Strategic position, tourist menu, but above all sincere cuisine. To eat pappardelle with wild boar, homemade gnocchi and fried lamb
They make leaflets in the parking lot of the ticket office at Frasassi Caves and this could make any gourmet give up. There is a tourist menu for € 11 and hundreds of seats, and this would make a foodie wander off in search of a small, quality tavern. It is exactly between the car park of the caves and the entrance, which is very convenient, but in the "tourist trap" location that you would never enter. But then they take you there and you discover that it is a restaurant to eat like a local; and that basically you would like one so close to your home, and not a Genga (1700 souls in the province of Ancona).
Stria of the caves and the restaurant
The Frasassi Caves they are amazing and attract tourists, onlookers and speleologists from all over the world. Because they are monumental, huge and recognized as the most beautiful in Europe if not in the world. They are worth the visit and this means that they attract thousands of visitors a day every year; also in this 2020 of proximity tourism. There are many people, they eat at all hours, they also arrive by bus with organized trips and then continue. The worst place to look for quality cuisine, so you end up in favor of a quick sandwich. Sin.
The caves were discovered in 1971, opened to the public in 1974, as the Da Francesco Restaurant. The place that was much smaller at the time than today has become a mega restaurant with an indoor dining room and a covered terrace for dining with a mountain view, but the family that runs it has remained the same: now in the kitchen the mother Giuseppina has taken turns son Jonathan, while Christian joins his father Francesco in the dining room. Clean, well organized and ready to welcome you at the table for a late lunch or dinner at German time.
The tourist menu comes out with ridiculous figures: Pappardelle with wild boar (signature dish), encore of grilled meats, french fries, wine and water and € 14. Veal burger from the Marche region, chips and water for € 11. Schools, groups and passing tourists are needed, and for groups the special menus promise "generous portions and review". Top, but also an à la carte menu: always the same and with the great classics. To have fun with more elaborate dishes, for a € 20 type of receipt. The cuisine is sincere and to keep the prices low, almost everything is made from scratch, and you can hear it.
Eggs with melted pecorino with truffle, melted pecorino with truffle and cheese pizza, polenta with wild boar, tagliatelle with mushrooms, homemade gnocchi, fried lamb with Ascoli olives and gogo embers. Desserts and crescia, homemade. House wine in jugs, Verdicchio or Rosso Piceno 7 € per liter.
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