I took a trip to Sicily at new Durham restaurant Veeno
It may have been blowing a hooley on Saturday afternoon, but the newest addition to Durham transported us to the sun-drenched shores of Sicily without leaving the banks of the Wear.
Durham’s food and drink scene has really exploded in recent years and the latest to open, Veeno, is all about the classic, rich flavours of the Italian island.
It’s transformed the former Pizza Punks unit in Riverwalk and, as the name of the restaurant would suggest, wine is their speciality with a claret red colour scheme, walls lined with bottles and even table tops made with old corks.
Despite being in a modern unit, it feels very much like an elegant wine bar and, even on opening weekend, they already seemed to have got the atmosphere just right, the clink of glasses, chitter chatter and a great playlist making for a relaxed Saturday afternoon buzz.
It’s the sixth Veeno to open in the country after Durham duo Dan and Donna Lewis purchased the franchise from Veeno founders Nino Caruso and Rodrigue Trouillet, and it follows the Veeno concept of offering wines from Nino’s family vineyard, Caruso and Minini, based in Marsala in the west of Sicily.
It means you get to sample wines from the historic estate, which has been producing wine for more than a century, often with ancient grape varieties indigenous to the island, as well as small-scale, independent producers across Italy - soaked up with classic Italian fare, like meat and cheeseboards, pizzas and pastas.
As anyone who’s visited Italy will know, food and drink is a very sociable affair in the Old Country and this menu is designed for leisurely grazing amongst friends and family.
We visited for one of the Veeno ‘experiences’ - the Trip to Italy Wine Tasting Experience.
Priced £44 per person - for 2 to 4 people - it’s a 90 minute wine pairing experience where you can share a giant meat and cheese board alongside six paired wines from the Veeno founder’s vineyard estate, - as well as a tiramisu each.
The cheeseboard arrived like a work of art—well balanced in both flavour and presentation - you can even spin it like a Lazy Susan for extra drama, and to make it easier for sharing.
There’s a good balance of cheese on there from a creamy and smokey Scamorza to sturdier cubes of Parmigiano with a good bite, as well as plenty of slivers of Parma ham, grapes, olives, bread and dips. Special mention too for the bruschetta topped with nduja that had a real lip-tingling kick.
Wine-wise, each glass is 70ml, just enough to give you a taster as you pick your way through the board.
You get a good palate mix of two whites, a rosé , two reds and a dessert wine and our server, Kieran, was great at popping back at intervals to tell us of the heritage of each pour, from the fruity elegance of the Inzolia with a bit of lemon on the nose to a ridiculously drinkable Cabignon that paired perfectly with the meats.
I’m not usually a dessert wine fan, but I really enjoyed the Grillo Tagòs which had a moreish sweetness, without being sickeningly so. Again, it went really well with a velvety tiramisu, a house speciality here.
The pairing was super informative without being stuffy and really makes the experience worth the money - so much so, we’re already booking to go back for a friend’s birthday.
Experiences aside, there’s also a broad wine menu, you’d expect nothing less here, and a classic Italian food menu.
Think pastas priced from £9.50 like Carbonara (made the proper Italian way without cream), bruschetta, aperitivi and pizzas, priced from £10.50, which you can watch being hand-stretched and cooked in the 3-tonne pizza oven at the back of the site.
The North East may not have the Sicilian weather, but this was as warm an experience you can get on a wet day overlooking the Wear.
*Veeno, Riverwalk, Durham City is open Monday – Thursday : 12pm - 10pm, Friday – Saturday : 12pm - 11pm and Sunday: 12pm - 9pm