Food in Venice

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We had four meals in our 4-day stay in Venice.  It's not wrong.  It's three dinners and one lunch.  Time was short.  We could not afford the time for lunch in the first three days. 

Among all the meals, the first dinner is the best and most memorable.  The restaurant is called Alla Zucca.  Zucca means pumpkin, one of the food I like most.  It is located in Santa Croce 1762, ponte del Megio.

First came the bread.   As a rule of thumb, if the bread is good, the food will be good.   Our theory proved to be right again.

We order baked pumpkin and gorgonzola pistachio pasta as the first dishes.   The pumpkin had a creamy texture.  We loved it.  The match of gorgonzola and pistachio is wonderful.  The sauce is just right, not watery nor too dry. 

Our rucola mushroom salad was fresh. The main dishes were Venetian style veal liver served with polenta and pork cooked in prune sauce with rice .  The veal liver was tender.  The pork with the fragance and sweetness of prune was yummy. I highly recommended this trattoria. It's one of the best value restaurants in Venice.
 












BEA Vita is located in Cannaregio.  It featured a menu including appertizer, first, second course and desserts.  Dishes are mysterious.  We were brave to order one and went for pumpkin with cheese, Peter fish and a bottle of white wine additionally.   The appertizer was a seafood platter.  Scallop, fish paste and octopus were served.  The first course was shellfish gnocci.  My first course is baked pumpkin with cheese.  All were good.  So happen that the mysterious second course and the ordered one were Peter fish.   We were unhappy about the same dish served twice.  Worst was the fish was dry and rough.  We were very disappointed.  To a degree that I had no mood to take a photo.  The colourful dessert did not help win back our appreciation.  This dinner cost us 85 Euro.  It's not worth.  We were the only guest that night. 

On the third evening we dined in the area of Dorsoduro.  It is a small and humble neighbourhood osteria, La Bitta.    They provided a few choices each for appertizer, first course, second course and cheese.  We took smoked beef and a pasta cooked with mince meat / organs(?).  Second dishes were beef stew and pork cutlet in mustard sauce.  Tourists of different nations filled the osteria.  The food was good.

The last programme on the fourth day is St. Marie della Salute in Dorsoduro.  It is a major landmark for Venice.  We walked around the shore to admire St Marco Square on the opposite.  It's two o'clock in the afternoon.  To cure my crave for food, we dined in a osteria round a corner.  It's very very disappointed.  We paid 28 Euro for two pasta and a small bottle of water.  The pasta was not freshly made.  It's like reheated packaged food.   My advice: don't jump in a trattoria without referral.  American tourist is not a reliable source.

Alla Zucca and La Bitta are recommended by Time out Venice and Best of Venice.


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