Italy Food Blog #6

In the second day in Venice, we went to Murano, a little island which was famous for its glassware. Of course, here we talk about food, not glassware, so let's go straight to lunch!

The restaurant we chose was right at the river bank. Okay it is a canal, but it was not a bad idea to have lunch next to some water. The service was not very good right when the waiter knew that we didn't order a lot of food. C'mon, it is not up to you who choose what to eat! Stupid asshole! It required me to ask him for bread in order to get some bread to come, which were no good. Seriously Italians weren't that good in bakery while the French were the one.

Alright, our "small" lunch had only two dishes, the Spaghette al Nero do seppia (with cuttlefish) and Branzino (sea bass).

The pasta was just okay, but the sea bass was nice. Since Venice was an island, and seafood plays an important role in the Venetian menus. Most of the seafood you found here is fresh and good, and I realize that squids, cuttlefish and sea bass are the most common.

We went to another island called Burano, which was even further. This island had really nothing but beautiful colorful houses, and they are the only reason why people came to visit it. After the visit we went back to Venice. We just randomly picked one restaurant and had a simple dinner before heading off to hotel.

Again, don't be tricked. These breads were no good and as hard as rock.

The pizza came, and it was a quattro formaggio.

Two pasta came, the linguine with seafood and lasagna with meat and tomato. Simple stuff.

The next day we went to the center part of Venice and checked some less visited corners of the city, and we went to a small restaurant for a cheap lunch. It was called Ae Oche. It had a really interesting design, with all the interior designed as those old wooden house in the cow boy era of US.

We ordered some interesting food too, and first it was the pasta, garganelli mari e monti (seafood with mushroom sauce).

Then the onion rings came...oops, it is not onion, but fried squid with polenta!

And then a different pizza! It was a folder pizza, and this flavour was called ghiotto with ham and cheese on top, and mushroom inside...the look was so funny that it looked like a huge Chinese dumpling!

After lunch, we search for a little shop which was famous for their chocolate. VizioVirtú had everything you wanted to eat and indulge yourself in. I got myself a bottle of caffe chocolate spread, and also a dark chocolate ice-cream. Oh my god, that is perfect under such hot weather!

Then we went back to St. Macro Square and shopped a while. At first we wanted to visit the famous Harry's Bar but it was too early and so we settled down in another place. It was so hot and we ordered this cappuccino freddo, which immediately cooled us down.

And then we went to a restaurant recommended by the Wallpaper City Guide, called Lineadombra (Google Maps). This place was not cheap at all, but you can enjoy this spectacular view across the other side of the canal and look straight at the Redentore churches there. The dinner we had here was just AMAZING and the best through our trip. Let's take a look at tonight's menu!

I mentioned that the bread in Italy was no good, but not here. You can see many kinds of bread here, and all of them were warm and delicious. And they were very good too to go with some olive oil and red vinegar. Then the appetizer came in, which was a piece of toast with mushroom on top.

The starter, or anti-pasta, was served right after the appetizer. It was scampi with apple slices, crab meat and onions sandwiched inside. Beautiful!

The first course came, and it was a simple spaghetti with clams. That was the best spaghetti so far because it was very light, and went so well with the fresh clams. You could even taste the sea water in the dish!

Finally, the main course came, and it was a very well-done sea bass with mushrooms and orange slices.

Just the look already made you drool, and the fish was tasty. It was not oily at all and the orange slices, to my surprise, added a very special and wonderful retouch to the seafood. It was a brilliant idea!

I enjoy this meal so much that it is like one of my best dinners I have ever had in my life so far. I love how they "modernized" the simple Italian food. Instead of over decorating the traditional tasty food, they reform it and add some details and some surprising alteration to the dish, keeping the lightness while creating a new fresh taste to the food. I think the food truly "upgrades" the typical Venetian or Italian food, and the attention to details completely reveals the restaurant's passion in food. That is very important!

The service was very good too. The waiters welcome us with smiles and introduced us the food on the menu without any impatience at all. They even treated each of us a free glass of champagne!

The meal cost quite something, but the food and service, together with the amazing and alluring views, were all worth it. I would definitely visit this place again if I have a chance to go to Venice in the future!