Al Cantinon

The story

Al Cantinon: Refined Venetian Cooking Beneath a Quiet Canal | Venice

The chef and the kitchen

At Al Cantinon in Venice, Serghei Hachi guides guests through a refined Venetian cuisine menu, blending decades of European kitchen experience with a disciplined focus on regional ingredients. He maintains strict standards in his own kitchen, prioritizing fresh local catch, rejecting frozen substitutes, and producing long-leavened pasta, bread, and grissini daily using organic flour and a live sourdough culture. This hands-on approach earned the establishment a Faccino Contento ++ rating from ilGolosario, recognizing a space where lagoon cooking meets quiet elegance. The team treats the cellar as an extension of this philosophy, curating bottles through direct visits to regional producers.

Signature plates

The kitchen builds its reputation on precise flavor combinations, such as carpaccio of sea bass marinated in raspberry juice and layered with stracciatella and peach salad. Heavy emphasis falls on the spaghetti neri alle seppie, which pools into a saffron potato cream beside a crisp red prawn tartare. Seasonal shifts bring the filetto di pesce spada pressed in crushed pistachio with eggplant purée, alongside the traditional fegato alla veneziana resting on soft polenta. Guests may also follow a five-course tasting path that moves through house-made tortelli and risottos before reaching the dessert course.

The setting and the cellar

Dining tables sit beneath a stone portico beside a narrow canal where only a handful of gondolas pass each evening. This secluded stretch of Sottoportego de le Colonete keeps the room comfortably distant from crowded piazzas. Lucia and Serghei spend their downtime walking vineyard rows to assemble a wine list built on friendship rather than supplier catalogs. The resulting selections complement the rich seafood preparations and house-made sweets without overshadowing the food.