Venetian tapas . . . we tried at least!

So, as I mentioned, I tried to be spontaneous on the Saturday night and had not made any reservations. I'd read about the Venetian version of tapas, known as cicchetti.

We've not previously had great luck with the crawling part of an authentic tapas experience, but this sounded pretty good, so we decided to give it a go. Armed with Rick Steve's Pub-Crawl dinner guide and a number of other recommendations from the internet, we set out about 7.30pm. We first went to Da Aciugheta (The Anchovy) (recommended by Dean on Slow Travel), just nearby our hotel, but it didn't really look like the cicchetti thing was happening as everyone was sitting at tables with meals, so we decided to move on.

We did eventually locate the Osteria Alla Botte, back behind the Campo San Bartolomeo, where we successfully tried Rick's recommendation of the mixed seafood antipasto to share.


This was fantastic - beautifully presented, really fresh and lots of interesting pieces to pick at. Highlights included grilled prawn, scallop, fresh crab, pickled fish and really interesting grilled white polenta. With a glass of Italian prosecco (another thing to love about Italy), it looked like we were on our way!

And of course, that was when things started to go pear-shaped. By now it was about 8.30pm and it was started to become apparent that unlike the rest of Italy, Venice appears to be a bit early to bed. Of the next places we tried, two were closed, one was over-flowing with singing Italians and a couple more we couldn't even find! Starting to panic about 9.30pm (I get really cranky when I don't get to eat!), we eventually decided to go back to Da Aciugheta and just have a meal, fingers crossed it was still open.

Luckily, the place was pumping and after about 5 minutes we even managed to stop someone to be able to ask to be seated (they were quite persistent in ignoring us!). As it turns out, it was probably a lucky strike, as this was one of the best meals we had in Venice.

Having already had a starter, we decided to just share a bruschetta, but somehow were upsold into getting one each. Always annoying, but somehow less so, when what arrives is the best bruschetta you've ever had. Crunchy, yeasty ciabatta soaked in fresh green olive oil and topped with a rich tomato-y sauce and sprinkled with dried oregano. Doesn't sound like much, but trust me - incredible. We both had a small glass of Pinot Grigio with this one.

High on the list of dishes to eat in Italy was, of course, pasta and this was the first opportunity to indulge. In a rare move for him, Kyle shirked the unusual item on the menu (pasta with anchovy and cinnamon) and went for the super traditional ragu sauce. Admittedly, it was served with a homemade egg tagliatelle and was excellent.

I decided to be a little more adventurous and as Venice is also 'reknowned' for its seafood, went with the Black Tagliatelle with calamari, zucchini and tomato. This was also delicious - it actually tasted like the sea! Really well seasoned, soft tiny rings of calamari and although you could barely see it, the black pasta was coated in the perfect amount of fresh tomato sauce. A refreshing and tasty dish.

Wine was a bottle of Terre di Ger Cabernet Franc, which was actually a little weird - it had a bit of fizz on the tongue. I couldn't quite tell if it was supposed to be like that.


The dessert menu was long and impressive with at least 5 chocolate-based desserts that sounded excellent. Ideally, I wanted the soft chocolate cake but with a little ice-cream. The waiter told me this was not possible (???), that I would have to order the 'mega-dessert'. I convinced Kyle to share it with me and so a range of chocolate desserts arrived, including the soft chocolate cake, an almost mousse-like chocolate ice-cream, two super-intense chocolate truffles and some slices of chocolate log. Again, while this was an annoying up-sell, the result was so impressive, I was a little more forgiving.

All in all, this was a fantastic meal and a night well-redeemed. The service was a little scatty and the upselling annoying, but the meal was such a good example of why you love Italian food (fresh, simple, tasty ingredients prepared well), that all was forgiven. It wasn't a super cheap meal, but well worth it.

And as for the cicchetti, it is probably worth a try, but start at about 6pm!

Osteria alla botte
Calle della Bissa, 5482 - San Marco

Da Aciugheta
In Camp SS. Filippo e Giacomo east of Piazza San Marco, Castello