The Top 11 Most ICONIC FOODS You Must Try in VENICE

The food in Venice is completely different to the rest of Italy and as a food tour guide working here it's my constant mission to help curious travelers discover the delicious pearls that you can find in Venice's menu restaurants, all while avoiding the traps. So to help you prepare for your trip here I've compiled my list of personal recommendations of the absolute most iconic Venetian dishes and the most local institutions where you'll find them. I've arranged these dishes in the classic Italian dinner course service order, that is beginning with the aperitivi and antipasti or starters followed by primi which is pasta and rice followed by secondi or meat and fish and finalized by the dolce or dessert. But before we get to that I think it's really important to understand what makes Venetian food so unique from the rest of Italy. Before it was just a city Venice was its own powerful maritime republic at the center of international trade routes and from right here at the Rialto market Venetians had an incredible access to an immense diversity of different products from all over the world. I'm talking nutmeg from Indonesia, pepper from India, sugar from Syria, candied fruit from the Middle East and stockfish from Norway. And for over a thousand years this incredible diversity and access to different products had a lasting impact on its culinary culture. Venetians are masters of aperitivo culture. In fact their most famous dish the cicchetto is often eaten before dinner to open the appetite. Venetians will even eat it before lunch on their way back home from the Rialto market. And cicchetti is the perfect introduction to Venetian cuisine because it can be many things. They're usually served on little pieces of bread or grilled polenta or even on their own but they really showcase a lot of different ingredients and recipes that are from the Venetian lagoon. We're talking vegetables, cheeses, meats and especially a lot of seafood prepared in different ways. Cicchetti are served in these typical Venetian bars called bacchari and you'll find them all over the island. But if you're just starting out I really recommend the funnest and most local way to experience cicchetti culture is at the Fondamenta della Misericordia in the Sestiere of Canareggio. There you go for sunset and you're going to hang out with a lot of a lot of artists in town for the Biennale and travelers, everyone hanging out enjoying these Venetian bites with a glass of spritz or two or the more typical glass of ombra which is nothing more than a humble glass of wine. Cheers! I recommend heading from baccaro to baccaro and looking what's on display. Point and choose and see what you like but if you really want to make sure to cover the basics the two most typical toppings for cicchetto are also the next dishes on this list. The first is sarde in saor which is sardines that are fried and then marinated in onions and sweetened vinegar, pine nuts and raisins. This is this very unique and typical Venetian flavor profile that you'll find in many other recipes and you can have it on a cicchetto or even as its own dish. The best version of this dish that I found so far is at Paradiso Perduto also on the Fondamenta della Misericordia. It's a very popular fish canteen where you can compose your own plates with their vast selection of fresh fish and seafood that you can either enjoy in-house or sitting by the side of the canal. Next up on the list is another classic Venetian antipasto called baccalà mantecato. We're talking codfish that is poached and then whipped into a mousse-like consistency with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, sometimes a little parsley. It's served either on a cicchetto or on its own. I would try it for instance at Do Mori, one of the oldest baccari on the island of Venice. Open for 500 years now they serve nothing but old school classical cicchetti and glasses of good Venetian wine. It's dark yet welcoming and an integral part of Venice's food history. Next up we're still in the section of appetizers and aperitivo and antipasto. I recommend trying the tramezzino. Now the tramezzino are these beautiful little artistic bundles that are essentially sandwiches cut in half but they are filled in the center with a unique filling and then the sides are cut. The word comes from the Italian word intramezzo which means in between and I think it's the perfect thing to eat as a snack in between meals. They're usually really high in protein and really inexpensive. My favorite one is tuna and olive but you can also get a lot of different fillings like egg and asparagus, ham, porchetta and the list is endless. I recommend getting a tramezzini in one of two ways. The first is to get lost. This is actually one of the best things to do in Venice because as soon as you turn left or right you're going to start wandering in a quiet little maze of back alleys called Calle and at some point you're going to come across a little quiet cafe and see in the display window a wide array of delicious tramezzinis just waiting for you and you can finish it up with a good firm espresso. Otherwise if you find yourself lost in a sea of tourists at St. Mark's Square then I recommend going to a little back alley only five minutes away where you can find Rosa Salva and restore yourself. There a tramezzino and a coffee will only cost you $3.50 and it's a good way to have something on the go while avoiding the busy crowds at St. Mark's. Next is a Venetian snack and street food called fritto misto which is Italian for mixed fried or a mix of fried things if you will. It's really a testament to Venice's deeply rooted love for fresh seafood. This delectable dish features a wide array of different freshly caught seafood like caramari, shrimp, squid, baby octopus perhaps in a light delicate batter and deep fried to golden perfection. One of the most iconic places you could enjoy fritto misto is actually on the island of Burano the fisherman's island with all these beautiful colored houses. There there's a joint called the same name fritto misto and they have really fresh delicious freshly caught seafood that they fry up and serve to you actually on the polenta grilled polenta and a bread