Venissa Wine Restaurant

Venissa Wine Restaurant is on Fondamenta Santa Caterina on the island of Mazzorbo, next to Burano in the northern Venetian lagoon, in Italy's Veneto region. It is a Michelin-starred restaurant built around its own walled vineyard, which grows the rare Dorona grape once common in the lagoon before the 1966 flood. The cooking is tasting-menu style, using ultra-local lagoon fish and vegetables grown on the estate itself. The listing gives the lagoon seafood tasting menu at €95 and up (about $104 and up), and the estate's own Mazzorbo Dorona wine is central to the offer, so the wine programme is a defining feature rather than an afterthought. The signature is the tasting menu paired with the estate wine. The atmosphere is quiet, refined and rural in feel, a contrast to the crowds on Burano and in central Venice, and the noise level is low. Dress is smart-casual to smart. The restaurant opens Tuesday to Sunday for lunch (12PM-2PM) and dinner (7PM-9:30PM), with seasonal variations, so visitors should confirm the schedule before travelling. Reservations are essential on +39 041 527 2281, and booking months ahead is advised, particularly for dinners and weekends in the high season. Prices are at the top of the scale ($$$$). It is a boat trip out from central Venice via Burano, so visitors should plan the vaporetto timing around the reservation rather than the other way around, and should check the last return boat before ordering a long tasting menu. Mazzorbo is reached from Burano by a short footbridge, which makes an afternoon pairing with a walk around Burano natural. The restaurant suits food and wine enthusiasts who want a full lagoon-to-table meal and are willing to spend a half-day on the outing.