Venezia
24 Sukhumvit Soi 11
Bangkok 10110
Tel: 02 254 6655

Italian restaurants tend to fall into two categories. Those that set themselves out as a predominantly pizza pasta joint and those with grander aspirations. Venezia is in the second category. It is in a large room with flowers, murals and wine racks rather than a brick oven and tiled floor. We were drawn by the knowledge that it stayed open all afternoon and the fact that we knew Chef/Patron Vitro. Formerly he worked for his mother in La Piola, that was on Sukhumvit Soi 13, a family-run Italian restaurant with a great reputation.

This is a comparatively new operation and I think that was reflected in the menu. As a new proprietor, Vitro is feeling his way and I thought the menu somewhat limited. Italian yes, but maybe I am just ‘over-Italianed’ in this town of Italian restaurants. There was no dish that jumped out and said to me – TRY ME! All the usual dishes were there and there were three rucola salads with rock lobster, beef fillet and porcini mushrooms with prawns, that certainly looked innovative. It was just I did not fancy a salad. In the end I ordered mussels and clams in a tomato and chili sauce with white wine. They were good and my early reservation was with the chili bit. As soon as I see chili on a menu in Thailand I assume the worst and I suppose I am slightly paranoid about that! But this dish had the chili under control - spicy yes, but it did not destroy one’s taste buds. A good starter I thought.
For a main I went for the special of lamb knuckle. This was very good and very similar to confit. It had been cooked for a long time and was soft but not falling apart. The gravy was heavy and full of flavour. It was a pleasant dish in which great care had been taken in the production. My companion’s veal was not so good. I am sure the escalope was cooked from frozen. We drew Vitro's attention to this and he was suitably apologetic saying he could not spend all his time in the kitchen. After which he headed to the kitchen and sadly there were no sounds of murder or mayhem nor signs of blood oozing out under the kitchen door! But I am sure that this was a mistake that will not happen again!
We had a very pleasant afternoon with some reasonable food in good surroundings with some amiable helpful staff and Vitro is a good guy!