Venice was the first stop we had on our Italian tour. We were worried about getting to our hotel in a timely fashion as we arrived in the late afternoon and only had one night in Venice. Luckily there was a straight water bus boat to Saint Marcus' Piazza from which we were just a short walk away.
Being quite hungry it was a nervous thought to be in a foreign land where their staple foods are normally comprised of gluten.
Having done my research ahead of time I knew that Venice was going to be one of the tougher parts of Italy to eat and so I had restaurants circled on the map from before. So after settling in at the hotel we embarked on the short walk to Ostaria All'Ombra.
Once we arrived, much to my surprise we were greeted with English menus and on request a separate Gluten Free menu! The menu had 2-3 pastas and pizzas to choose from, GF tiramisu and profiteroles for dessert and even a GF beer.
Tiramisu at Ostaria All'Ombra |
I ordered a Margarita Pizza and a tiramisu for dessert. The pizza was very tasty however the crust was quite dry and dense. The tiramisu was a frozen cake slice with whipped cream, it tasted very frozen and bland and I would not recommend it aside for those wanting to have the novelty of having a GF tiramisu in Italy (and not going to Rome where there were several better options). Nonetheless it was nice to have a safe decent meal on my first night.
Breakfast at Pasticceria Ponte Delle Paste |
For breakfast we headed over to Pasticceria (patisserie in English) Ponte Delle Paste. The women working inside spoke English very well and knee the ingredients in every item, my assumption is that she was the baker. She didn't have anything that was specifically made gluten free but knee which items were naturally gluten free and pointed me towards the meringues, macaroons and chocolate torte. I ordered the torte and macaroons which were both amazing.
Special thanks goes out to Jennifer Brick at The Gluten Bigot as her blog article on Venice is where I started my research for Venice. One note however, we were unable to find the place called Ristobar mentioned in her blog so if you are to find it please do let me know!