<p><a href="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/rimg0060.jpg"><img src="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/rimg0060-tm.jpg" width="480" height="360" alt="San Lio" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.tavernasanlio.com/" target="_blank">Taverna San Lio</a> is in the Salizada of the same name, a busy lane running between Rialto and San Marco. This is serial restaurateur territory where the unwary can so easily set foot into some dire tourist trap where the food is poor and the bill incredibly high. Dire food used to be a Venetian speciality but the quality of grub here has come up remarkably over the last ten years. Is the San Lio -- which also doubles as a bed and breakfast place -- on the right side of the tracks or the wrong?</p>
<!--more--><p>I was tired from the trip from London and just wanted something simple and reasonably cheap. The three course meal for 19 euros caught my eye -- though I should have looked more closely and seen it was only available at lunchtimes. Instead I opted for one of my favourites in Venice, a frittura mista, mixed fried fish, in this case served with tempura-style vegetables, and a mixed salad. The main dish was excellent -- calamari, sardines, prawns, one little sole, some scallops, all jumbled up among strips of aubergine, carrot and red onion. Decent five euro mixed salad on the side too. The house pinot grigio was well above average, service friendly and thoughtful.</p>
<p>The bill -- 40 euros -- was I guess par for the course for this part of Venice, in other words high. The frittura was enormous, mind, and could have fed two. If it had been half the size and two thirds the price I'd have been happy and they'd have made more money. My one misgiving was seeing several tables order fish baked in sea salt. This is one of the most difficult dishes for any chef to make. I've had it several times in Mallorca, where it really is a speciality and people are very picky about it.</p>
<p>Good baked fish should use a large bass or bream and take a little while, coming out with a solid crust that needs a distinctive crack to break. The skin should be stuck to the salt crust, coming away to leave perfect white flesh that the waiter removes with a spoon and fork. Even at its best I find it a bit over-rated frankly. In San Lio all people got was what looked like an everyday farmed sea bass that came out covered in a bed of very unsolid rock salt. Not the same thing and I didn't like the look of it at all I'm afraid.</p>
<p>But that may be just a local oddity. If you're in this rather suspect area for restaurants San Lio is certainly worth a try, and the lunchtime menu looks exceptional value too.</p>