Venice Bars & Restaurants

The island of Burano, famed for exquisite lace-making and colourful houses, is also home to one of Venice’s finest restaurants – and it’s deliciously laidback to boot. Husband and wife Ruggero and Lucia Bovo set a jovial tone for ‘The Black Cat’, while super-charming son Massimiliano is front and centre as the maitre d’. The family is fanatical about local food, and supporting the ever-dwindling number of fishermen on Burano. Pretty much everything on the menu is netted or caught by hand in the lagoon. Feast on hyper-local specialities like homemade tagliolini with spider crab or traditional Burano risotto with goby fish. This is one of the only upmarket restaurants in Venice where there’s a real mix of clientele, thanks to the Bovo family’s focus on locals.

Delish takeaway slices of pizza

The original Pieta orphanage now turned into a hotel. Go for a cocktail at the Metropole bar. The street next to it has a monument to the mothers in the wall.

Cool wine bar and snack spot

Styled in sleek, modern luxury, this bar is the result of a collaboration with Philippe Starck. Giavedoni says, “I love the coffee variety we serve, and the selection of petit fours”. Like Grancaffè Quadri, AMO serves Laboratorio Giamaica Caffè, and the accompanying selection of petit fours (as well as macarons) changes monthly, which is as good excuse as any to keep returning. After breakfast, head up to the roof terrace of the department store in which the bar is situated for an incredible (and free) panoramic view of Venice, looking directly onto the Rialto Bridge and the Grand Canal.

Gorgeous wine bar with chess and a crackly record player

Cool hotel nice cocktails

Friendly wine bar, tiny inside but people spill out onto the street. The Venice archives are right by it. Don’t think you can go in but cool to see - Anna Maria‘a records are in here

Delicious vegetarian food, need to book in advance

My favourite outdoor cafe, in a beautiful square right by the conservatoire of music (go stand outside and listen to the music pouring out of the windows!) good for lunch or dinner

Dress up for drinks at a Doge’s former residence, the Gritti Palace, now a supremely elegant hotel that reopened last year after a 35-million-euro renovation. Patrician details abound in the pristine lobby, from abundant floral displays and glittering chandeliers to a plush library displaying an exclusive collection of treasures selected by the well-traveled designer and actor Waris Ahluwalia. But the reason to visit at cocktail hour is Bar Longhi, a favored haunt of Ernest Hemingway where that most Venetian of aperitifs — the Aperol spritz — is served on the terrace with front-row views of the Grand Canal and the beautiful domed Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute beyond.

Restaurant of chef formerly at CoVino - supposed to be incredible

For lunch, follow the lead of locals congregating outside bacari, traditional Venetian bars specializing in hors-d’oeuvre-size snacks called cicchetti. The alleys behind the Rialto Market are packed with bacari, so start there at Osteria Alla Ciurma, a wood-paneled spot where everything from meatballs to stuffed zucchini flowers is thrown into the fryer. Around the corner at All’Arco, pair pesce-crudo-topped toasts with an ombra, a tiny goblet of wine. Then continue to Cantina do Spade for fantastic fried calamari and crab claws beneath dark timbered ceilings. Finish the ambulatory meal at Osteria Bancogiro, where you can nibble on black polenta topped with baccalà mantecato — the whipped cod spread is a local specialty — at a perch overlooking the adjacent piazza.

Another cicchetti bar! The establishment is on a canal and they have boats out front where you can sit so you have two options: you can grab some cicchetti and a drink and sit on a boat outside or you can sit inside and have a proper meal.

Venice night life got a boost last August when El Sbarlefo San Pantalon opened on an alley in Dorsoduro. Neon-yellow wall lights and pendant lamps illuminate this sleek little bar, where live music on weekends might be a jazz pianist or a rockabilly trio entertaining the crowd. Later, seek out Enoiteca Mascareta, one of the few spots open past midnight. A low-key industry place, this friendly wine bar is where chefs and servers from nearby restaurants congregate after their shifts to flirt over a glass of wine or a well-mixed gin and tonic.

Grancaffè Quadri is naturally at the top of Giavedoni’s list. Ironically, this is one of the few bars in the city where you wouldn’t just want to gulp your coffee and go. As Giavedoni rightly points out, “it has one of the most amazing views in the world”. Savour that morning espresso as you take in the mosaics of the Basilica, the iconic bell tower, and the sweep of arcades opposite. In addition to being a feast for the eyes, Giavedoni says, “Over the past 10 years, under the management of the Alajmo brothers, the quality of the food and beverages has been constantly improving”. They serve Giavedoni’s favourite coffee, “selected and roasted by Laboratorio Giamaica Caffè, based in Verona”. Along with your espresso, Giavedoni recommends “an extra-virgin olive oil brioche with apricot jam inside for breakfast”.

Giavedoni directs us to Pasticceria Tonolo, which is considered a Venetian institution. It lies just a couple of streets from one of Venice’s great artistic masterpieces, the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, which contains over 60 paintings by the celebrated Venetian artist Jacopo Tintoretto. Founded in 1886, Pasticceria Tonolo is one of the most popular places in the city to buy pastries.

Aside from his own apple tart, his favourite in the city is the ricotta pastry from Pasticceria Nobile. Located in the Cannaregio district, this pastry shop prides itself on its colourful array of produce and its respect for tradition

Recommended for dinner by Hannah Baxward

Lovely spot for campari spritz and views; food is unpredictable