Venice – Part 2
Day 2 of Venice was devoted to art. We went to the Peggy Guggenheim collection, but of course had to stop along the way when we saw the following in the window of a pasticceria:
We ended up getting this amazing slice of foccacia with cherry tomatoes as a mid morning snack. We had lunch after art-ing it up at the museum and some galleries at a fairly small cheap place that had some pretty good paninis, but nothing worth photographing. However, we then went on a hunt for gelato that was WELL worth photographing. We got the perfect combination of hazelnut, chocolate, and cherry and I have to say it was definitely superior to the previous day’s.
Then for dinner we went to Naranzaria, a more modern almost Asian fusion type of restaurant near the Rialto bridge. We were actually able to successfully order our most healthy Italian meal yet – a delicious fish stew with bread, an amazing fresh salad with fennel, and bresaola carpaccio with rocket and pears (yum). (Side note: in Italy, I think I actually consumed more sliced meats in one week than I have in the entire last year. And it was delicious.)
I regret to inform you all that Day 3 was a strike-out food day. We went to Murano where I was not able to do prior food research, so although we had some fantastic pastries there, it wasn’t exactly a meal, and then for dinner I had spotted a few places that I thought were cute so thought we’d do a bit of a bar hop with a few different small plates, but none of them were up to my exacting standards.
Thus, onto our last day, where I was determined to re-prove myself by only eating the BEST food all day. Luck was against us though, as the two nice places where I’d wanted us to choose in between for lunch were both closed (for no reason…oh Italy). I was furious. I managed to salvage lunch by finding a cute-looking cafe in a much more remote corner of Venice, near the San Zanipolo. We just got a few things but they ended up being simple and delicious.
Melon and proscuitto – absolute necessity for this time of year and so delicious. Especially when the melon is perfectly ripe, you really can’t go wrong with this antipasti – perfect sweet and salty combination!
Grilled veggie mixture – have to get the veggies in somehow amidst all the pizza and pasta! Of course we then followed up our lovely light meal with gelato, but I figured I’ve already posted enough photos of gelato here so I refrained from photographing that one.
For dinner, we went to a place called Acqua Pazza that was absolutely spectacular and definitely the best overall meal I had throughout my entire time in Italy. It was expensive, but you could really tell that you were getting what you paid for – the quality of service was extremely high, and the attention to detail was fantastic.
Bruschetta on the house to start- tomato and eggplant. Absolutely amazing.
This one blew my mind – a calamari and rocket salad with lemon. The calamari was actually cold but perfectly cooked – I never knew that calamari could taste that good without being fried! The whole thing tasted ridiculously fresh with just the right amount of tang from the lemon to really accentuate the contrasting flavours.
PIZZA. That was made in their own brick oven, with grilled vegetables and buffalo mozzarella. This was so enormous that we could only finish half of it, and we saved the rest for our car ride through Umbria the next day (what a great decision). I thought this was the best pizza I had ever had, until the wedding day…but that shall come in a separate post.
Hand made, PERFECTLY al dente linguini with all sorts of delicious seafood – shrimps, mussels, calamari, etc, all in a sauce that perfectly holds it together but isn’t overpowering in the least. What a meal.
They bring out their own bottles of handmade limoncello in all different colours to the tables at the end of every meal. This stuff packs a punch, let me tell you – I could barely drink my tiny cup!
Even when I am insanely full, there is always room for dessert. This was a light lemon mousse cake with raspberry sauce and grapes that was a perfect finish to the meal.
Their own lovely adorable china that they use for everything. What a terrific way to end our stay in Venice!
merrifood 