The Best Restaurants Near Il Gambero, by the Record
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Rank 1. Abbruzzino Oltre
Contemporary Mediterranean
A Michelin-starred fine dining room inside a former military and ecclesiastical palazzo on Lamezia Terme's main promenade. The chef Luca Abbruzzino runs a no-choice tasting menu, meaning you hand the evening over to him and trust he'll do something interesting with dry-aged fish, local prawns, and bergamot. The setting is spare and contemporary, modern art against old stone, and the service is the kind that makes the whole thing feel quietly romantic without trying too hard.
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Rank 2. Locanda Toscano
Seafood Mediterranean
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Rank 3. De' Minimi
Calabrian
A former monastery just outside Tropea, now home to a tasting-menu restaurant where the citrus fruit on your plate may have been growing in the garden an hour before. The kitchen works through contemporary Calabrian cooking across multi-course menus, leaning on vegetables and produce from the property. The wine list keeps it regional, and there's a bar if you'd rather start with a cocktail than a pairing.
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The sandwich here starts with bread baked fresh that day, then gets filled with Calabrian sausage, 'nduja, Tropea onions, or caciocavallo from the Sila plateau, depending on your mood. It's a fast-casual spot built around showcasing small local producers, which sounds like a pitch deck but eats like lunch. The formula has been spreading to other Italian cities, and 50 Top Italy ranked it first among the country's sandwiches.
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Rank 5. Cura Cucina Contemporanea
Calabrian
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Rank 6. Hyle
Calabrian
Sitting on the Sila plateau, a forested highland that the ancient Greeks had opinions about, Hyle is a modern Calabrian restaurant that traces a single region's landscape from coastline to mountain peak. The chef holds a Michelin star and sources vegetables, walnuts, and aromatic herbs directly from local growers. Tasting menus named in Calabrian dialect move through seven or eleven courses, depending on how deep into the hills you want to go.
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Rank 7. Il Carpaccio
Calabrian