Best Restaurants in Cortina d’Ampezzo

Cortina d’Ampezzo is one of the culinary capitals of the Dolomites, boasting stylish mountain restaurants, gourmet ski huts, farm-to-table restaurants, and fine dining establishments.

Here are my favorite restaurants in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

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SanBrite

Michelin-starred SanBrite is a fine-dining, farm-to-table restaurant located in the hamlet of Alverà in Cortina d’Ampezzo. 

Upon arrival, you’ll be escorted to the outdoor terrace for an aperitivo. Your aperitivo of choice is accompanied by several complimentary appetizers: carrot cigars, bread topped with beef tartar, and a parmesan taco. Upon completing the welcome snacks, you’ll be invited into the restaurant. 

The rustic dining room is cozy and warm thanks to the wood floors, ceiling, and tables. It’s tastefully-decorated with milk churns, hanging dried flowers, tabletop fresh flowers, draped animal skins, and mounted antlers, an ode to the surrounding mountains. 

Guests can choose between the classic set menu (170 EUR/person) with optional wine pairing (110 EUR/person), the surprise set menu, or the à la carte menu. Kati and I opted for the à la carte menu and ordered the celeriac grilled dumplings and raviolo for our first courses, followed by the honey-glazed duck and lamb for our second courses. I particularly loved the celeriac dumplings and duck. 

In addition to the dishes we ordered, we received a complimentary mushroom broth with fresh thyme as well as bread service for an extra fee. The bread service included delicious warm, crusty bread with soft whipped butter sourced from the restaurant’s dairy, El Brite de Larieto. We also received a complimentary dessert pastry.

The service was extraordinary: completely in sync and coordinated like a performance. Water was replenished throughout the meal. 

The restaurant’s philosophy is rooted in regenerative cooking, which means taking care of the territory from which the ingredients are sourced and serving food free of manipulation and consistent with nature.

Eating at SanBrite is a memorable culinary experience if you can stomach the steep cost. If you’re visiting the Dolomites for your honeymoon or anniversary, I think it’s a worthwhile addition.

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Da Aurelio 

Ristorante Da Aurelio, located just below Passo Giau in the municipality of Selva di Cadore, is a roadside restaurant that serves refined, beautifully-plated alpine cuisine. 

The restaurant’s culinary philosophy is “the taste of nature.” Dishes are enriched with wild herbs, edible flowers, and plants hand-gathered from the high-altitude meadows surrounding the Giau Pass, bringing the distinctive flavors and aromas of the Dolomites directly to the table. 

The kitchen collects, processes, and infuses their dishes with Good Henry’s wheatgrass, wild garlic, chickweed, bladder campion, mugo pine, Swiss pine, fir, juniper, Icelandic moss, great gentian, masterwort, sorrel, thyme, bird’s foot, clover, daisy, soul-sow, dandelion, and others. 

Da Aurelio offers a tasting menu as well as an à la carte menu. I loved the passatelli broth with toasted hay, paccheri with mountain pesto and veal ragout, and venison meatballs with chanterelle mushrooms and light polenta foam flavoured with swiss stone pine. 

This mountain restaurant is open from mid-June to late September and from December until early April. In winter, skiers can request a shuttle pick-up from the Fedare valley station in the Cortina d’Ampezzo Ski Resort. In summer, I recommend hiking to the Mondeval Plateau before, or after your meal.

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Al Camin

Located on the road to Passo Tre Croci, Ristorante Al Camin is one of Cortina’s most reliable spots for a relaxed yet delicious dinner. Fabio Pompanin’s kitchen focuses on well-executed Alpine and Italian classics, with carefully-sourced ingredients from trusted local farmers and mountain pastures. Game is strictly local.

The atmosphere is warm, inviting, and pleasantly unpretentious. We loved the roast duck and speck-wrapped beef tenderloin.

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