Vinus, Brixen/Bressanone, Italy

Altenmarktgasse 6
39042 Brixen
Tel. 0472-831583

This gem is normally a “Vinothek”, but twice a week in the evening (Wed & Fri) it turns into a wonderful garden restaurant. Vinus’ set menu (no à la carte) gives guests the choice between 3 starters, 2 main dishes and 2 desserts. In line with the church-influenced food culture of southern Europe, the Friday menu consists only of fish. Our table chose orechiette-pasta with prawns and zucchini, and a wonderful carpaccio of octopus as alternative starters, and excellent monkfish and good Branzino as main course. The fish was obviously superfresh, and we overheard a conversation according to which the fish in Vinus is never older than 24 hours.

As the place is a wine shop, the selection of wines to drink is both easy and difficult – just walk the store and make your pick. Alternatively, the friendly and natural shopkeeper will assist you and suggest some regional specialities. It was a very warm evening, and our choice fell on a bottle of 2004 Pinot Bianco Vorberg Riserva from the “Kellerei Terlan”, for 11€.

As a disclaimer, I would guess that the garden is only open during the warm period of the year, and I don’t know whether they serve food inside during winter. As the place tends to get full fast, it is recommended to book your table a couple of days in advance (we were lucky and got a table for 19:00 when we reserved the evening before).

Alltogether the set menu was 29.50€ for three courses, which makes Vinus a very good value-for-money. The back garden with a partial view on the mountains combined with a very natural service makes this place a perfect spot for spending a relaxed, almost Mediterranean evening.

Visited: July 2007