No. 24 Da Antonio

In the context of independent Lithuania, Da Antonio is a unique place with its history. Italian Antonio and his wife Asta opened the restaurant in 1996, however, at the beginning it operated as a pizza place. In the middle of it, there was a stove for baking pizzas, the first stove like that in Lithuania, and pizzas were baked by Italians.

Later on, the restaurant grew and the pizza place became a pizza place-trattoria – i.e. the choice of dishes expanded. Even later, Da Antonio became a pizza place-restaurant – restaurant-level dishes were included into the menu. Finally, the pizza-boom in Lithuania declined and the owners decided to dismantle the stove. Since then, this place started operating only as a restaurant with a creative menu which is not cheap.

DINNER.

The restaurant’s menu changes 2-3 times per year and it is quite extensive. As is usual in Italian menus, the menu includes a lot of starters, first and second courses, a separate selection of main courses with meat and a wide choice of main courses with fish as well as a separate selection of grilled dishes. While the menu of desserts includes as many as eight positions. One of the main desserts is tiramisu prepared according to the special recipe of Da Antonio.

The ideas for new dishes appear much earlier than the new season starts. For instance, the menu of the warm season started featuring a special offer of burrata cheese, i.e. 6 dishes with the special burrata cheese from the Kal region of Italy. Why is it special? It is not soggy and retains its form. Even in Italy, you have to look for burrata of such quality. Once, when the supply of burrata to Lithuania was discontinued, the chef of Da Antonio decided to remove the dishes with burrata from the menu altogether, because other burrata is not in conformity with the required quality. However, now you can again see dishes with the special burrata cheese on the first page of the menu.

In fact, even though the menu of the cuisine is, indeed, quite Italian and some products are imported from other countries, Dmitrij also tries to support farming in Lithuania. For instance, the team of Da Antonio was among the first ones to work with Lithuanian meat.

SPECIALISES IN.

Home-made ravioli are a special feature that this restaurant boasts of. It is here that the first home-made ravioli were made in Vilnius. However, even today the restaurant’s kitchen tries to serve them in a special manner, experimenting with their form, fillings and other extras.

THE INTERIOR.

Every niche of the restaurant is decorated with Italian artists’ reproductions, vases and antique clocks. On the outside, you will see symbolic pillars and the gable reminding of the antiquity. Due to its elegant environment, which is not particularly strict, Da Antonio is perfectly suited for matter-of-fact meetings with business partners and colleagues as well as for dinners with friends and family. According to the chef of the kitchen D. Babenko, the restaurant mostly attracts visitors who do not like publicity, but appreciate privacy and high-level of service.

WINE LIST.

Certainly, the wine list is dominated by Italian wines and French champagne. Here, you can taste Italian wines from all the regions of the country: Campania, Marches and Umbria, Abruzzo, Sardinia, Sicily, etc.

INTERESTING.

It is usual for a restaurant to have its own wine list, however, a list of the rarest and the most natural water astonishes. And the restaurant Da Antonio, operating in the heart of Vilnius for more than 20 years already, has precisely such a water list. Naturally, this water list is dominated by Italian water, however, it also includes one sort of Lithuanian water.