Bassano del Grappa 2.0

This July, my parents and I drove 10+ hours back to Bassano del Grappa to collect all the things I had to leave behind back in March. If you don't know what I am talking about or why I had to leave behind my personal stuff in a town in Italy, then first go read my previous post about Bassano to catch up.

We stayed in Bassano for 4 days and had some delicious food in some very lovely restaurants. I will soon write a post about Bassano del Grappa as a town and how to visit it, but in this post I will strictly stick to the food.

SUNDAY

We arrived on Sunday somewhere in the afternoon with empty stomachs, though, as it was already late, we assumed that most kitchens were already closed until dinner time. We decided to go to Ostaria Ca'Brando to snack on some good old cheese and prosciutto. Ca'Brando is one of my favourite spots in Bassano to go for some drinks as it is situated right next to the Brenta river. They also serve food, though I haven't tried it yet. We ordered a platter of Prosciutto and a cheese dish, together with some rosé. The rosé was super good and our snack dishes too. Though I did not like all cheeses on the plate.

In the evening we walked up the hill to go to Osteria Terraglio. It was recommended to us by my "ex-colleagues". We initially wanted to go to Il Garibaldi where I went once before, back in October, and had a delicious pasta Pomodoro. Now, back to Terraglio. I ordered Gnocchi with tomato pesto and Sardinian pecorino (€11), my dad ordered a fish platter that had scampi, salmon, tuna, oysters and red shrimps on it (€27). I liked my dish, though it wasn't the best gnocchi I ever had. My dad also liked his meal, but it wasn't exactly what he had expected of it and personally we though it was a bit expensive for Italian standards. Overall the food was great and the location was also very nice.

MONDAY

On Monday we went for Lunch at Nero Pece, my favourite spot in Bassano. At Nero Pece you can have breakfast and lunch but also some delicious cocktails at night. The waiters/ owners are extremely friendly and will always welcome you with a smile. My dad's eyes were bigger than his stomach that morning, so he ordered a Croissant with cream (€1,80) AND Pancakes with salmon, avocado, spinach and cheese (€9). I ordered the "Burrata Menu", which consisted of bread, avocado, lettuce, burrata, cherry tomatoes and lentils (€12). Lastly, my mom went for a yoghurt bowl with granola and fresh fruit (€6,50). We all enjoyed our breakfast very much, it was absolutely delicious and the portions were also big enough to fill anyone's stomach.

For lunch we went to a small restaurant just outside the center together with my "ex-boss". It is a small and cosy restaurant with great food and they also sell many, many wines. Though, I don't think it is worth mentioning as it is mostly filled with business people and you can find food equally as good in the center as well.

In the evening we went to Contra Soarda, which is a beautiful winery in the hills were you can have dinner as well. It was recommended to us by one of my Italian friends. The location was absolutely stunning and it really gave us a holiday feeling. The staff was super friendly as well and the wine was (ofcourse) amazing too. We ordered both a starter, main dish and dessert.

Dad:

• Focaccina di pandolce with carpaccio of tattered tongue with a pea pesto and old malga (cheese) (€12)

• Special Hamburger with self-chosen extras (€10 + €1,50 per extra)

• After Eight ice cream (??)

Mom:

• Bullock carpacia with onions and grapes (€12)

• Grilled bullock tagliata with oil of Torcolato grapes (€14)

• Panna cotta with coconut and cherry sauce (€6)

Me:

• Black rise with parmigiano cheese and zucchini (€12)

• Grilled vegetables with San Michele cheese (€13)

• After Eight ice cream (??)

My dad liked all of his dishes and the beef in his burger was sublime, though he thought the "extras" were going to be inside of the burger instead of next to it. The ice cream my dad and I had was also very fresh and yummy.

