Veeno Brazennose Street Manchester - 23rd February 2017

Veeno Manchester is an Italian wine bar, part of a group of eleven UK venues, all with a passion for quality wine and authentic Italian food.   The concept of Veeno is derived from the word Aperitivo, meaning nibbling and drinking, in chilled and casual surroundings, with friends and family.   The family who own Veeno have vineyards in Sicily and all the food is sourced from Italian producers.

I had wanted to visit Veeno for ages and having enjoyed Aperitivo in Italy, I emailed to ask various questions about vegan options and had a delightful correspondence with Guilia, so based on her replies, I booked a table for lunch.

Veeno is cosy and warm, especially on the day Storm Doris hit the UK, it was like a haven in Manchester city centre, as we sat in the window, watching the wind blowing over everything in sight.

Our waitress Seda was really friendly and helpful and knew about my vegan dietary requirement, so Guilia had passed on this information.

I chose a glass of vegan organic Catarratto white wine, which was delicious and full of flavour.

We started with Liguarian taggisache olives, served with what looked like pretzels, which Steven ate, as I was unsure if they were vegan, but the olives were perfect with the wine.

I chose tomato bruschetta and aubergine and pepper bruschetta next, lovely presentation when delivered to the table, but I was a little disappointed.   The tomatoes were too cold, especially the pieces served on the side and although the vegetables were well cooked, as can be seen from my photos, they were quite dry.   Luckily they tasted much better, once I drizzled them with the oil leftover from the olives.

There was nothing wrong with the bruschette, but I was expecting some wonderful Italian tomatoes like San Marzano, as Veeno pride themselves on using Italian products.

When I ordered espresso coffee, I was astonished it was from a Nespresso coffee machine, the pods are environmentally unfriendly, but Italy is renowned for its coffee culture and Nespresso is a far cry from the numerous coffees I have drunk all over Italy, this was a real cop out.

The service was fantastic, I could not fault Seda throughout our experience, but would I return, I am not sure, maybe just for drinks.