Top 5 things to eat and drink in Venice

So you’re planning a holiday in Venice? GREAT, our city is  wonderful, no matter the time of the year, and there are always delicious things to eat and drink in Venice.

“But what would be best things to eat and drink in Venice” You might ask. We made a list of the top 5 things not to miss out. Make sure you taste each one of them and you won’t regret it, you have Italian Buddy’s word!

5. Liver and onions Venetian style

Ok, not everybody likes liver but this is one of the most traditional venetian recipes. You see, back in the days Venice was a powerful republic and had lot of territories in the mainland, this is why there are still many meat recipes despite the fact that Venice is an island.

This awesome recipe involves:

• butter
• olive oil
• calf’s liver
• lots of braised onions
• white wine
• and vinegar

It is delicious and it’s also usually quite cheap to buy in restaurants, so don’t miss the opportunity to taste it!

4. Sarde in saor 

What’s that? “Sarde” is the venetian word for sardines. This is a very typical appetizer, again, with lots of onions.

If you haven’t tasted it, you have no idea how sweet and delicious sardines can be if you let them marinate with onion, vinegar and sugar.

These are the ingredients:

• Sardines (no kidding!)
• Vinegar
• Again, lots of onions
• Pine nuts
• white wine
• raisins

They must rest 24 hours before being eaten and they are usually served cold. Awesome entrée!

3. Baccalà Mantecato

Another traditional fish recipe. Baccalà is the venetian name for dried cod, and this is one of the pillars of the food you’ll find in the typical venetian “osterie” or “bacari”, where all the locals go to drink and eat some tasty fingerfoods.

This recipe involves some flavoury dried Atlantic cod, taken back to life with milk, garlic and oil. It needs a lot of love, like mayonnaise, to be revived properly. Basically it’s like making a risotto, except that here you’ll have fish instead of rice.

The result will be a very tasty and soft cream that is wonderful with both bread or polenta (another typical venetian recipe made of corn flour).

As you can see the ingredients are very simple:

• baccalà
• garlic
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper

Another tip: eat this while drinking some local still white wine.

2. Frittelle

WHY! WHYYYYY..

Why these food of the gods is sold only during the Carnival?!?

We still have to understand: if you make something so wonderful, so tasty, so delicious, why do you only sell it for one month during the whole year?

Anyway, this is our favourite sweet thing, ever, in the history of all the sweet things this is the best one. Seriously.

It’s very simple and it’s probably similar to a lot of recipes from other countries.

It’s basically fried pastry, made with flour, milk, sugar and eggs, but the special thing is what’s inside..

There are four kinds of frittelle:

• With pastry cream (my favourite)
• With zabaione – it’s like pastry cream but with liquor
• With apples
• Venetian Style, with raisins and pine nuts

Ok, here’s our best tip. Normally we don’t advertise restaurants or other places, but there is one special bakery in Venice that makes this a 100 times better than all the other places. It’s called Tonolo, and it’s located here:

https://plus.google.com/108494997761999513728/about?gl=it&hl=it

1. Spritz

The best thing not to miss out in Venice, is definitely our most typical drink.

Why? Well for many reasons, this drink is not only a 100 years old tradition, but it has become a “way of life”, something that symbolizes Venice in all Italy and abroad.

A Spritz is the ultimate aperitif. It’s origins are not very clear, although most people believe that the idea  comes from austrian soldiers during the first world war. The venetian wines where too strong for them, so they used to add sparkling water.

After years, the “red” ingredient was added, and nowadays most people choose between three red options:

• Aperol (sweet)
• Campari (bitter)
• Select (halfway)

When you’ll order a spritz in Venice, the waiter will be waiting for you to specify which one you will have. Aperol is the most common one, but it doesn’t mean that it’s better than the others, Italian Buddy for example prefers Select a typical red venetian liquor.

The recipe is:

• Prosecco, or other sparkling white wine
• Sparkling water or soda
• The red ingredient

It’s usually served with a green olive and a slice of lemon or orange.

During the happy hour times, especially in the evening around 7pm, you will find tons of locals drinking spritz and eating some appetizers, before going home for dinner. We strongly advise to join them! We promise, you’ll have fun! 😉

Stay in touch with Italian Buddy for other hints and tips about Venice, and send us your feedbacks or questions, we would love to give you more accurate suggestions!