Ristorante La Columbara
Tucked into a side street just off the main piazza, La Columbara has been feeding locals and in-the-know visitors for decades with honest, unfussy Gallura cooking — think hand-rolled culurgiones pasta, bottarga-dusted spaghetti and whatever the boats brought in that morning. This is the meal you will still be talking about six months later.
What to Order
Start with the antipasto di mare — a rotating selection of raw and marinated local seafood that changes daily but almost always includes razor clams, sea urchin on toast and cured tuna belly. Pair it with a chilled glass of Vermentino di Gallura DOCG, the crisp, slightly saline white wine grown just inland.
For a primo, the spaghetti alla bottarga is definitive: just pasta, Sardinian grey mullet roe, good olive oil and a whisper of chilli. It is one of those dishes that looks plain and tastes extraordinary. If you see culurgiones on the specials board, order them — the potato-and-mint filling is a northern Sardinian speciality you won't find easily elsewhere.
Atmosphere and Booking
The dining room is small, simply decorated with fishing nets and old photographs, and tables spill onto a narrow terrace in summer. The atmosphere is convivial rather than formal — locals linger over their meals and the owner often stops to chat about where the fish came from.
Reservations are strongly advised in July and August; walk-ins are possible at lunch on weekdays. The restaurant is closed on Mondays out of high season.
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