L'Anice Stellato - Venice Restaurant Review

Tops on our list of Venice fish restaurants is L'Anice Stellato in the Cannaregio on Fondamente de la Sensa. Using spices more familiar on far Eastern menus (Anice Stellato means "star anice" a major component of five-spice powder), the chef manages to bring the flavors together in a way that brings home the idea that you're sitting upon the western edge of a major eastern trade route.

You don't go to L'Anice Stellato without thinking of fish--and our strategy was to see what the kitchen could do with as many kinds of seafood as we could get our forks into. So, we ordered a carefully prepared seafood chicchetti plate to start, featuring warm and cold seafood prepared in a variety of ways. The plate included a good variety of both fish and shellfish. It was a good start.

The menu featured some interesting pastas, but the best is the main course fish dishes, including a slab of swordfish grilled rare then doused with a hot oil bath juniper and thyme to finish the cooking. The bronzino with sweet paprika sauce was also quite good.

If you're having fish, I recommend the Cala Silente Vermentino di Sardegna (17 Euro) for a white wine that can stand up to the spices. Menu changes daily. Reservations strongly advised.

If you're in venice for a while, you might try snagging a table at the 40 Ladrini (40 big thieves) next door, order the crab gnocchi, a specialty of Venice, and then stroll over to the L'Anice Stellato and make a reservation for the next day. It worked for us.

L'Anice Stellato Fondamenta de la Sensa, Cannaregio, 3272, tel. 041720744

Other recommended Venice seafood restaurants are:

Corte Sconta
Castello 3886, calle del Pestrin, tel. 041 522 7024 (Vaporetto San Zaccaria or Arsenale)
Meals served noon-3.30pm, 6-10pm Tue-Sat. The Corte Sconta started out as the place to go in Venice for reasonably priced seafood, but has now raised its prices to the upper levels.