Back in February I did a crazy thing, I went to Venice for the day. Actually as day trips go to Venice, I have done a fair few, but this time was the first day trip to Venice from the UK. I have been to Venice before.
I actually though I had written up what I had for lunch that day, I had written about the espresso I had, but not my lunch.
There are plenty of of places to eat in Venice, though as with many places frequented by tourists, some of these places aren’t necessarily that authentic or are over priced. When I visited Venice in the 1990s I did eat out in Venice, but always off the beaten track. So, on this visit to Venice, I was going to do just that. Even saying that there were lots of places I could have eaten.
I did wonder if I would find the place I had eaten some amazing food back in the 1990s, well, cut a long story short, I didn’t find it, it may have closed, changed hands, or as is more likely I just wouldn’t be able to find it.
I had walked through Campo Santa Margherita in the middle of Venice and had seen a few possible places to eat, but it was still early. Later in the day I managed to find the square again and decided I would eat at the Trattoria Pizzeria Antico Capon.
They had an extensive menu, but what has garnered my attention was the Menu del Giorno (or Menu of the Day) for just €17.
This was a two course menu with just two choices for each course. The restaurant had a range of choices, if what you wanted wasn’t part of the Menu del Giorno.
I ordered a beer and alongside came some fresh bread, and packaged bread sticks.
For the first course, the choice was spaghetti al ragu (meat sauce) or spaghetti al frutto di mare (with seafood). For me it was a no brainer, I went with the spaghetti al frutto di mare.
This was a bowl of spaghetti with clams, mussels, prawns, and squid. All brought together with a lovely tomato and red pepper sauce. This was delicious, the pasta was perfectly cooked, as the seafood looked as though it was freshly cooked. This was what you want when you order pasta from a restaurant. Amazing pasta, a homemade sauce and when you order seafood, you want a good proportion of seafood in the dish. With this plate, I got all that.
For the second course, I could choose between the frittura di calamari (fried calamari) or fegato alla veneziana (liver and onions cooked in the Venetian style).
Now normally in any other circumstance, I would choose the calamari, however I was in Venice and I wanted to have something local and special to that region, so I went with the fegato alla veneziana. Alongside I had the choice of patate fritte (fried potato) or insulata misto (side salad), I decided to have the patate fritte.
This was not the best looking plate of food, but looks aside this was a delicious plate of food. The fegato alla veneziana was really tasty and full of flavour. Alongside the patate fritte were equally good. I don’t think I would actually order liver in a restaurant, though I did have some lovely grilled liver in an Italian restaurant in London once. However, what I really wanted to experience on my trip to Venice was some local Venetian cuisine, and this was what was on the menu. Despite an initial reservation, should I go for the calamari, I thought no, I am going for the fegato. I was pleased I did, as the dish was excellent.
The weather was dry and though it was cold, it was warm enough to sit outside, and I really enjoyed my lunch, sitting in the square and watching the world go by.