As part of the policy of some nights out during our tour of Puglia, we were taken to this restaurant in Matera. The reason why people visit Matera is the cave houses in the Sassi area, so whilst not used to coach loads of foreign tourists, there are definitely tourists (of a more local kind).
We ate outside, which did not become a problem as the weather was good, and were offered a limited choice menu, which took a long time to deliver, so that some were finishing a course before others had even started.
The nature of the organisation running the tour was to convey via the tour guide the best available impressions and opinions, and to minimize risk, and so it was that the meals were always described in their simplest form, sometimes minimizing issues that might lead to distress.
There was a starter of a small pie with leeks. I had to get that information some time later from my wife, and clearly it was no so memorable that I could know from looking at the picture, which is my usual prompt.
This was followed by the orcchiette (again) with a sausage and mushroom sauce. This was good, hot enough, but the pasta was a little heavy.
The main course I chose was a fillet of beef. Having looked at the Tripadvisor reviews (after the event rather than before, I think what this was was beef with a balsamic vinegar sauce. The beef was quite chewy and in strange small slices. From the picture, it can be seen that it was also quite rare..
It came served like this on the individuals plate. What the picture fails to convey is that the portion is actually relatively modest, and the accompanying fried potatoes and salad did not really go with it, nor was there room on the plate. A strange meal, but in general, TripAdvisor diners found it good. The issue is clearly that restaurants take on the business of parties of diners paying up front for catering., do not have the resources to deal with them in the same way as their individual customers, and try to cut corners firstly by restricting choice (makes sense) and then treating them as a captive audience. They know that there are not going to be big tips or big drinkers here, so they are maximising turnover making hay whilst the sun shines. Given the choice between this or the boring hotel food, there is no choice. In an ideal world, maybe evening meals should have been a matter of personal initiative (I have successfully negotiated that one before), but when your hotel is 8km out of town, and with negligible public transport, you have to go with the flow.
To be very charitable, the restaurant staff could not have been more pleasant, and there were small birthday cakes for those in the group who had birthdays during the tour. Things are just a bit more laid back and disorganised in this part of Italy that has been cut off from main tourism booms.
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