Description: Osteria Venerio at Via Savorgnana 22, was one of the highlights of our short stay in Udine – perhaps even eclipsing the Tiepolo frescoes which I had long wanted to view!
At first it looks like any of Udine’s bars and cafes but a closer look tells you this is not any old place. For want of a better description, Osteria Venerio is like an Italian version of a tapas (or more correctly a Catalonian pinxtos) bar. The extremely talented Maurizio makes all the tasty snacks himself and you choose from the selection displayed in the glass unit this is the counter. You might even see him making the delicious mini pizzas that are sold by the slice.
Most customers drink wine and this is served from barrels rather than bottles; the quality is excellent given the price. If you want beer, that’s also available and it’s made by a small Austrian brewer (Hubertus Brau). While the beer and wone are both good, it’s the food that attracts the customers, many of who seemed to be regulars.
I say that the food is more like pinxtos than tapas because the majority of them consist of a delicious topping perched on a little slice of crusty bread. They aren’t speared like pinxtos and while your pinxtos bill is calculated by the number of sticks on your plate at the end, here the bar staff open a tab for you and you pay at the end. Also, most of these items were behind the counter whereas pinxtos are on the bar for you to help yourself to.
There was an excellent variety of these little snacks. There were meat, seafood and vegetable toppings. Seaosnal produce featured prominently and when we were there this meant asparagus which was served in one example with salty cured ham (perhaps parma, but if not, something very similar) and in another it was served in a tasty but rich cream sauce. Another topping was juciy little prawns in a tangy sauce, yet another was roasted sweet peppers and olives. There was a particularly good one that was like a bruschetta, really crispy bread and a zingy tomato topping.
As well as these bread based snacks there was a potato and egg frittata, and one that contained spinach – that was my favourite. There are various cheeses and hams which the staff will slice for you as desired. What is great about this type of place is that you don’t need to know the language as everything is presented and all you have to do is point. The two girls serving were quite young and I was surprised neither spoke much English but it wasn’t an issue at all. My limited Italian comprises mostly of food vocabulary and I used it a little but really it wasn’t necessary.
On a hot Saturday lunchtime most customers were sitting outside but there are only a few tables and we couldn’t get one there. We sat inside instead; there are a few dining tables at the rear, and down the side of the bar there are some higher ones with stools. The decor is eclectic with a vague golfing theme and it seems the owner may be a fan of the sport. The atmosphere was lively and friendly with local radio being played at a reasonable volume for the time of day.
A couple of beers, a glass of wine and a couple of snacks came in at €12 which was a reasonable lunch price. We liked it so much we went back later on our way to dinner!
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