan, Joy and Cristian moved to Cuglieri. For Joy it is many miles back to her origin in Thailand but for Cristian it was returning home to the place he grew up in. And now we are fortunate to be able to offer Joy's genuine Thai food. About once a week she cooks it in her own kitchen on Vico delle Rimembranze 5, which is also where you collect the food. Contact Cristian +39 328 139 5903 (Whatsapp, SMS or telephone) and he will send you the menu a few days in advance.
Joy can also come and cook a whole meal for you in our house. Ask Cristian.
Panadas and Traditional Sardinian Biscuits
Cuglieri is one of the three villages in Sardinia that is officially acknowledged as a centre of panadas. Although stemming from the time of Spain's control of Sardinia hundreds of years ago, the word ‘Panada' is derived from Latin word panada panem meaning food wrapped in bread dough. Each village has a different traditional way of making them. In Cuglieri, they contain both pork and veal, artichokes, peas, beans, saffron, and nutmeg. They make them without meat too. Oros de Domo, Corso Umberto 97-99, have won many prizes for their panadas. They also have an excellent selection of traditional Sardinian biscuits.
Restaurant Guide
You can get a decent meal at many restaurants but some restaurants that are better than others, and a few rely on tourists who either know no better or are not expected to return.
We have chosen to only mention the restaurants that we have tried several times and enjoyed. A few, not mentioned, we do not wish to return to. Many remain to be explored. Enjoy yourself. We have. Please let us know if you discover a place worth going to.
During the high season, it is often necessary to pre-book a visit to restaurants both in Cuglieri and in the surrounding area. On the other hand, during the low season it is worth checking that they are open.
Most restaurants are aware of gluten- or lactos-intolerance or other dietary requirements. To make thing easier for them, it is best to inform them about your needs when booking.
In Cuglieri
Meridiana, Via Giovanni Maria Angioy 11
Traditional Sardinian food is great, but sometimes it veers on the heavy side. There is no such risk at Meridiana. The food is light and very fresh. Carefully innovating, Angela has created some elegant re-interpretations of traditional fish and shellfish dishes. Her tempura is the best we have tasted. Her daughter Nicoletta's service is knowledgeable and considerate. Prices are cheap for the quality of food served. We have been positively surprised all the times we have been there.
It can be difficult to find, but don't let that put you off. People in Cuglieri will kindly point you in the right direction if you ask. There is a menu to choose from.
They are closed on Wednesdays.
Desogos, Vico Cugia 6
A home-away-from home. Pina serves traditional straightforward food with a warm heart. The antipasti and ham are great, and the home-made ravioli fantastic. The main dishes can be a bit crude. Wild boar and donkey stews are not to everybody's taste, although we like them. Sometimes they also have giant shrimps on the menu. Off-season there is no menu. You get whatever is being served.
Her daughter Giulia is in charge of the kitchen, and her husband and son-in-law sometimes help out. Her family has run the restaurant for seventy years. In the dining room her mother's portrait looks out over the guests.
Closed on Mondays.
S'Ispiga, Località Tega, Strada Statale 292
Lilly and Antonangelo and their family run this agriturismo. An agriturismo is a restaurant that mainly uses raw materials from the farm where it is placed. This ensues seasonal dishes. At S'Ispiga everybody arrives at the same time and eats the same seemingly endless amount of dishes, which are paraded out one after the other. All of them fresh and tasty. The service is very kind and attentive.
They also sell their home-made pasta, cheese and honey.
Open for dinner most days, but for lunch only on the weekends.
Pizzerias
There are many pizzerias of varying quality. They are normally only open in the evening.
In Cuglieri, Da Michele, Via del Orzo 1, is only open during the weekend except during the high season. They have decent pizzas for eating there or take-away. Sapori del Eden, Corso Umberto Iᵒ, 115, only does take-away pizza and other dishes.
Mamacita is just off the main road between the beaches of Santa Caterina and S'Árchittu. In the summer it is pleasant to sit outside in the garden which has a good view over the sea and the pizzas are unusually experimental. Also it is very child friendly, they even have a play park for children. They also serve pasta and other Italian dishes.
