Steph H.
Yelp
It had been a long day for my friend and me and we were ready for a nice big dinner in the amazing fortress city of Bellinzona. Since we were in the Italian part of Switzerland, we really wanted to hit up an Italian joint. We wandered the many winding streets, looking for something to strike our fancy when we spied this place, all alone down one of the many side streets. We were attracted by its large "Trattoria" sign and the warm glow emanating from its windows. The place is larger than it looks, with a bunch of smaller rooms toward the back. It was also quite empty when we first got there, but we were pretty early for dinner, I think like around 6:30pm. As the night wore on the place steadily filled up (with locals, it looked like) and was quite lively by the time we left a couple of hours later. They had no printed menus, just a large chalkboard with the daily offerings that the waitress took around from table to table. They are serious about serving what's local and frech NOW, apparently. Since it was the start of autumn wild boar and venison were featured on the menu, as well as other seasonal ingredients, like chestnuts.
We started off with a couple of glasses of local white wine, which was excellent, and they brought out some bread and a little pile of shaved wild boar salumi, sprinkled with salt and rosemary. Oh wow, that was so good, just melted in our mouths. The bread was great too, hearty and crusty. After some deliberation and help from our waitress translating what the menu items meant, I decided on the wild boar stew with polenta and my friend got the risotto with pancetta, chestnuts, mushrooms. They were both SO good, my stew was rich and flavorful, and the polenta delectably creamy and satisfying. My friend's risotto had all kinds of flavors happening within it and we were both very happy campers, chasing down the awesome food with some equally awesome local red wine this time. I forget the names of the grapes and all that--we just asked the waitress what she recommended and she just brought this stuff out. The service was as good as the food, and the prices were reasonable. Combined with a relaxed yet refined ambiance, I do think this place is as good as it gets. As much as I love to try new places, if I'm ever in Bellinzona again I'd come back to this place.
