However, we won’t be sailing along the Grand Canal; if anything, we can take the tram that runs along Glenferrie Road in Hawthorn, stop in front of the Lido, venture into the gallery that houses the cinema and push open a set of enchanting green and turquoise doors.
There you’ll find Vaporetto Bar & Eatery, the bar and restaurant that conjures up the alleys of Giudecca, the flavours of La Serenissima: think Harry's Bar, in the heart of Hawthorn.
We invited chef and owner Greg Feck to chat to us about his restaurant. Feck is a ‘kiwi’ who got his start in the kitchen at his grandmother's deli in New Zealand, before heading to London, where he cut his teeth at the famous Italian restaurant The River Café, with the likes of Jamie Oliver and Ben O'Donaghue.
Back in Australia, Feck earned his stripes by becoming a chef at the legendary Stephanie Alexander's Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder, before leaving to run Sapore, where he quickly earned a hat in the Good Food Guide. He then went on to open Crabapple Kitchen, and finally, Vaporetto Bar & Eatery in 2014.
His experience at the River Café, which celebrated its 30th birthday this year, was extremely important to his journey, Feck said in an interview granted to Rete Italia. Not only did it allow him to work alongside top chefs, but also to realise that having a great restaurant means taking an interest in the supply chain: suppliers, farmers and breeders alike.
For Feck, Vaporetto is representative of his longstanding love affair with the city of lagoons.
“In the six or so years I spent in London, I often gravitated to the north-east of Italy ― especially Venice ― attracted by the art, the culture and, of course, the food. [I’m also interested in] the protection of the lagoons, where only certain species can be fished,” he explained.
“It was there that I found Vaporetto's front door, which had been the door of a tobacconist's and a post office, and had fallen victim to a fire in its more than one hundred years of existence. Getting it back to Australia was a nightmare - it took me over three years.”
Once you pass through the century-old door and enter the bar, the entire establishment pays homage to Venice: from the Murano glass chandeliers to the crocheted curtains typical of Burano and the masks adorning the walls.
Aperitif hour, every Sunday, is a must at Vaporetto, where chips, fried meatballs and crostini with sardines are served at the bar counter.
“I wanted to make real Venetian cicchetti, but it's hard to reconcile dishes like sarde in saor with the palate of the Hawthorn and Camberwell communities,” adds Greg.
On my first visit to Vaporetto some years ago, I remember eating the famous bigoli in salsa and seeing 'Pierino' on the menu, the famous sandwich from Harry's Bar, which the great American writer Ernest Hemingway loved.
“Every now and then I reconfigure the menu, and Pierino will probably return this summer, but at the moment I cook bigoli with duck ragù, which is another traditional Veneto recipe.”
Feck is in the process of finalising the new summer menu, but in the meantime, from the winter menu, there are a few dishes worth trying: Mooloolaba prawns, simply grilled and served with a n'duja sauce; and, among the pastas, strictly home-made, tagliatelle al 'Gatto nero' with crabmeat, cherry tomatoes, fennel seeds, saffron and smoked caciocavallo cheese.
"When I had lunch at the 'Gatto nero' in Burano, the historic owner, Ruggero, served them (tagliatelle) with scampi, and I simply replaced them with crab, but I’ve left all the other elements of the dish as they were,” Greg recounted.
“The last time I ate at the trattoria, Ruggero gave me a black cat made of Murano glass, which had watched over his kitchen for 38 years, and which now also watches over my kitchen.”
The menu is fish-oriented, punctuated by high quality meat and organic chicken. The wine list is almost entirely Italian - some on tap - with a few Australian variations but from Italian vines: thanks to this, Vaporetto has earned two glasses on Gourmet Travellers Wine List for the past six years.
