The story
Osteria del Centenario is a Mediterranean kitchen on the lakeside promenade of Muralto, at viale Verbano 17, a short walk from Locarno's Piazza Grande. Gault&Millau awarded it 16 points in 2026, and Michelin lists it as Recommended the same year.
Egon Bajardi runs the kitchen with a regional Mediterranean approach and a precise hand. He builds his plates from regional produce and adds influences from other culinary traditions. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner daily except Sundays and Mondays, and a lunch proposal of the day sits alongside the à la carte menu.
Reviewers have singled out the inventive small plates, such as a cauliflower mousse served in a bread basket and pan-seared zander with nettles fried in beer batter. Tubetti made from durum wheat are cooked al dente and tossed in butter blackened with vegetable charcoal. Veal cheeks are braised for hours and paired with celery root mousse, beard mussels and roasted onions. Dessert skips the classics, favouring a dark chocolate mousse with speculoos crumbs and mascarpone cream.
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Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
It’s a pity that at the «Centenario» on the lakeside promenade, the tables are set with plastic tablecloths just like those in the surrounding pizza and pasta joints. Locarno’s premier culinary destination deserves white tablecloths, as the local chef Egon Bajardi serves exceptionally refined and creative cuisine. The amuse-bouches were already superb: a delicate cauliflower mousse with chives and fried onions served in a bread basket. Pan-seared zander accompanied by nettles fried in beer batter. Radishes marinated in red seaweed, served with tangy miso-mayo dollops. The chef expertly presented the carefully marinated Lostallo salmon with orange gel, pan-seared orange segments, dill, and toasted fregola sarda paired with a mild wasabi. He tossed the durum wheat tubetti, cooked precisely al dente, in butter blackened with vegetable charcoal. Bajardi truly spares no effort to delight his guests with inventive side dishes as well. For this reason, he further enhanced the hours-braised veal cheeks in a rich sauce with an elaborate garnish of celery root mousse, beard mussels, roasted onions, and diced strawberries. For dessert, there were no classics like cassata or tiramisu, as the «Centenario» aims for something more extraordinary: for instance, a heavenly creation featuring a delicate dark chocolate mousse with speculoos spice cookie crumbles and mascarpone cream cheese.
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