Palazzo Venart is home to Enrico Bartolini’s 2-star Michelin restaurant. For my birthday, we went here for dinner. This is the best restaurant in Venice according to the Michelin guide.
We recommend enjoying Venice and going to this restaurant by boat. We took the water taxi from Kempinski San Clemente Palace. The hotel has a jetty in the garden. The garden contains both modern works of art and antique sculptures. The lobby of the hotel is very beautiful and tastefully decorated. We can’t wait to get to the restaurant.
The first thing we noticed is that there are only 6 tables. This creates a very intimate atmosphere especially since the lights on the ceiling are not on and the lighting is created purely from the lamp on the table. This is very well thought of. The restaurant’s decor is minimalist. Classic chairs, fabric wallpaper, and a wall with glass top. View of the hotel’s courtyard.
Champagne and Amuse bouche
The champagne and prosecco menu comes on the table and there are also some cocktails on it. We take a glass of pink champagne from LR Legras. The glasses are great, very large. Next, the amuse bouche arrive on the table, or greetings from the chef.
The first two are grandiose to behold. We receive a cheesecake with squid ink in the shape of a fishbone with herring eggs and a cream. Mushrooms with calf pate are also on the table. Where the cheesecake is very refined, the mushroom is a lot more powerful.
Now a parade of amuses arrives on the table. The table is filled up. So we receive an egg with egg cream, millefuille of potato with cod and lime, this one is grandiose, so light a deliciously fresh. A frittelle (meringue) with nut flowers, anchovies and eggplant also comes spicy crackers on the table. We have entered culinary heaven.
After we ordered the menu, a warm amuse came last: hamburger bun steamed and fried filled with sea bass and miso. I have no other words but wow.
Menu
There are 3 tasting menus to order. Art, Garden and Lagoon (everything from the neighborhood): 7-courses; Glam’s Classics (dishes that have been on the menu for at least 5 years): 9-courses and a 10-course surprise menu. We choose Glam’s classics. Next came the wine list. In addition to wines by the glass and bottle, there are 3 types of wine packages to choose from. We wanted to be advised and chose the matching Istinto package of 6 glasses.
First dish was a picture to behold, a plate full of deep fried fish that lay on a colored ball topped with fresh herbs. The dish was to share. The fish were acquadelle fish from the lagoon. The sauces were: ponzu sauce, salt lime, vinegar sauce and squid sauce. What a grandiose idea and the flavor combination could not be better. Salt with acid, continuously alternating. A grandiose dish. Better start does not exist.
The herbs are so intense in flavor, this is how herbs should taste. How the chef who grows his own herbs does this is a mystery to us. As wine, we were given a 2018 Thanisch Riesling. A good match.
Then green asparagus with egg yolk. The asparagus is slightly sour and I think was cooked sous vide. The yolk is injected with beer, this gives such a delicious and distinct flavor to the yolk. Very surprising. On top of the asparagus are lots of herbs and flowers, again these are flavors you want to taste with herbs. The wine was the same Riesling. The sommelier wanted to show that two different dishes can be matched very well with a wine and he succeeded.
Third, we get eggplant with tomato and pecorino. The eggplant tastes and feels like meat. The vegetables were partially absorbed by oil and then vacuum cooked, we believe. Again, a grandiose dish, this is so incredibly delicious. The tomato sauce is extremely boiled down and seasoned with basil. This sauce over fresh pasta and you won’t want anything else. We are enjoying ourselves to the fullest.
As wine we were given a Gravner 2013. This is an orange wine. The wine matures underground in a qvevri (amphora). The wine is subtle in flavor.
As the fourth dish, squid with myrtle. Two different pieces of squid with a very nice squid sauce and vinegar-laced and grilled myrtle were on the plate. The fish was charcoal-grilled. We are presented with a surprise wine namely a 2015 French Chardonnay from Burgundy.
Then linguine with spicy pepper and fassona meat. We have never eaten such a delicious pasta, the sauce is heavenly. There is no better sauce. As wine we get a Moulin Toudo’s from 1981 to go with it, again a very good wine-food combination.
Risotto with juniper and rabbit kidneys then appeared as the next dish. The risotto was quite cheesy. The risotto was creamy and the kidneys briefly fried. A richly flavored dish. The wine was again a glass of Moulin Toudo’s delicious 1981.
As if it were not enough we received an additional dish from the kitchen namely ravioli filled with lamb. This chef is a real Italian. If you think the pasta can’t get any better you’ll be disappointed with the next dish. We continue to be amazed at how good it is and how surprising this chef can cook. Compliments!
The eighth dish was lamb from the Dolomites. 3 types of lamb were on the plate: lamb rack, sweetbreads and neck. The lamb sauce was enormously rich in flavor. The preparations of lamb were surprising. Lamb was tremendously tender.
The wine was a 2013 Monte Vetrano. A great combination, a top wine with a top dish. We would love to have more, if it weren’t for the fact that we were starting to get tremendously full. Especially with the extra dish we received.
To tame the taste buds, we get a pre-dessert: stem ginger ice cream with saffron. A picture to behold and wonderfully fresh to neutralize the taste buds.
Finally, milk ice cream with figs, salty lime and a crumble. The ice cream is creamy and full of flavor. The salty lime was a nice fresh counterpart to the milk flavor. With that, we drank a Pedro Ximenez sherry. It’s a joy to be here.
When we thought we were there and nothing more would come, we got the friandises, without ordering coffee. Tiramisu cookie, profitterole, bonbon, maccarons, cherries, chocolate and more…… We were full but enjoyed to the fullest. How wonderful to be here.
Service
There is quite a lot of service walking around for 6 tables. Think we saw at least 6 people walking. As a result, there is tremendous alertness. Everyone at the table receives the dish at exactly the same time, the plates are picked up at exactly the same time. The wine arrives neatly a few minutes before the dish. Discipline prevails here. This is necessary because otherwise you cannot perform at this level. We also noticed that the service is wonderfully loose. Staff makes a chat with the guests, there are some jokes and there is no stiffness. Klasse.
We noticed an interplay between service and kitchen. The staff also knows exactly what they are serving. No question is too much. I would love to go here again. What a delight to be able to celebrate my birthday here.
Overall