plate to reduce plastic waste. The advantage there is that not only it's iconic but also you'll get a beautiful view of the lagoon. All right next up is definitely the most iconic the most unique Venetian dishes and we're talking pasta al nero di seppia or risotto al nero di seppia. In both cases we're talking black cuttlefish ink. Now this may put some people off but it's so unique and delicious that I really recommend you give it a try. Of course you have to like seafood but the taste is not overwhelming on the contrary it's nice and salty has a nice smooth creamy umami taste and will of course make your teeth black and stain whatever pale clothes you have. That's why local Venetians will always wear black when eating pasta al nero di seppia. Again you can have it with bigoli spaghetti risotto or even as its own as a secondo. Of course you can find this dish in any self-respecting Venetian restaurant but do yourself a favor and head to the Castello neighborhood and eat at La Rampa where it's actually has its own page. It's the speciality of the house the restaurant is loud welcoming the wine is served out of giant wine barrels the kitchen is full of Venetian ladies dishing out the most perfect and humble renditions of Venetian classics. Go there you're gonna have a great time I promise. Another very typical Venetian pasta dish is often overlooked although it can be found on most Venetian menus and we're talking bigoli in salsa. Bigoli are these unique Venetian pasta shapes that are essentially thick spaghetti served in a sauce made out of caramelized onions and anchovies and it may sound strange but it's actually really really good. It's sweet, it's rich, it's umami and it's also very simple. A testament that Venetian cuisine was not only about opulent food but also about very humble food. If you're looking for a really good rendition of bigoli in salsa I would head to this really cozy garden terrace of Al Nonno There you'll be sitting surrounded by plants and trees which is another rare sight in Venice with dimly lit bulbs overlooking a beautiful palazzo. The bigoli in salsa there is very good with a nice glass of wine and you're gonna have a charming cozy evening. While bigoli in salsa may come from very humble beginnings our next dish comes from the luxury hotel business and this is the first secondo on the list so a main and we're talking carpaccio. Carpaccio was invented at a legendary institution called Harry's Bar in Venice in the 1960s where certain Giuseppe Cipriani invented it for one of his very esteemed guests, a countess. Now the story has a very unique history and also the way he named it and so I'm going to make its own dedicated video to it but for now I would call Harry's Bar reserve in advance and head there in the night. You're going to sit down at the bar you're going to have a Bellini cocktail which they invented there also. Once you're seated at the table you order the carpaccio Cipriani which is essentially very thinly sliced pieces of very delicate beef slightly seasoned with a beautiful artistic drizzle of in-house mayonnaise and that my friend is a really great experience because you're going to be tasting one of Venice's most legendary dishes in one of Venice's most legendary restaurants. Another typical Venetian secondo or main dish comes from more humble beginnings and that is called fegato alla veneziana. We're talking delicately cooked pieces of veal liver with onions sweetened vinegar pine nuts and raisins for that typical Venetian flavor profile and I'll be honest it's converted even the most skeptical people to liver and that is myself. It's typically served alongside polenta a creamy white polenta which is cornmeal and that'll really absorb and complement the nice sweet and earthy tones of the liver. I had it at a very nice gentle restaurant called I Assassini in the San Marco neighborhood and there they play jazz music on vinyl and it's just a really nice calm ambience. The waiters are sleek professional and the food was outstanding. All right we're already at the dolce the sweet desserts. To begin I would head back to the island of Burano where you can have Buranelli which is a combination of the words Burano the island and Anelli which is rings. Traditionally they were served round but since have been turned into s shapes to more easily dunk them into sweet wine or coffee if you want. Legend has it that the wives of the fishermen on the island of Burano would bake these little cookies for their husbands so they could get a little boost of energy when they spent the days fighting the waves. They're essentially really nice butter cookies with lemon rum and vanilla. You can pick up a bag and bring them back as a souvenir also. And finally the last dish on this list is probably impossible not to find on any Italian dessert menu and we're talking ti-ra-mi-su which was invented somewhere else in the Veneto but Venice is the capital of the Veneto so we can still safely say that it's a local dish. Ti-ra-mi-su espresso in which we dip savoiardi or lady fingers but not soak them just dip them inside with mascarpone fresh beaten foamy egg whites for lightness and cocoa powder that'll make you choke if you inhale while eating it. As I said every restaurant will have ti-ra-mi-su but there's one place that I found in Venice that serves only ti-ra-mi-su and that is at Tre Mercanti. Again a special shout out to places that serve one thing and one thing only. There they make ti-ra-mi-su fresh in front of your eyes in different flavor profiles. So many of my guests that I bring there always say it's the best ti-ra-mi-su they ever had and I invite you to try it out for yourself. That being said if you're still here you can now navigate Venice's rich culinary scene like a true local. The only thing I'd say is missing is a drink and Venice is actually the birthplace to a lot of iconic cocktails not to mention delicious wines about which I've made videos about both subjects to further prepare you for your trip. That being said let me know what your favorite restaurants are in Venice I'd really like to know the world would probably really like to know so write those in the comments below and that being said thanks for watching and I'll see you on the next trip. Prego, scusate.