Restaurant in Conversano, Italy
Apulia's best tasting menu. Book ahead.
Pashà earns its 2024 Michelin star with a creative Apulian tasting menu (five or seven courses) inside a 14th-century farmhouse outside Polignano a Mare, backed by a cellar of over 1,000 wine labels. Book four to six weeks ahead minimum. For one serious meal in Puglia, this is the answer in its price tier.
Yes, and specifically because of what it offers that most Apulian restaurants cannot: a Michelin-starred tasting menu format inside a 14th-century farmhouse, with a wine programme of over a thousand labels and a dining room set among the bottles. If you are travelling through Puglia and want one serious meal, Pashà earns it. If you are based in Bari or Polignano a Mare and want to mark an occasion, this is the clearest answer in the region at the €€€€ price tier.
The address is technically listed under Polignano a Mare, but Pashà sits in the Puglian countryside, reached via the road behind Polignano rather than the coast. The approach matters: this is not a restaurant you stumble into. The farmhouse dates to the 14th century, surrounded by parkland and centuries-old trees, and the atmosphere inside is genuinely quiet. The energy here is formal without being stiff. Think measured service, unhurried pacing, and a room that encourages conversation rather than competing with it. The noise level stays low even at full service. For a food-focused dinner where the table talk matters as much as the food, that is a practical advantage over louder coastal spots.
The dining room arrangement, with tables set among the wine bottles, gives the space a cellar-library quality: warm, dim, and purposeful. The setting is the frame for a structured tasting experience, not a casual backdrop. Arrive knowing this is a sit-down commitment measured in hours, not a flexible evening.
Chef Michele Spadaro's creative interpretation of Puglian cuisine is the core proposition. The choice is between a five-course and a seven-course tasting menu. Both root themselves in Apulian ingredients and technique, but the kitchen reads as modern rather than preservationist: this is not a museum of regional cooking, but a contemporary take on it, informed by the season and by Spadaro's own editorial decisions about what Puglia's larder can do at this level.
Because Pashà operates on tasting menus rather than à la carte, the seasonal rotation is central to the decision of when to visit. Puglia's produce calendar runs distinctively: spring brings wild greens, fresh broad beans, and early artichokes; summer leans into tomatoes, aubergine, and seafood from the Adriatic; autumn delivers mushrooms, late-harvest olives, and game. The seven-course menu gives Spadaro more latitude to reflect what is actually at its peak, and for a visitor with one shot at this table, it is the better choice across most of the year. The five-course format works if you are combining Pashà with another significant meal the same day, or if your party has a course-count threshold. Neither menu is announced in detail ahead of booking — contact the restaurant directly to understand what the current rotation looks like before you arrive.
Over a thousand labels is a serious cellar for a restaurant of this size. Puglia's own production is well represented, including the Primitivo di Manduria and Negroamaro expressions that form the backbone of the region's red wine identity. The sommelier pairing is worth taking alongside the seven-course menu in particular: the depth of the cellar means the pairings can be more considered than the standard regional-wine-with-regional-food move. For explorers interested in lesser-known Puglian producers, the wine list here is a genuine research opportunity.
Pashà is hard to book. The combination of Michelin recognition, a small seat count implied by the tasting-only format, and tight lunch windows (seatings at 12:45 PM with last entry at 1:45 PM) means you should plan four to six weeks ahead for dinner, longer in peak summer season (July and August), when Puglia fills with Italian and international visitors. Lunch is available Monday, Wednesday through Sunday; Tuesday is the closure day. Dinner runs Monday, Thursday through Sunday, with the last seating at 9:15 PM.
The lunch service is brief by design. The window between 12:45 PM and 1:45 PM is not a suggestion of when to arrive — it is the actual seating window. Dinner is more relaxed in pacing. If you want the full tasting experience without time pressure, an evening reservation on a Friday or Saturday gives you the most room. Sunday lunch, if you can get it, is the practical option for travellers moving on the same day.
| Detail | Pashà | Casa Sgarra (Trani) | Quintessenza (Trani) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price tier | €€€€ | €€€€ | €€€ |
| Format | Tasting menus (5 or 7 courses) | Tasting menu / à la carte | Creative à la carte |
| Michelin status | 1 Star (2024) | 1 Star | 1 Star |
| Setting | 14th-century farmhouse, countryside | Contemporary restaurant, Trani | Historic palazzo, Trani |
| Booking difficulty | Hard (4–6 weeks minimum) | Moderate | Moderate |
| Wine programme | 1,000+ labels | Strong Puglian focus | Curated Italian selection |
| Leading for | Special occasions, wine depth | Coastal tasting experience | Creative Apulian, easier access |
For other dining options in the area, see Vita Pugliese and our full Conversano restaurants guide. If you are planning a longer stay, our Conversano hotels guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide cover the full picture.