Sardineri in Via Roma, 74, in Modolo has good pizzas the year round.
Restaurants further afield
La Rosa dei Venti, Via S Vittoria, Sennariolo
Perched on a small hill half-way between Cuglieri and the sea, this restaurant is wonderfully situated. One can sit outside enjoying the view in summer or by the open fire in winter. The restaurant is greatly cared for by the couple that run it and the food comes from the farm or nearby. Perhaps they charge a bit of a premium because George Clooney likes the place, but it is still worth the money by non-Sardinian standards.
The Mythical Purdi’s Discotheque, Via Sardegna, Oristano
When first visiting Oristano some 15 years ago, we were hungry and asked in the wine shop for a good place to eat lunch. We were told to wait while the women behind the counter made a phone call. She came back and told us to go to a place in one hour's time. We drove to the address we had been given. We thought we had come to the wrong place. It was an old warehouse with a metal gate next to a car wash. No sign indicated that it was a restaurant. After checking back with the wine shop, we knocked on the gate. A man appeared in an apron. Later we discovered that he was known locally as "the Mythical Purdi". He ushered us through a discotheque into a dining room. He had closed the discotheque to devote himself to his passion, which was cooking. And he had laid on a fantastic spread of mainly seafood all cooked and served entirely by himself in his own rather eccentric style. It was unforgettable experience and we have returned. Cheap, but cash only. Since then the disco and the car wash have been torn down. Purdi bought a house in the block opposite, on Via Sardegna. On the ground floor, he is still going strong in his kitchen and dining room, decorated with giant photos of his parents in their younger days. He lives on the floor above. Phone him at +39-3336080482 and book, preferably a few days in advance to give him a chance to do his best.
Fine dining
If you wish to try some more modern and innovative cooking we highly recommend this restaurant.
Su Murruai, Riola Sardo
We booked Su Murrurai with few expectations, simply on the basis that we were glad a new fine dining restaurant had opened in the area and that it already had many good reviews. The street lighting on the outside of the restaurant and the interior design alerted us that this restaurant was different. Whereas other restaurants here fall into the warm somewhat messy traditional style or the cold modern style, this restaurant managed to create a beautiful warm and welcoming modern style with a harmonious contrast to what was the interior of an old flour mill. We ordered the seven-course tasting menu for what turned out to be a reasonable 75 €. Sensibly, they insist that for the tasting menus everybody at the same table should eat the same food. The amuse-bouche was a bit bland, not really something that tickled one’s sensations. While not bad, the first course of artichoke filled with fish mousse and topped by streaks of celery purée didn’t really come together. And the bread was not what one could have hoped for. Why not serve bread with some of the marvellous latest harvest olive oil from the area instead butter that can never compete with Northern European butter? But after that, things took off – sweetbreads flavoured with liquorice root; fish and octopus with eucalyptus smoke, wild herbs, and horseradish; pork with oriental spices; coffee-flavoured white chocolate with capers. Apart from all dishes being well-prepared, they shared a streak of well-balanced aromatic bitterness. This sort of careful exploration of a sensation is what one wishes for in a fine-dining restaurant. While eating, we wondered about the name of the restaurant, Su Murruai. But it wasn’t until the day after that we found out that Su Murruai was Sardinian for the scent that can only, but not necessarily, be achieved by Vernaccia wine that has been aged at least ten years. That is what the chef managed to capture in these dishes. The Sardinian wine we ordered was good. The service was impeccable – kind, friendly without being intrusive, efficient, and perfectly timed. An added plus for the great consideration to my wife being celiac. Thank you for a wonderful evening!
Food Truck
Food Truck 292 (closed during the 2024 season)
Last, but not least, there is our own food truck. It stands at the southern end of the promenade in S'Archittù, near the parking place, and sells street food with a Sardinian touch. It serves fritti, deep fried sea food and sardines, sandwiches with either meat or grilled aubergine, and some other dishes. We are especially proud of the pork capocollo panini which is smoked and grilled on our Kamado grill.
Opening times vary. Check at www.duenovedue.it The menu you can find at https://www.duenovedue.it/menu
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