Where to Eat Italian Food in Canterbury: Fresh Pici, Fiorentina and Tuscan Cooking at Il Posticino
Il Posticino is not the kind of Italian restaurant that survives by placing carbonara, lasagne and tiramisù on permanent rotation. Opened in 2015 by Jerry and Cristina, this small Canterbury restaurant has built its identity around Italian foundations—particularly Tuscany—but the kitchen is comfortable letting those foundations wander.
That is immediately visible on the current menu. Pici arrive with pork and fennel ragù, but tortelloni pair summer truffle with saffron and raw scallop. Squid-ink tagliolini meet mussels, pecorino and ’nduja. Cod comes with peppers, bisque and dark chocolate. The ideas are Italian, but rarely obedient.
The restaurant sits at 61 Dover Street, a short walk from Canterbury’s historic centre. The dining room is compact and polished, more intimate than theatrical, with the kind of scale that suits a restaurant where the owners’ presence still matters. Sunday lunch turns explicitly Tuscan, inspired by the cooking of chef’s grandmother Giuditta; during the rest of the week the menu is broader, moving between Tuscany, southern Italy and contemporary Mediterranean cooking.
On our 2026 visit, the strongest impression was precision without stiffness. Il Posticino has become more ambitious than a neighbourhood trattoria, but it has not disappeared into tasting-menu solemnity.
Start with the Flatbread Before the Serious Plates Arrive
The schiaccina with Lardo di Colonnata, priced at £7.50, is almost too obvious to overlook.
Warm Tuscan flatbread, rosemary and translucent cured lard create one of those combinations where temperature does half the cooking. The fat softens immediately against the bread, releasing sweetness and savoury depth while the rosemary keeps everything aromatic rather than merely rich.
There is another version with truffled pecorino and mortadella mousse, but the lardo version is more direct. It tastes like Tuscany before the kitchen begins bending its own rules.
Octopus and Mussels Give the Starter Section More Tension
The pan-roasted octopus with sautéed mussels, leek and potato velouté and spicy taralli crumbs, at £14.95, is a more revealing starter.
Octopus and mussels bring two very different textures: the first needs tenderness and caramelised edges; the second contributes juice and salinity. The leek-potato cream softens the contrast, while taralli add the crunch the plate would otherwise lack.
It is a composed dish, but not an overdesigned one. Every element has a practical role.
The alternative, black-sesame tuna with mango, berries and honey-soy dressing, is more colourful and extroverted. It also pushes the restaurant farther from Tuscany. Interesting, certainly, but the octopus plate has greater coherence.
Pici with Pork and Fennel Ragù Are the Dish That Anchors Everything
The fresh pici with slow-cooked free-range pork and fennel-seed ragù, priced at £17.95, are the pasta we would order first.
Pici are thick, hand-rolled Tuscan noodles with enough resistance to carry a dense ragù. Pork gives the sauce sweetness and fat, while fennel seed cuts through with its warm, anisic perfume.
There is nothing flashy here, and that is precisely why the dish matters. On a menu full of more adventurous combinations, the pici act as a compass. They show that the kitchen understands the fundamentals before it starts playing.
The sauce clings rather than pools, and the pasta has enough bite to avoid becoming heavy. It is rustic in origin but cleaner in execution than the word rustic often implies.
Truffle Tortelloni with Scallop Are the Riskier Move
The tortelloni filled with summer truffle, saffron cream and scallop tartare, at £23.95, are more ambitious.
Truffle, saffron and raw scallop all have strong personalities, but in completely different directions. Truffle brings earth and musk, saffron adds floral warmth, scallop contributes sweetness and iodine.
The dish succeeds when none of those elements becomes a soloist.
The filling is rich enough to justify restraint in the sauce, and the scallop tartare is there to sharpen the plate rather than turn it into surf-and-turf theatre.
This is not traditional Tuscan cooking. It is a contemporary Italian dish that uses Tuscan vocabulary without pretending to be historical.
Squid-Ink Tagliolini with Mussels, Pecorino and ’Nduja Have Real Attitude
The squid-ink tagliolini, priced at £22.95, are the menu’s most assertive pasta.
Mussel cream supplies salinity, pecorino adds sharpness, ’nduja brings chilli and pork fat, while bread crumbs restore texture. There is a lot happening, but the ingredients move in the same direction rather than colliding randomly.
The squid ink gives the pasta bitterness and marine depth; the ’nduja introduces heat but also sweetness; pecorino keeps the finish unmistakably Italian.
This is a dish with elbows. It does not whisper, and it should not.
If the pici represent Il Posticino’s traditional side, the tagliolini show its more restless one.
The Cod with Dark Chocolate Is Less Strange Than It Sounds
The Mediterranean-crusted cod with marinated peppers, bisque and grated dark chocolate, at £28.95, looks like the sort of combination designed to provoke a raised eyebrow.
In practice, dark chocolate is used sparingly enough to behave as bitterness rather than dessert. That matters.
Cod is sweet and delicate; peppers add fruit and acidity; bisque brings shellfish depth. A restrained touch of bitter chocolate darkens the finish in much the same way cocoa can deepen certain savoury sauces.
