As we were seated in the stunning Neo-renaissance dining room, our warm and friendly waiter told us that ‘Arva’ is latin for ‘harvest’. The Aman group has an Italian restaurant named Arva in several of its hotels around the world, where Mr A and I have enjoyed good Italian meals before, but Arva in Aman Venice is undoubtedly the best we’ve been to.

The dining room looks onto the Grand Canal, but there was sufficient to keep our interest inside too, with the classically decorated walls and the delicious dishes placed before us.  We decided to order in the Italian style, with a starter, a pasta dish, a main course and a dessert, all from the a la carte menu.

I started with beef carpaccio, which presented beautifully soft meat laid on top of a Bernaise sauce (a first for me) and covered with thick shavings of Gran Padana cheese. It was a delicious first course. 9.5/10

Mr A started with “steamed mantis shrimps”, but when he ordered them the waiter warned him they were in fact virtually raw, which didn’t bother him at all. We had seen some of these interesting-looking crustaceans laid out at the close-by Rialto market that morning.  They were so sweet and moreish, with a gentle lime and chilli kick.

My pasta dish was “rabbit capaletti” with olives and sea herbs.  It was very good with a sensational rabbit jus. 9/10 Mr A had a good pappardelle with pig cheek.

Main course for both of us was “slow cooked suckling pig with ginger, spinach, apple kombucha and a pork jus.  The kombucha was a contemporary twist on apple sauce, which tasted very good without tasting too fermented.  Our waiter told us the pork had been cooked for 12 hours at 65 degrees – it was soft and tender, but its skin was absent. 9/10

For dessert I had “poached strawberries and rhubarb, vanilla cream and a port reduction” with cocoa nibs for texture. A lovely summer dessert, it was creamy but also fresh and acidic. 9/10

We both enjoyed our meal at Arva. Very good food, friendly but professional service, and of course the fabulous dining room. The only negative was the annoying background music (though it might not annoy you if you like c1950s Dean Martin crooning tracks!).

The bill was €366 for two people; well worth it, because I think this place is worthy of a Michelin star. 9/10