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
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