Slow breakfasts and innovative brunches: the Salento bistrot driving food lovers wild

by Serena Curto

In Casarano, inland and not far from Gallipoli, there’s a place that defies predictable labels. A place that “is not a bar”, and even in its name, asserts a strong yet gentle identity—just like Agnese De Donatis, the hostess of this small gourmand universe and artisan of flavour. Here, you don’t just come for a coffee: you step into another dimension, that of a bakery-bistrot telling stories of journeys, returns, and European flavours interpreted with a personal touch.

Agnese, born and raised in Salento, trained at the Boscolo Etoile Academy with Luca Montersino, but it was in the field—and by chance—that she honed her talent for French patisserie. A love that blossomed during the pandemic: “Before the lockdown, I had never made a French croissant,” she says.

Today, her croissants are not only flawless but also carry the mark of creativity: cocoa croissants with hand-whipped cream and dark chocolate, or red ones filled with white chocolate and red berries. And then there’s pain au chocolat, pain suisse, pasticciotti, biscuits and cakes. So many cakes.

Breakfast, however, is also an explosion of savoury flavours: omelettes (“mine is special because it’s super thick”), scrambled eggs with bacon, French toast, flaky pastries with French butter, croque-monsieur. In short, everything Agnese saw and tasted on her travels in France and Belgium, she brought to Salento.

The venue, which opened in July three years ago, is an aesthetic and sensory refuge inspired by Parisian bistrots, but with a Salento soul: the beautiful sugar-paper blue counter, rustic wooden tables, and always fresh flowers. Every day, from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., breakfasts, brunches and lunches are served that break from the ordinary. The weekly menu is ever-changing, and daily specials are always available, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options: couscous with chickpeas, vegetables, feta and caramelised onion; lemon-marinated mackerel; potato gnocchi with pea cream. The kitchen is entirely artisanal: everything, from ravioli to tagliatelle, is handmade in a 200 sqm workshop by an all-female team, united by a shared passion for care and quality.

The focus on excellent raw ingredients is paramount, but there’s something more here: the joy of eating well, slowly, in a space designed to welcome. The aesthetic is distinctly feminine, relaxing, never fussy. It’s the kind of place you arrive at in the morning and linger until lunch—perhaps leafing through a good book, working on your laptop, or simply spending the morning chatting and indulging in baked delights.

In winter, you can have breakfast under a blanket in the little square outside; in summer, you can enjoy the Salento breeze. And this warm summer, Sunday mornings also offer the Sunday Lazy Breakfast, a slow breakfast with live music designed for those who want to feed on beauty as well. Because, as Agnese says, “Beauty fills and nourishes you. It’s not a bar, but it’s also much more than a slow coffee shop—where pleasure is reserved for the hedonists.”