Download - PrivatAir

oil in favour of seasonal produce you just can’t
get in the UK. My wife thinks I’m mad but the
fl ight is only one hour, 45 minutes. I’m going to
Venice again in October and can guarantee my
hand luggage will be stuff ed full of Treviso
tardivo. It keeps well, makes lovely risotto or
salad, and in one small package conveys all that
wonderful bitterness that is so characteristic of
the region’s food and drink.’
Sometimes he’ll bring back a truffl e or two
packed in a tub of risotto rice or, for his children,
the esse (S-shaped) biscuits that Venetian bakers
traditionally produce at Easter. But seafood such
as moéche (tiny soft-shell crabs taken from the
lagoon during moulting season and cooked live)
and canestrèli (pilgrim scallops, the same size as
little clams and ‘not what we think of as scallops’)
are delicacies to be enjoyed only in Venice.
PRIVATCITY
Like many amateur cooks, Norman feels
the frustration of not having a private kitchen
to play in while there. ‘I always stay in the same
Dorsoduro hotel, La Calcina, by the Zattere,’
he explains. Th e English know it as John
Ruskin’s house but the former limestone
warehouse has been a favourite pensione of
creative people for centuries. ‘Th e parts of
Venice I like are bohemian. I socialise and stay
in the Dorsoduro. It’s where the university is.
It’s where you fi nd the artists, the bohemians,
the piss artists.’
Is there a parallel with London’s Soho, of
which Norman is now considered culinary
king? ‘Yes. It has the same villagey feel even
though it’s in the centre of London. What
interests me [in both Venice and Soho] is the
real people who live, work and play there and
Forty
Far left: aubergine
and Parmesan wrap.
Left: Russell Norman,
the man behind Polpo.
Below: it may be
dominated by its canals,
but Norman believes it’s the
Venetian people who make
this city so inspiring
‘The parts of Venice I like are bohemian. I socialise and st ay in
the Dorsoduro. It’s where you find the artist s, the bohemians’
how they contribute to the character of the
place. Despite the fact that Venice is a city, it’s
very small and absorbs tourists in a remarkable
way – even on a hot day in the middle of
August you can walk into the Ghetto and still
fi nd tranquillity. Soho is the same.’
Autumn is a particularly nice time of year to
be in Venice, he says. ‘It’s warm enough to walk
around in a shirt and perhaps throw a sweater
over your shoulders in the evening. Th ere was a
time when summer was high tourist season,
autumn and spring were medium and winter
was low, but these days Venice is busy year
round. It quietens off a little in winter, but the
city is great in the snow too.’
Polpo: a Venetian Cookbook (of Sorts) is published
by Bloomsbury. For more information on Polpo
restaurants, visit www.polpo.co.uk