Ticino's food is the happy meeting point of Swiss quality and Italian flavour. Risotto, polenta, and pasta dominate the menus; the local cheeses — formagella, zincarlin — are worth seeking out. The most traditional eating option is the grotto, a casual stone-built restaurant tucked into a hillside, often with long communal tables outdoors. Grottos serve simple, honest food: cold cuts, local cheese, polenta with various accompaniments, and the house wine.
The Ticinese Merlot is a serious wine, underrated outside Switzerland. The canton produces red, white, and rosé from the Merlot grape; the better producers are concentrated in the Mendrisiotto and the Malcantone hills west of Lugano. Wine shops in Lugano stock the full range.
In Lugano, the restaurants on the covered Piazza della Riforma are good for people-watching over a coffee or aperitivo. In Locarno, the old town around Piazza Grande has a good range of casual restaurants. For the full grotto experience, drive into any of the side valleys — the Verzasca, the Maggia, the Leventina — and look for the hand-painted sign.