Venezia!
Venice is truely everything you hope it could be and more. Its glorious. I was shocked at the number of people, like us, taking only a weekend there though. I fully intend to one day spend a month there exploring more throroughly all the islands and canale thoroughly. Its my husband's favourite city in the world, even before his Italian home city of Florence and our London. He knows it well, and yet was just as excited as I was, and although we had a couple of fixtures he was happy to explore it through the eyes of a "first timer" and we explored many blind alleys and courtyards as well as the tourist spots. Because of our limited time, and the expence of Venice we decided to not do the tours of the inside of buildings and monuments, but save them for one of our future trips. I could go on and on, but I'll cut to the chase and get to the FOOD!
Venice has the reputation of not being the best place in Italy to eat, and the tourists I listen to, and indeed the ones I spoke to, seemed to concur, although with some I felt it was as if to appear to be a cognescento among world travellers rather than gourmets! TBH, it was too hot to eat much (I got sunburnt and keep having to remind myself it is April). I took some photos and will upload a couple when I have dealt with them. We shared a dryish large, pistachio biscuit type thing called (I'll have to add Italian names tonight when my memory returns and tiredness recovers!) a gondolier's biscuit (pane di gondalieri?) which was....ok, beautiful, but dry and in the hot weather we were gasping enough as it is. Most of the restaurants, as on most tourist trails were overpriced mass produced pizza some pasta and bucket loads of lasgane being sold in special oofers, like a plate of Lasagne and soft drink for 8 Euros etc etc. I am amazed tha people think that this is anything other than fuel and don't head away from this for food if they are then going to say Ventian food is bad!
Our lunch date was at the well known but modest Madonna restaurant. Fish is the deal in most of Venezia, and especially at the Madonna. The regular Venetians and special people ask for something not on the menu which I'm not to pass on to you all,
but its not my cup of tea anyway so I had calimaretti...tiny little squids, lightly battered and fried and absolutely delectable, DH had crab, and highly recomends it! TBH, I think any fish and seafood there would be excellent and although not silly price cheap was certainly not silly price expensive either. The price is a reflection of the property value and fair, rather than an inflated tourist price. The house red was very drinkable too.
Despite the heat the icecream was, in the main, not artiginale, and so we passed, and when we needed a refreshment paid tourist prices for a cocktail each at Florian's (you knd of have to go there or have a Belinni at Harry's Bar, but I wanted something more than a belinni so DH had a punchy refreshing Sea Breeze while I got some rum in my Planter's Punch.....the menu was typically standard but the drinks were more than fair in their alcohol content! So, having paid twice for them what we did for lunch we hit the cale again, and really did not eat till supper time, where we ate for the opportunity for a sit down more than anything else. But, how lucky we are.
We found a true, true gem of a restaurant. Really beautiful food and fair (not cheap, forget cheap real food in Venice, just forget it, but this was fair. In UK would be cheap.) prices. Now, get your note books and make a not of the address. You will never regret it if you end up in Venice...its called Ostaria da Rioba and its on the Fondamenta della Misericordia and the address is 2553 Venezia. The Addresses in Venice are confusing, but the number is the house/building number, so that's why I gave the road name too! Its closed on Mondays, but otherwise I urge you to try it. The menu was delightful and unusual (papperdelle with duck sounded scrumptious for example). Fondamente della Misericordia is a quiet "cale" or Venitian road and we sat on a table set up less than a foot from the edge of the canale and lit only by the candle and light from the restaurant. There were tables away from the edge if you are taking children or are worried, but for us, this was our dream setting to eat. Still hot we passed on wine and intended only a secondo. DH had a duck breast (rare, tender, crisp skin, not too fatty but flavourful) with carmamalised onions in there own jus which was so much more than I could ever hope to describe to you. Quite seriously, it was the best duck I have tasted ever, anywhere, including the almost as divine Michelin chef cooked duck I had the day I got married. I had a fillet steak with gorganzola dolce and silver beet. Again, so much more than the ingredients suggest, so unexpectedly perfect I would gladly eat it again, but if I went back I would have the duck. Hilariously the mixed salad we shared along with our mains, was so humble compared to the artistry of the meal that we were remided of the modesty of this place. But it was fine, and fresh and cool and adaquate.
Charmed by the location and beguiled by the food we ordered a portion of a local cheese (I'll add the name I forgot it!) which was brought with the surprising addition of chestnut preserve, the sweet kind I love on my toast
. It was okay...a surprising combination, a slightly unmemorable cheese I admit. But, then a pudding (just a secondo we said to each other as we sat dowen remember). Ofcourse for me a pannacotta "with caramel" but so perfect. The most panna cotta-y panna cotta ever with a burnt sugar caramel to relieve the deep, plain perfection of this plate. DH couldn't keep his spoon to himself and so I tried his unbelievable cinnamon marscapone....a sort of cream version of cinnamon perfection not too sweet but cinnamony and creamy and as balmy as the night we sat in. This meal was less than our one plate each at La Madonna and our cocktails, but we did only have two courses and no wine. This meal will go into my all time favourite food experience memory list. Believe if you like that a tourist cn't eat well in Venice, because that means my restaurant will have a seat for me!
Nothing memorable yeasterday, DH will rreport on an eggy raisiny Venitian goody I bought on the way to the station for his today's lunch box, and I will add that there is a heavily marketed biscuit from Buranno, which is pleasant, but perhaps I was too hot to appreciate it! What I might have gone for was the icecream flavour of the biscuit that was sold on the island of Buranno.
I'll upload the foody photos and sort out names of foods later.
