Turin Restaurants and Dining

(Turin, Piedmont, Italy)

Turin is practically bursting at the seams with places to dine out. From small cafes to high-class restaurants, Turin is sure to offer cuisine that suits pretty much everyone's tastes.

If you're dining out as part of a special celebration, then it's well worth booking ahead and reserving a table if possible.

This is particularly the case during the weekend, when the countless restaurants and eateries around Turin become especially busy.

When to Eat / Opening Hours

Visitors should be prepared for the fact that Turin's restaurants tend to have fairly fixed opening hours. Lunch is served between 12:30 and 15:00. Dinner in the evening is served between 19:30 and 23:00.

Many restaurants close for all or part of a day during the week, usually a Monday or Tuesday. If you're left searching for somewhere to eat out on one of those days, then pizzerias are usually a safe bet for a meal, as are many of the city's bars, cafes and similar dining venues.

What to Eat

Turin enjoys a long and rich culinary history. Traditional dishes include 'bagna càoda' - vegetables served with an anchovy and garlic cream. Agnolotti and cappelletti are pasta favourites in the city's restaurants.

Turin restaurants are also famous for their 'grissini', long, thin breadsticks which are made from flour, water, salt and yeast. Boiled and fried meats accompanied by a variety of sauces, both hot and cold also feature on many menus in the city. Look out too for tench, a fish dish marinated in white wine vinegar.

For dessert, there's the anticipation of enjoying a typical Turin confectionary known as 'zabaglione', made from egg yolks, sugar and Marsala wine. And, of course, for a city in which chocolate plays an important role, expect to find it in any number of pastries and desserts.

Where to Eat

Like any major Italian city, Turin has several formal restaurants offering excellent and attentive service alongside gourmet cuisine. However, Ristorante Combal Zero is the only restaurant to have a Michelin star.

For those who prefer a more informal dining experience or are on a tighter budget, there are also lots of pizzerias and trattorias in Turin, offering a good alternative to more formal Italian restaurants. These tend to have menus which feature traditional dishes, usually including a bottle of red wine, and offer great value for money. Visitors should expect the surroundings to be a little on the rough-and-ready side, but in return, they can sit back and soak up the atmosphere and character of these friendly, local eateries.