Restaurants in the province of Varese

Varese lies between the lakes and Switzerland, and its cooking is freshwater and woodland, with a Ticinese influence audible in the cheeses and the sweets.

What you eat here

• Lake fish from Maggiore and Lugano: perch fillets with risotto, whitefish, shad.
• Risotto with perch, the defining dish of these lakes.
• Cassoeula and polenta, as across northern Lombardy.
• Formaggella del Luinese DOP, from goats, and valley *caprini*.
• Brutti e buoni from Gavirate, hazelnut and egg-white biscuits, and bread cake.

The wine

Local production is small (Ronchi Varesini); lists look to the Oltrepò and the Valtellina, and lake fish calls for a still, not too aromatic white.

Opening hours change. The ones on the listings come from public sources and may be out of date. Where a restaurant confirms tables with us, the availability you see is the real one.