Among other Michelin-starred Apulian options worth considering: Casa Sgarra in Trani and Quintessenza in Trani both offer starred cooking with slightly easier booking windows. For the wider context of Italian fine dining at this level, see also Osteria Francescana in Modena, Piazza Duomo in Alba, Reale in Castel di Sangro, Uliassi in Senigallia, and Quattro Passi in Marina del Cantone.
Pashà is the right answer for a serious food traveller who wants the leading the Conversano-Polignano area can deliver at the tasting menu level. The Michelin star (awarded 2024), a 4.7 Google rating across 362 reviews, the depth of the wine cellar, and the quality of the setting all point in the same direction. Book the seven-course menu if you can, plan well ahead, and do not treat this as a drop-in dinner. The lunch window is tight enough that an evening reservation is the safer choice for first-timers.
Yes, it is one of the clearest choices in the region for exactly that purpose. The combination of a Michelin-starred tasting menu (2024), a 14th-century farmhouse setting, over a thousand wine labels, and measured formal service adds up to a room that reads as an occasion. The €€€€ price tier is in line with the expectation. For a significant birthday or anniversary in Puglia, this is a stronger answer than most alternatives at the same price point in the area.
The kitchen runs tasting menus only, so the choice is between five and seven courses. Order the seven-course menu if this is your one meal at Pashà. Chef Michele Spadaro's creative Apulian format gives the longer menu more room to express what the region's produce is doing at the moment you visit. Add the wine pairing: with over a thousand labels and a strong Puglian focus, the sommelier selection is more considered than a house-pour arrangement. There is no à la carte option to fall back on.
Dinner is the better choice for most visitors. The lunch window runs from 12:45 PM to 1:45 PM , that is a 60-minute seating window, which is narrow for a multi-course tasting menu. Dinner runs until 9:15 PM (last seating) and allows you to take the pace the format is designed for. The exception: if you are travelling through on a Sunday and need to move on, the Sunday lunch slot is a practical option. For a special occasion or a wine-focused meal, book the evening.
No dress code is published, but the setting and price tier signal clearly. At €€€€ in a 14th-century farmhouse with Michelin-star service, smart casual is the floor and smart is the safer call. Think the same register you would apply to a Michelin-starred dinner anywhere in Italy: no shorts or trainers, and anything you would feel comfortable in at a formal Italian family lunch will work. The room is not theatrical about it, but the atmosphere is formal enough that underdressing will be noticeable.
No specific dietary policy is published in available data. Given the tasting-menu-only format, communicating restrictions well ahead of your visit is more important here than at an à la carte restaurant , the kitchen needs lead time to adjust courses across five or seven dishes. Contact the restaurant directly when booking to confirm what they can accommodate. Do not leave it until arrival: a tasting menu format is harder to adapt on the night than a menu you choose from yourself.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pashà | Apulian | €€€€ | Hard |
| Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler | Italian, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Dal Pescatore | Italian, Italian Contemporary | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Enoteca Pinchiorri | Italian - French, Italian Contemporary | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Enrico Bartolini | Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Le Calandre | Progressive Italian, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
A quick look at how Pashà measures up.
Yes — it is one of the strongest special-occasion choices in the Conversano-Polignano area. The 14th-century farmhouse setting, Michelin-starred tasting menus at the €€€€ price point, and a cellar of over a thousand wine labels all point in the same direction. For a milestone dinner with a sense of place, the seven-course format is the one to book.
Pashà runs on tasting menus only — five or seven courses built around Chef Michele Spadaro's modern take on Puglian cuisine, so there is no à la carte selection to navigate. If you want full range, take the seven-course menu. The five-course is the more accessible entry point for those less committed to a long table.
Dinner gives you more time: the lunch window is tight, with seating between 12:45 PM and 1:45 PM. Evening service runs 7:45 PM to 9:15 PM, which suits the tasting menu pacing better. Note that Pashà is closed on Tuesdays, so plan the rest of your itinerary around that.
The 14th-century farmhouse setting and Michelin-starred format at €€€€ pricing point to smart attire. There is no published dress code in the venue data, but arriving casually dressed at this level of restaurant and price point would be out of step with the room.
No specific dietary policy is documented for Pashà, but tasting menu restaurants at Michelin level routinely accommodate restrictions when notified at the time of booking. check the venue's official channels when reserving and give as much notice as possible — the structured format means last-minute changes are harder to absorb.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