The danger would be novelty for novelty’s sake. Here the chocolate remains a shadow, not the subject.
Fiorentina Is the Table’s Big Gesture
The 1 kg Bistecca alla Fiorentina, served with roast potatoes and sautéed spinach, costs £85 and is designed to share.
A proper Fiorentina needs three things more than anything else: thickness, violent heat and the confidence to leave the centre rare.
The meat should not be smothered in sauce or sliced into neat little medallions. It needs crust, red interior, salt and time to rest.
At Il Posticino, the Fiorentina also restores a wonderfully uncomplicated note after some of the more intricate plates. Order it for the table, not as an individual challenge.
Wine Pairings
Pici with pork ragù: Luiano Chianti Classico — bright Sangiovese acidity lifts pork and fennel.
Squid-ink tagliolini: Tani Meoru Vermentino di Gallura DOCG — saline, herbal and fresh enough for mussels and ’nduja.
Fiorentina: Pian delle Querci Brunello di Montalcino Riserva — structured, savoury and built for grilled beef.
Dessert Does Not Retreat into the Familiar
The coffee panna cotta with Tuscan cantuccini crumbs, at £8.95, is the cleanest ending.
Coffee bitterness gives the cream more shape, while the almond biscuits introduce crunch and keep the Tuscan thread alive.
The Morello-cherry semifreddo with caramelised hazelnuts and salted caramel, at £9.95, is richer and more exuberant. The dark-chocolate mousse with ginger, raspberries and raspberry sorbet, at £10.95, goes further still.
Dessert follows the same logic as the savoury menu: Italian foundations, but no fear of colour, acidity or a slightly eccentric detour.
A Sunday Lunch with Tuscan Memory Behind It
Sunday is different.
Il Posticino offers a Tuscan Sunday lunch inspired by Giuditta, the chef’s grandmother, shifting the restaurant toward the food of family memory rather than the more cosmopolitan à-la-carte menu.
That distinction gives the place another layer. During the week, the kitchen experiments. On Sunday, it looks backward.
In a restaurant increasingly comfortable with scallop tartare, ’nduja, mango and dark chocolate, the decision to keep one service deliberately anchored to Tuscan domestic cooking feels less nostalgic than intelligent.
Service, Atmosphere and Prices
Il Posticino is small enough that hospitality remains personal, but polished enough that dinner does not feel improvised.
The room is better suited to couples and small groups than large celebrations. There is an intimacy to the scale, but the menu itself is lively enough to prevent the experience from becoming precious.
Prices reflect a restaurant operating above simple trattoria territory. Starters run roughly from £7.95 to £15.95, pasta from £17.95 to £23.95, fish mains from £27.95 to £30, while meat stretches from £26 for guinea fowl to £85 for the 1 kg Fiorentina to share. Desserts sit between £6.95 and £10.95.
A realistic dinner of one starter, one pasta and dessert costs around £40–£50 per person before drinks. Adding a main course pushes the meal easily beyond £65, while sharing the Fiorentina creates a different kind of dinner entirely.
The restaurant also offers a pre-theatre set menu, making it a useful option before an evening in central Canterbury.
Useful Information
- Address: 61 Dover Street, Canterbury, Kent CT1 3HD
- Established: 2015
- Owners: Jerry and Cristina
- Cuisine: Contemporary Italian with strong Tuscan roots
- Dishes to look for: Lardo di Colonnata schiaccina, pici with pork and fennel ragù, squid-ink tagliolini, cod with dark chocolate and Bistecca alla Fiorentina
- Pici: £17.95
- Truffle tortelloni: £23.95
- Squid-ink tagliolini: £22.95
- Fiorentina for two: £85
- Desserts: £6.95–£10.95
- Opening: Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner
- Sunday: Tuscan lunch
- Closed: Monday
- Telephone: +44 1227 788022
- Email: [email protected]
- Reservations: Strongly recommended because of the compact dining room
- Vegetarian options: Available
- Gluten-free options: Available on selected dishes
- Best for: Fresh pasta, a more ambitious Italian dinner and Tuscan Sunday lunch in Canterbury
Our Rating of Il Posticino
Food: 9/10
Italian cooking with a clear backbone and enough irreverence to keep the menu awake.
Starters: 8.9/10
The best plates balance generosity with texture rather than chasing decorative complexity.
Fresh Pasta: 9.3/10
Pici provide the anchor; squid-ink tagliolini and truffle tortelloni show the kitchen’s more adventurous temperament.
Fish: 8.9/10
Confident combinations, occasionally daring, but generally disciplined.
Meat: 9/10
Fiorentina gives the menu a muscular Tuscan centre, while venison and guinea fowl broaden the picture.
Desserts: 8.9/10
Playful without turning into pastry-shop excess.
Wine List: 8.8/10
A broad Italian selection with enough serious regional bottles to match both pasta and the grill.
Service: 9.1/10
Personal and polished, exactly the balance a restaurant of this scale needs.
Atmosphere: 9/10
Intimate, smart and lively without trying to manufacture Italian nostalgia.
Value for Money: 8.7/10
Not inexpensive, but the quality of the cooking and the ambition of the menu justify the move beyond trattoria pricing.
Overall Rating: 9/10
