Osteria Arbustico

Housed within the Royal Paestum hotel, this elegant, contemporary restaurant boasts an attractively simple and minimalist ambience in which owner-chef Cristian Torsiello’s cuisine takes centre stage. This 40-year-old chef (originally from Valva, a district of Salerno where the Osteria was first opened) showcases creative ideas and techniques in his search for perfect combinations. His deceptively simple dishes always allow the flavour of his locally sourced ingredients to shine through – his iconic spaghetti with saffron is a perfect example. For this dish, he prepares dried Gragnono pasta in the same way as a risotto, using a broth made with one-third beef stock, one-third parmesan cheese and one-third onions. He then blends this with sour butter and Abruzzo saffron to create a dish that is truly delicious and seemingly simple, despite its complex preparation. The wine list continues to evolve, boasting some 600 labels and including a few rare regional wines.