Vegetarian dishes, Italy’s 3 best restaurants

We’re sure by now: vegetables are increasingly making a statement, and all restaurateurs, from great chefs to wine bar owners, have fun playing with the vegetal world. That’s why in the Gambero Rosso Ristoranti d'Italia 2024 guide, a special place is reserved for the establishments with the best vegetarian proposal. The winners this year were three: Sensi Restaurant in Amalfi, Fàula di Casa Langa in Piemonte, and Silene in the Grosseto province.

The best restaurants with vegeterian proposal

Sensi Restaurant

A hotel with a sea-view terrace and an elegant, all-round restaurant. A large dining room arranged with elegance and a veranda overlooking the seafront, with Pasqualino Franzese carefully guiding the service at the well-spaced tables. The menu is divided into courses and Alessandro Tormolino's cooking is pure technique at the service of flavour. There are five tastings - including a remarkable vegan one - with sea and land blended in a fine construction of taste, and the recurring vibe of well-managed notes of acidity. The cellar is also growing, refined, wide and presented in a careful and informed manner.

Sensi Restaurant – Amalfi (SA) – via Pietro Comite, 4 – sensiamalfi.it

Fàula di Casa Langa

Fàula, or fairytale. Here the fairytale, in a delightful setting (a five-star restaurant built with eco-sustainable materials and equipped with a biodynamic vegetable garden), is the one that Daniel Zeilinga performs every day. He is the author of a cuisine that is the result of a professional career that has seen him work alongside great masters, first and foremost Enrico Crippa, from whom he has borrowed a particular sensitivity towards the vegetable world. The area’s best ingredients as a starting point, a contemporary proposal without excess, clean and recognisable, dishes of great balance. The menu is measured with three courses per set, at least one of which is fish; there are two menus, the Degustazione (six courses at €120) and Sapori dell'Orto (five at €100), the latter a true hymn to vegetables with creations such as green beans with broad bean mousse and basil granita in a light buttermilk sauce and basil oil; the excellent escarole - both cooked at low temperature and with sauce - almonds also raw, even as sauce and in foam. Then the powerful grilled aubergine with its puree and roasted barley powder; and finally a carrot cake with cacao crumble, orange gel, orange, carrot and lemon sorbet, cooked vegetables, herbs and flowers from the garden. Danilo Bernardi leads the hall with mastery. In the wine cellar lots of local excellence, and exquisite proposals from a wider range, France in the first place.

Fàula di Casa Langa – Cerreto Langhe (CN) – loc. Talloria, 1 – casadilanga.com

Silene

A food journey of excellence, creations that give flow to tradition by giving it an interpretation across modernity, elegance, balance, but also flair and personality. Roberto Rossi is Silene, a symbiosis that is boosted through the discovering of an emotional path and is identified in the colours, fragrances and flavours of his menus: "Diario dei nostri orti" a journey through the kitchen’s garden, two hectares of aromatic herbs, edible flowers, leafy greens, vegetables. And "I miei 36 anni al Silene", a repertoire of historical and successful dishes. Rich wine cellar, tea and spirits list, elegant location, tailored mise en place, classy service. Also private heliport.

Silene – Pescina (GR) – strada provinciale Altore, 9 – ilsilene.it