Padua is one of the great eating cities of the Veneto and far better value than Venice. The classics — bigoli pasta with duck ragù, baccalà mantecato, risi e bisi, polenta with stewed pigeon — are all on offer at the city's older restaurants, and the strong university and professional population keeps a healthy ecosystem of modern restaurants going alongside.
Osteria L'Anfora, in a tight street near Piazza delle Erbe, is a long-running favourite for traditional Venetian dishes and a serious wine list. Osteria dei Fabbri does refined classic cooking in a vaulted dining room. Osteria dal Capo, near the cathedral, is a small, friendly room with handwritten daily menus.
For a budget meal, the cicheti bars around Piazza delle Erbe at aperitivo time — small open-faced sandwiches and snacks washed down with an Aperol spritz or a glass of Soave — are the most enjoyable way to eat in central Padua, and a Padova invention. Bar dei Osei in the market is the classic. For dinner, the area around Via Marsala has half a dozen reliable trattorias.