Piccadilly
Veneta, a new Italian restaurant, offered diners at their other branches, who had signed up for emails, a discount on meals in their opening weekend and we rushed along. From Piccadilly Circus, the restaurant is easy to find. You walk south and it's first right down a wide pedestrian alley in an area which is being redeveloped. Veneta is on the ground floor, behind big glass windows, in a a modern building with curved and lit horizontals overhead.
The Name Veneta
The name Veneta puzzled me. I knew if I visited the restaurant and asked I would find out the answer. I kept saying and typing the Italian word which sounded more familiar was Veneto, checking back and having to correct my typing or handwriting.
I asked the man dining at the next table with his wife if Veneto was Italian for Venice. He said the Italian for Venice was Venezia. Our Italian waiter, not from Venice but from Sicily, had the explanation. A Veneta is a woman from Venice.
That's good, another word to add to my vocabulary. I am learning Italian using Duolingo, a free website.
Allergy Menu
We went back to the menu. We spotted another menu and asked what it was. They have a special menu, smaller print, for people with allergies, marking the allergies by letter. I looked for C for crustaceans, and M for Molluscs. They also mark dishes with celery C, and G for Gluten and E for eggs. It's such small print that at first I thought the dish I wanted was marked C for crustaceans, but somebody with sharper sight or just more alert noticed that it was Ce for celery.
Where to sit
I had phoned earlier to ask for a proper seat, not a bar stool. We had previously dined twice at Dehesa, and I had been left perched on a bar stool with my legs dangling, and nowhere to put my bag because the others were on the banquette and my bag on the dirty floor was now out of reach. Unfortunately I wan't able to communicate my wishes to whoever answered. When I said I did not want to sit on a bar stool, she kept saying you can sit at the bar. I gave up.
So when I arrived I was delighted to find that Veneta is totally different to nooky Dehesa. Although Veneta has an upstairs level which is narrower and cosier, or claustrophobic, except that it offers a view down.
Toilets
Toilets are downstairs, with separate cubicles containing washbasins. Three doors are marked ladies. Very modern. A bit cramped. Only gel, no moisturiser. Four star. Verging on five. If they add moisturiser, a mirror, I'll give it five (as they used to say on Top of the Pops TV programme in the UK in the Swinging Sixties).
Drinks
I ordered Prosecco. White and bubbling. In a flute glass. Perfect Prosecco. Not all Proseccos are the same. You can get Prosecco worldwide, in Italian restaurants, and other restaurants. But even in an Italian restaurant in Singapore I was disappointed by a Prosecco which tasted too dry and sour, unusually, I did not want to finish. At Veneta the Prosecco was perfect, good subtle taste, put me on a good mood.
Starters
After eliminating the crustaceans and molluscs my choice was easy. I opted for the polenta. For anybody who doesn't know, polenta is a grain, smaller and rounded than rice, tastier than rice, and can be served in a lil or pyramid with or without flavouring and added ingredients, or fried into a rissole (short fat cigar shape) or short oblong fish finger shape.
Here the polenta rissole had a sandwich of tasty meat in cheese with brown sauce on the side. Looks Ok but the test is the taste and it was delicious. Salty meat, suckable cheese, lip-smacking sauce.
My main course was a shrewd chicken in a sauce with date sauce on the side. Wonderful. Up with the Michelin star quality.
Lastly dessert. I knew from their sister restaurant Dehesa that the gelato was a disappointment. Nothing special. Far too much sugar. Not enough refreshing fruit or flavour. Sure enough the woman at the next table was leaving half of hers.
The tiramisu chosen by somebody else had run out. I ordered cheesecake. It came with some vanilla ice and a bit of fruit. Good. Very good. But not exceptional. No oo-ah surprise. Most restaurants and even cafes nowadays can do a second contesting colour. (If you want exceptional, read about the Harrow at Little Bedwyn in one of my previous posts.)
What was stunning was the the succulent, cinnamon flavour slices of pear in the other dessert. We sat speculating on how we could do this at home for a variation on the usually apples desserts made in autumn from the glut of apples.
Dessert was not our last order. We lingered over coffee.
Music
We tried identifying songs from the restaurant's music using an ap called Soundhound, but the place was so busy and buzzy that the ap could not detect the music. The music was at just the right level, good enough and heard everywhere, at tables and in toilets, just not so loud you would have to shout over it. We could hear ourselves speak.
Coffee
Coffee was the weak point. No chocolate with the coffee. Why not? Even my local Indian restaurant can manage a small piece of wrapped chocolate with the coffee or bill and many Chinese restaurants come up with a free slice of orange.
Four or Five Star
So Veneta just misses reaching level five. I would give it four and a half if I could find the symbol. I must search. I have to give it five because on a five star rating 3 for average is damning with faint praise and any good restaurant deserves a four.
But will we go back? Yes, definitely. And because of the size and the chairs this is my favourite of the restaurants int he Salt Yard Group. It's also the quickest and easiest to find, being so near Piccadilly.
For more about what's in the Piccadilly area, read my next post.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer,a author and speaker.
