Foodie Friday - Veeno Cafe, Brighton

For the Italian Owners, Nino and Andrea, Veeno Cafe, recently opened in Brighton is best described as a wine cafe. They're keen to take the pretentious out of wine enjoyment and introduce us to the art of Italian wine tasting with delicious (and I mean Delicious!) food pairings in a relaxed setting.

I liked the concept and even more so after we began tasting the wines. It's still a young business and was only set up five years ago in Manchester. They must have created a winning formula (or maybe it just shows how good the wine is) either way, they have already opened 18 other sites including branches in Cardiff, Edinburgh and London St Paul's.

Veeno Cafe intends to focus purely on Italian wine and in particular, showcase the wine from Nino's family estate in Sicily. In operation for the last 150 years, Caruso e Minini produces white, rose, red, dessert and organic wines.

Nino and Marco, one of the Franchise Owners of the Brighton Veeno

All the wines tasted delicious, but for me, the outright winner was the red wine, Cutaja, using Nero d’Avola Riserva grapes. I find very few red wines that are so good that I want to take a photo of the bottle to reference in the future. This red wine was absolutely that noteworthy.

However, that's not all to recommend Veeno Cafe, the dipping oil and balsamic vinegar to accompany the breads used the best balsamic wine I have ever tasted. Nino explained that he has carefully sourced suppliers from Italy and the care taken is proved in the number of exceptional flavours I tried.

I'd also recommend the Buffalo mozzarella that was paired with the white wine. This was the favourite of the night, chosen by two super ladies that I met that evening. The high quality white wine Timpune is made from a local Sicilian grape the Grillo. It is grown at the top of a valley in Sicily where the grapes mature in lots of sunshine and then are fermented in Acacian barrels.

The smoky speck from Trentino, had been smoked and cured ham with juniper and pepper and tasted very moreish. Paired with the house rose, Tasari, the name means to stand up and is made using another Sicilian grape, the Syrah. This rose, we were informed was a balanced wine with notes of Strawberry, cherry, raspberry and pomegranate that you really could pick out.

Cutaja, described as having a really minerally flavour on the menu tasted of rich red fruits such as prunes and was matched with gorgonzola and walnut, which created a delightful combination of cream, nut and rich wine flavours.

Finally, it's worth mentioning the tiramisu, made to an undisclosed family recipe, if it's available and you like this beautiful Italian pick-me-up then this one, with a glass of dessert wine will not disappoint.