As you can see, my mom and I both ordered kind of the same dishes as starter and main dish, but my mom didn't mind it at all. She loved both of her dishes and the panna cotta was also really good. I, on the other hand, had made a huge mistake with choosing vegetables with cheese 2 times. The first dish with the black rice was delightful and I enjoyed it very much. Though, the second dish wasn't my favourite. First of all, I was already sick of eating vegetables and cheese from the previous dish, secondly, the vegetables were already slightly cooled off and lastly, the variety of vegetables was also not that big. I was mainly served zucchini, which I already had in my first dish and only 2 slices of eggplant. I take full responsibility for ordering the wrong dish, I should have noticed that both dishes were very similar. Fortunately, the ice cream made up for it.

I would DEFINITELY recommend Contra Soarda to everyone visiting Bassano or another town in the close neighbourhood. The views are marvelous and the location on its own is stunning too.

TUESDAY

On Tuesday we went to Padova and had lunch there. We sat down in a small and cosy restaurant/ café called Lo Scultore Café where we all ordered a cold pasta with basil pesto, cherry tomatoes and parmigiano cheese. It was a very hot day so this cold pasta was exactly what we needed in that moment. It was really good and the staff there was also very friendly.

In the evening we went back to Bassano to a place called Al Caneseo. This restaurant is a authentic Italian restaurant situated in a very quiet street in the center. If you don't know the existence of this restaurant, you would walk straight by it for sure, plus there is also nothing else in this street besides the restaurant. You can only sit inside here, which wasn't ideal on that hot Tuesday. The waiter was a bit impatient, though I can't blame him as we only came in around half past 9. Besides this he was a good host, he spoke several languages which is quite unusual in Italy. We all ordered the same dish again, because we had all been craving a pasta pomodoro the entire day. The pasta was good, nothing special, nothing bad, just good basic pasta pomodoro. If you are looking for typical Italian food I would recommend going here, otherwise I wouldn't immediately recommend it as it doesn't have an outdoor seating area (which is nice to have during summer) and the food is also not that special, but that isn't always a bad thing.

WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday we went for breakfast again at Nero Pece, this time I went for the yoghurt and my mom and dad stuck with their previous orders (minus the pancakes). I personally wasn't a big fan of the yoghurt, but again that was on me as I prefer yoghurts with a fruit flavour over plain white yoghurt.

We went back to Nero Pece AGAIN 😅 for lunch. I think it is obvious now how much we like Nero Pece. My dad and I split a Poké bowl containing; broccoli, cous cous, cheese, potatoes, green beans and eggs (€12). This Poké bowl was absolutely amazing, all the flavours were so good and heavenly when combined together in one bite. I haven't had many Poké bowls yet, but I can already say that this will be one of my favourites.

For dinner we went to Cucina Teohef, which is a restaurant situated a few meters away from the Ponte Vecchio, where they serve more sophisticated dishes. My dad ordered a Premium beef tartare with berries and miso (€12) as a starter. My mom and I only ordered a main dish. The starter was presented beautifully and was equally as good in taste. You would think that the combination of meat with frozen fruit is weird, but according to my dad the flavours went really well together.

For my main dish I asked if they could make something vegetarian as the one vegetarian dish on the menu was not what I wanted at that time, so they offered to make me gnocchi. My mom ordered Spelt spaghetti with raw tuna, avocado and shiso ponzu sauce (€13) and my dad went for a Tuna sashimi with veal juice and roasted eggplant (€22).

We all enjoyed our main dishes, I liked this gnocchi better than the one of the first day as it had more sauce. My mom's dish was also really delicious, she said it was very special with amazing flavours and asked my dad to recreate it once we got back to Belgium, because she liked it that much.

That was all for my second Bassano blog. We left very early in the morning on Thursday and had breakfast in another town, at a small bakery.

I hope you enjoyed this blog and stay tuned for the Travel Guide blog about Bassano del Grappa that will be coming soon.

A bientôt!

Bisous

In the video below you can see some clips from the first 2 days at the restaurants/ spots we went to just to show you what it looked like. I forgot to film after the second day (my bad 😅). If you would like to see more clips of the places I go to, to see what the restaurants look like, please leave a comment below so I can start doing that as well.