Osteria dell'Arco

Osteria dell'Arco has been on Piazza Savona since 1999 and is the osteria that the Langhe's winemakers — the Produttori, the Giacomos, the independent Barolisti — quietly rate as the region's best-executed classical kitchen. It is run by Manuela Bonino and chef Danilo Lorusso and has held a Michelin Bib Gourmand for more than a decade.

The room is traditional Piedmontese osteria dressed a degree up — stone walls, timber beams, white linens, forty seats across a main and small side room. Tables are generously spaced for the style; the lighting warm; the atmosphere that of a serious neighbourhood restaurant that has never needed to try harder.

The menu is uncompromised Langhe. Carne cruda di fassona hand-cut at the table; vitello tonnato with the old-fashioned mayonnaise base rather than the modern cream version; tajarin al burro with astonishing yolk-rich pasta; coniglio al civet with a Nebbiolo reduction. In season, white truffle is grated directly over fried eggs with Langhe butter — the simplest and most moving presentation in the region.

The wine list is a genuine Langhe cellar, with a deliberately fair mark-up. A full dinner for two lands at €90–140 per head with a shared bottle of serious Barolo. It is the restaurant Alba recommends to visiting winemakers.

Osteria dell'Arco is the first-date pick for anyone who cares about dining being done well. The scale of the room is intimate; the menu classical enough that nothing challenges; the staff warm but not performative; and the price point — while not cheap — communicates considered rather than showy. The wine list is deep enough to turn a meal into an education if the conversation naturally drifts that way.