Thursday - Fine Dining at Burano

This morning we met Anka and Lincoln (Oscar decided to spend the day in town) on the other side of Rialto Bridge and had coffee at Academia before setting off for Burano - the little island of lace and fishermen.  Our main reason for going there however was to have lunch at a michelin 1 star restaurant called "Venissa".  After coffee, we headed to the southern side of Venice and had to catch the vaporetto to the  northern side - and we obviously went the wrong way around because it took forever.  Then a 30 minute wait for the next ferry to the islands, and a very long journey across the lagoon to Burano.  

Our lunch booking was for 1:00pm and we finally arrived (after several phone calls to confirm that we were on our way and to get final directions) at about 1:30pm.  The restaurant is very small, very modern and set in the most exquisite and huge walled garden - across a bridge from Burano without a single tourist in sight.  Our table overlooked the garden which contains 1 hectare of grapevines - the last remaining vineyard in Venice - plus beautiful, healthy vegetable plots maintained by the local residents, from whom the restaurant sources most of its vegetables, beautiful trees, lawn and birds everywhere.  It is heavenly.

There were 5 staff in the restaurant - 3 in the kitchen, a young woman waiting on our table and the maitre'd / sommelier - and we were the only diners.  And what a lunch it was:

Complimentary starters: Creamy salted cod on a rich coffee reduction (looked like vegemite) topped with a soft, thin wafer containing pistachios - sensational.

Entree:  Brian and I both had lasagnietti (3 layers of wafer thin, round pasta sheets about 5cm diameter made from a mix of ordinary flour and balotti bean flour) topped with finely chopped herbs from the garden and filled with clams and barlotti beans in a creamy sauce - it was absolutely delicious and tasted of the sea.  

Mains:  We all had Risotto with leeks and chopped razor clams, in a bright green stock, topped with leek butter and  finely chopped walnuts.  I've never had risotto like this before. The risotto was perfectly cooked of course and the chef told us she got the beautiful green colour by lightly cooking the green part of the leeks (the only leeks that we've seen here are very small - what we would call baby leeks) and then refreshing the leaves in iced water before pureeing and I assume, straining them. It was sensational - beautiful colours and textures combined with amazing aroma and taste.

Dessert:  Lincoln and I both had camomile tea icecream (very gently flavoured) served on the softest lemon meringue (just a hint of lemon) with a bit of crumbled waffle-like biscuit - it was exquisite.

To drink:  A bottle of white and a bottle of red which Lincoln chose with recommendations from the sommelier, and we all finished with espresso coffee.

The chef (Antonia Klugmann) came to chat with us before we left - she is a very young woman, very unassuming and friendly - and she has 1 of only 3 michelin starred restaurants in Venice (all just 1 star).  What a fantastic way to finish our holiday together.  

Then a leisurely walk through the gardens and back across the bridge to the little island village, jam-packed with tourists.  Anka and I headed off to do some lace shopping while the boys went off to see the leaning tower.  They obviously didn't spend much time there because Anka and I spotted them having a cold beer outside a little bar across the canal from us very soon after we parted company.

Back to Venice on the vaporetto, a walk to Anka & Lincoln's apartment to say our goodbyes, and a quick walk home to get ready for the opera!  Then off again on the vaporetto to  San Toma and a complicated journey through narrow streets and across little bridges to the Scuola Grande S. Giovanni Evangelista - an exquisite, huge old church that is now an opera house of sorts.  We saw the complete opera of Tosca, performed on a small stage in front of what was once the alter, with 6 fabulous singers and an orchestra of 4!  We had seats in the second row and it was fantastic (though we both thought a bigger orchestra was probably needed).  

By the time we left, it was very dark and quiet everywhere, so we just followed the paths with the most lights and the most people and eventually found ourselves at the railway station!  No idea how we got there but we did!  Then back home absolutely exhausted.  Another long but wonderful day!