In this city of overpriced, mediocre food, I found where to eat

I’ve been in Venice for four days, and my tastebuds are protesting. Mediocre food at exorbitant prices. It’s like a culinary insult, a slap in the face to my Italian-loving heart. Giovanni Manni, a food tour guide for The Tour Guy, has a solution: “You’re eating Italian food, not Venetian.”

A real taste of Venice: Digging in on a food tour.Credit:

Venice joined the Kingdom of Italy in 1866. Before that, it was under Austrian rule and so on. Despite its turbulent history, Venice has always been a dominant trading power.

“That’s why you’ll find a lot of salt and raisins in our cuisine,” he says, as the waiter brings out an assortment of cicchetti and a Venetian spritz each.

Cicchetti, a style of tapas, is far from a hidden gem. It is easily found served at bacari (wine bars) throughout the city. Over the past four days, I’ve sampled a variety of cicchetti. While some were delicious, others were soggy or bland. But there was something different about this one.

We’re sitting in a quiet street in Cannaregio, otherwise known as the Jewish Quarter. It’s a large neighbourhood occupying the northern section of Venice, where most locals live. The tourists stop at Rialto Bridge and turn around, wondering what lies a few steps further.

The first snack we try is a baguette topped with a creamy white spread. It’s a popular Venetian dish called baccala mantecato, which Manni explains was stolen from the Norwegians.

Legend has it that in the 15th century, Venetian merchant Pietro Querini was shipwrecked on the Norwegian coast while sailing from Crete to Bruges. Rescued by the locals, he discovered cod, a fish unknown to him. Impressed by its quality and preservation, he brought dried cod back to Venice, which became a staple during the Lenten fasting period when meat was off-limits.

A toast to truly Venetian dishes.Credit:

He warns us it’s not for everyone. It has a mild, subtle flavour, not overly fishy. I try it with a Venetian spritz, made with an artichoke-flavoured Italian amaro. Sounds odd, but trust me, it’s delicious.

Our next stop is a bit of a walk, but Manni takes us on a scenic route along a canal. Gondolas glide through the water as they do everywhere, but the gondoliers aren’t your typical Venetian stereotype. Instead of striped shirts and the iconic boater straw hat, they look more like tourists, and their rowing skills seem a bit shaky. “He’s learning to row,” Manni says, pointing at the man with weak knees and an oar.

The Rio della Misericordia canal is in the sestiere of Cannaregio. Credit: Getty Images

Despite the popularity of gondolas in Venice, Manni says the tradition is struggling to survive. The high cost of gondolas and the unaffordable living situation in Venice is forcing many gondoliers to seek work elsewhere. “Offering lessons is one way for them to make a living,” he explains. “And regattas – everyone loves a race.”

A few minutes later, we find ourselves in a cosy bacaro with a low ceiling and exposed wooden beams. The last seats are occupied by a lively group of locals, who seemed to have settled in for a while, so we stand, which is the norm here.

Manni points out the sarde in saor, meaning sardines in sweet and sour sauce. It’s made by frying sardines and marinating them in a tangy onion and vinegar sauce, often with raisins.

Every year, on the third Sunday of July, Venice celebrates the Festa del Redentore to mark the end of a plague. Before the fireworks light up the sky, locals deck out their boats and terraces and feast on sarde in saor with prosecco.

“Ready for the main course,” says Manni, as we finish up our wines, though we feel defeated already by the generous portions. Around the corner is our final savoury stop. It has English menus, which we’re told to avoid in Venice, but this trattoria is more than 100 years old and, as Manni explains, makes the only good pizza in Venice. But we’re here for the squid ink pasta, hearty lasagna and the humming atmosphere.

I’m finally convinced that Venice has good food. But Manni isn’t done yet. He leads us on to gelato, and before we say goodbye, he shares a final stop most tourists miss – Drogheria Mascari, the oldest food specialty shop in Venice.

“It’s a two-minute walk from here, on your way back across the Rialto Bridge.”

The details

Tour
The Venice evening food tour in Cannaregio with The Tour Guy costs $128 a person and includes a pasta dinner. See thetourguy.com

Stay
Hotel Belle Arti Venice offers basic accommodation and breakfast for $132 a night. It’s a short walk to San Marco Square and a 20-minute walk to Rialto Bridge and the southern corner of Cannaregio. See hotelbelleartivenice.com

Fly
Emirates operates regular flights from Australia to Venice via Dubai. See emirates.com

The writer was a guest of The Tour Guy.