La Locanda del Cardinale

Piazza del Vescovado 8 Assisi 06081 tel. 075-815245

Beautifully prepared food, stunning atmosphere, candles, cool music and excellent service.

Finally a place worth going to in Assisi! I’ve been really disappointed to see so– called “restaurants”voted for that are nothing more than wine bars that don’t even have a kitchen! I think there needs to be more thought put into the categories of places listed, because there are many places that are not really RESTAURANTS, and I feel sorry for the people who are mislead by this.

Anyway, I’ve been wanting to go to this restaurant in Assisi for quite some time now, but it’s always the drive up to Assisi that is discouraging. We made a reservation and were happily greeted by Marco (formally the gracious host of Caffé di Perugia). Marco gave us a complete tour of the establishment and then allowed us to see the amazing selection of wines in the cantina.

la cantina

our Burgundy

What a collection! Be prepared to take some time to study the wines because there are some really rare and hard to find bottles, with an interesting selection of verticals as well. We decided to let Marco do what he does best and hand select a wine for us.

Of course he choose one of our favorites, a Burgundy, which went perfectly with the cream of porcini and my duck!

this is a collection!

The food was carefully prepared and presented in the most delectable way.

homemade warm bread and a water menu!

I had a tartar of shrimp

and my husband had the cream of porcini with quail legs.

cream of porcini

Our second courses were the delicately smoked duck breast with a light reduction sauce and greens

and my husband had the anchovy pasta sicilian style.

The deserts are not to be missed! The chocolate soup, if you will, made with the highest quality of Italian chocolate topped off with a ball of homemade pistachio gelato melting on top was to die for!