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Modern EuropeanSan Benedetto
Duanima in Cagliari is chef Luca Floris's small contemporary room on Via Satta, a short menu rewritten every week around Sardinian produce and market fish.
OrderThe weekly menu, whichever way it runs.
TipOnly Saturday and Sunday have a lunch sitting; the rest of the week it is dinner from 20:00 and the room fills fast.
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SeafoodMarina
Luigi Pomata cooks Carloforte tuna in Cagliari, three rooms and a port-facing terrace above Viale Regina Margherita, raw fish to open and red tuna to follow.
OrderRed tuna, raw then seared, the house speciality.
TipLunch service runs 13:00 to 15:00 Tuesday to Saturday and is the cheaper way in; tinned house tuna is sold to take home.
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ItalianSan Benedetto
CUCINA.eat in Cagliari is shop, kitchen shop and counter in one on Piazza Galilei, cooking Sardinian recipes for communal tables near San Benedetto.
OrderWhatever is chalked up that day at the counter.
TipCounter seats beat the tables for solo lunch; wine by the glass and craft beer make it work as an aperitivo stop too.
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Modern EuropeanVillanova
Old Friend in Cagliari is Dario Torabi's Villanova bistrot, where offal, spice and BBQ oysters are plated for people who came out to be surprised.
OrderBBQ oysters, then the herb-cured mullet.
TipTorabi opened the place in 2016 and moved it to Via Abba; dinner only, and the menu changes with what the boats and gardens bring.
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ItalianMarina
Antica Hostaria on Via Cavour is the old-school Cagliari osteria of the Marina, dark wood and a fish-led list of Sardinian classics under Antonio Mura.
OrderFregula con arselle, or the baked capon with artichokes and potatoes.
TipClosed Sunday. The room started as a mid-nineteenth-century inn and the kitchen still leans on the fish list rather than the printed classics.
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ItalianStampace
Josto in Cagliari is Pierluigi Fais's Via Sassari dining room, an open kitchen working bottarga, mullet and Sardinian meat into minimal modern plates.
OrderThe tasting menu, bottarga and mullet included.
TipThe tasting menu runs 70 euro; Sunday is the one day the room stays dark, and the kitchen works Monday to Saturday.