Located near the Piazza San Marco lies a row of exceptionally high-end boutiques such as Chanel, Prada, Valentino, Gucci and Salvatore Ferragamo. Along the Calle Larga XXII Marzo, across Burberry, travellers and tourists will walk past a building, a former legitimate Venetian palace now converted to a hotel named Hotel Saturnia. During the summer months, the hotel’s restaurant, La Caravella, opens its bona fide Venetian courtyard for guests to enjoy their food. The busiest seasons are the months where cruise lines come to visit Venice, particularly the months of May ‘til October.
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A Historical Venue
I had lunch at the La Caravella that can be reached through the hotel corridor accessing their beautiful courtyard. I was glad they had their inviting tangerine tarp up in order to protect us from the sun, as it was a warm summer day in Venice.
Claudio cordially greeted us and quickly served some refreshing Tiziano Prosecco Italian wine that comprised of enjoyable peaches, delightful strawberries and fresh orange juice. The wine makes the drink less sweet while still keeping us invigorated. I really like how Venetian restaurants always start their meals with a pleasurable glass of wine. Toasted rye bread with Dijon mustard was also provided even though it is usually served during dinner. La Caravella is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday including holidays.
An Elegant Four Course Meal
To help us cool down from the beating heat of the Venetian sun, La Caravella started off our meal with a delectable lobster terrine with grapefruit and raspberry juice. It was garnished with salt crystals, creating a semi-crunchy texture combined with the rich, heavenly lobster flavor.
For our first course, thin pasta noodles with spider crabs and fresh tomatoes with olive oil were served. Apparently, a spider crab in Italy is actually a luscious king crab. The spider crab comes from the Adriatic Sea and is a traditional Venetian fare. Ours was served with a Tercici Collio Sauvignon giving proper accent to the juicy tomatoes. The dish had some strips of crabs, which visually and flavorfully blended in well with the pasta and its sauce. Therefore, it didn’t have a strong crab flavor and texture and instead had a balanced savor. Confirming that La Caravella only uses real crabs, I even tasted miniature pieces of crab shells in the dish. The pasta equalized the texture, softness, and moistness of the meal. In other restaurants, you can request for additional sauce for pastas, but the thought certainly never crossed my mind here as it was done so perfectly.
The next course is another seafood from the Adriatic Sea, a fish called Tueboto, which in this restaurant was baked with enticing potato and opulent olives. It was a light fish where the palatable olives, red tomato purée, and basil purée contributed a flavorful and light fare. We enjoyed it in bliss with a glass of Vigna Runch Chardonnay from Italy.
The third course is the jungle shrimp with cheese and potato pie served upon sautéed vegetables. The appetizing potatoes were quite thick as the cheese adds more weight, texture, and savory flavoring. The jungle shrimp was already peeled while maintaining the tail, which is something I very much appreciate. It creates the dish as being more pleasing to the eye. It was a very meaty shrimp and can be mistaken for lobster tail due to its size but it is much more pleasantly moist.
For dessert, Claudio recommended that their Italian tiramisu was certainly exceptional. I was excited and without a doubt obliged to try it. The tiramisu came decorated with sumptuous dark chocolate sauce. It was authentically creamy and the delicious Italian amaretto cookie with the cake adds the proper crunchy texture. I am usually used to a cake-y tiramisu but this one is like a luscious fluffy mouse, surely a marvelous welcome for something unique and only acquired in Italy.
A fun and generous fact about the restaurant is that all meals come with a plate of dessert consisting of superb, succulent Italian homemade pastries. The cookies were not only divine but also very flavorsome. My personal favorite is the mouthwatering cookie cone with Italian cream cheese filling enhanced with splendid coconut shavings.
Celebrating 50 Glorious Years
The restaurant just celebrated its glorious 50-year anniversary last year in which I would like to congratulate them in such an exceedingly notable milestone! Hotel Saturnia also gave me an exclusive tour of their palatial grounds. As you go through the photos, notice the hotel’s rooms featuring historical swanky Venetian interior décor. The adornments of the hotel rooms inside are new to suit the tastes of their elite clientele. My favorite part is their charming rooftop terrace. What a dazzling view of captivating Venice from the top!
Guests can truly and comfortably lounge around in their swimsuits and work on their tans while enjoying Italy’s magnificent blue skies as a chic shower area is also provided nearby. When in Venice, do as the Venetians do by stopping by La Caravella located at one of the cities’ historical palace now called Hotel Saturnia. Allow your self to be enchanted by their exemplary cuisine and indulge in their authentic, beguiling palatial courtyard. Rest assured, this exquisite place is not to be missed!
Thanks to La Caravella Restaurant | Calle Larga Via XXII Marzo 2397 | San Marco, 30124 Venice, Italy | +39 041 520 8901 | email: info@restaurantlacaravella.com