Culurgiones, fregola, suckling pig and a glass of Cannonau: what to order and where, without the tourist traps.
Sardinian cooking is its own world, distinct from the mainland. This is what to seek out, dish by dish, on your first trip.
The pasta you have to try
Start with culurgiones, the island's signature stuffed pasta from the Ogliastra region, plump parcels of potato, pecorino and mint pinched into a distinctive wheat-ear seam and usually served simply with tomato. They are handmade, comforting and unlike any pasta you will have had on the mainland. Order them wherever you see them done fresh.
Then there is malloreddus, little ridged gnocchi-shaped pasta often dressed alla campidanese with a sausage and saffron tomato sauce, and fregola, toasted semolina pearls that the coast loves to cook with clams. Each is humble, regional and deeply satisfying.
Meat, bread and the long lunch
Inland Sardinia is shepherd country, and its great set piece is porceddu, suckling pig slow-roasted until the skin crackles, traditionally scented with myrtle. It is a celebratory dish best enjoyed at a proper agriturismo, where the meal arrives in generous, unhurried waves.
Alongside comes pane carasau, the crisp, paper-thin flatbread also known as carta da musica, perfect for scooping and snapping. Drizzled with oil and salt and warmed, it becomes pane guttiau, an addictive table nibble you will keep reaching for.
Cheese, sea and bottarga
Pecorino sardo is everywhere and rightly so, from young and milky to sharp, aged wedges built for red wine. It turns up grated over pasta, cubed on a board, and tucked inside those culurgiones.
From the sea, look out for bottarga, the cured grey mullet roe that is grated over spaghetti or sliced thin with oil, lending a salty, umami depth that locals adore. On the coast it is a point of pride, so try it at least once with a glass of crisp white.
Something sweet
Save room for seadas, warm pastry pockets filled with a mild fresh cheese, fried until golden and finished with a slick of bitter Sardinian honey. The contrast of warm, slightly tangy cheese and dark honey is the island's most beloved dessert.
You will also meet almond-rich biscuits and myrtle liqueur, mirto, served chilled as a digestivo. A small glass at the end of a long dinner is very much the local way to finish.
What to drink
Sardinia's signature red is Cannonau, a warm, generous grape made for the island's roasted meats and aged cheeses. Its white counterpart is Vermentino, fresh and citrusy, especially good from the Gallura hills in the north-east and a natural partner to seafood and fregola.
Self-catering gives you a happy advantage here: stock the fridge from a local enoteca or market, pick up some pecorino and pane carasau, and you can put together a faultless aperitivo on your own terrace before heading out to dinner.
