I found Ai Mercanti on the Michelin guide and noted that it was a 5 minute walk from our hotel. It…read morewas a restaurant I had bookmarked in my mind while we were in Venice. When my husband and I had just gotten back from a day trip to Bologna, we realized we were hungry for a late dinner. Ai Mercanti popped on my mind. I figured that reservations were required, but I took a chance and called the restaurant to see if they could accommodate us for a 9:30pm dinner. They told us to come right on down. Score!
This restaurant was a hidden gem. Not only was it off the beaten path, but the food and service were excellent. We had an amazing experience.
The servers were the nicest, and they were highly attentive. I overheard multiple waiters speak French fluently, so I thought it was impressive that they were tri-lingual with English, Italian, and French. This was one of the few places in Italy where I felt that the service team actually read the room. They knew when we were ready for the next course or when we wanted to finish dinner, so the pacing of each meal was impeccable and there was no dilly dallying around for the check.
Each dish was a banger, and the portions were right-sized. I didn't feel overstuffed after a first, second, and dessert for once. We had the following:
- Octopus with agretti (saltwort), grilled new potatoes, parsley oil and amaranth. I loved the simplicity of the flavors.
- "Apparently" crispy egg, potato foam, Cantabrian anchovy. This is what a warm hug tastes like. GET THIS.
- Cod in a lightly spiced coconut milk, lemongrass and coriander soup. Since Venice was a merchant hub for trading spices, I felt like I tasted more ethnic variety. For example, this was the first "Asian"-inspired dish I had in Italy. The cod was very tender, and the lemongrass coriander soup was a flavor party in my mouth.
- Lamb chops, spring onion, curry sauce. The meat was tender.
- Panna cotta, merengue, dulce de leche, salty peanuts ice cream. Each bite was a harmony of flavors and worked very well together. The panna cotta had a nice creamy texture.
- Crème brûlèe. A beautiful, traditional classic dessert. They do this right.