CHAMPAGNE & SECRET HISTORY
Drink Champagne above a hidden trapdoor, a sealed cellar and 2,000 wines
A historic Vicenza wine bar with grower Champagne, contemporary cooking and a 1791 past hidden beneath the counter
Behind the old counter of La Meneghina is a trapdoor once used to reach the cellar where Vicenza’s patriots met in secret during Austrian rule. In 1848, the owner listened for approaching patrols and gave the agreed whistle to extinguish the lights below. The cellar is sealed today, but the counter survives inside a venue that began as an offelleria in 1791 and now pours from a list of more than 2,000 wines, including at least 700 grower Champagnes.
Image supplied for Via Vicenza
Know before you go
The historic counter can still be seen inside the restaurant, while the cellar reached through the old trapdoor is sealed. Reservations are available for lunch and dinner, while aperitivo can be enjoyed without a reservation. Founded 1791 What survives Historic counter · hidden trapdoor · protected furnishings Wine list More than 2,000 references Champagne At least 700 grower Champagne labels Current chef Yuho Kikuchi Phone +39 0444 1583080 Email info@champagneforbreakfast.wine
About
The cellar reached by the historic trapdoor is now sealed. The counter remains visible inside the restaurant, and the 1990 protection covers both the property and its historic furnishings. Reservations are accepted for lunch and dinner. Aperitivo is walk in only. Online reservations currently cover groups of up to six people, with larger tables arranged directly with the restaurant. Pets are allowed if mentioned when booking.
MENTIONED BY
·LA CUCINA ITALIANA: Traces La Meneghina back to 1791, when the address sold pastries and chocolates..
·GAMBERO ROSSO: Premio Foglia in the bistrot category, latest evaluation 2025.
WHY GO
One unusually useful feature of La Meneghina in 1848 had very little to do with pastries, the trapdoor behind the counter. La Meneghina had one behind the counter, and 178 years ago it led to a cellar where local patriots held secret meetings under Austrian rule. The proprietor handled security from upstairs: ear on Contrà Cavour, military patrol approaching, agreed whistle, lights out below. History occasionally benefits from competent hospitality. The counter remained after that clandestine chapter and eventually became an object of heritage interest in its own right, valued for the history of architecture and craftsmanship embedded in an everyday piece of commercial furniture. Champagne now fills the foreground, with more than 2,000 wines on the list and at least 700 bottles from independent Champagne growers. Since 1990, monumental protection has covered both the building and its historic furnishings. The current kitchen belongs to Yuho Kikuchi, who has exchanged nineteenth century biscuits for seafood, tempura, ponzu, bottarga, oysters and a contemporary menu built to stand comfortably beside that formidable Champagne list.
THE FOOD BEYOND THE OBVIOUS
It opened as an offelleria, an old northern Italian word for a pastry and confectionery shop, and La Cucina Italiana records the original trade as pasticcini and chocolates. An old Meneghina label preserved by Biblioteca La Vigna adds two house specialities with much stranger names: Dolce “Baccalà”, literally “Sweet Cod”, and Dolce “Bisotto”. The first joke lands particularly well in Vicenza, where bacalà alla vicentina is practically civic property. The surviving label gives the second name without enough information to decode its joke safely in English.
The pastry years eventually gave way to café food and a small restaurant. By the time La Meneghina reopened as a champagneria with kitchen in 2022, the menu still had plenty of Veneto in it: baccalà mantecato, scartosso, the local paper cone of fried fish, orzotto with bisi and Morlacco, tortelloni with asparagus and Asiago, and gnocchi with octopus ragù. For the new menu, Alberto Tessari called in Lorenzo Cogo. The Marano Vicentino chef had earned a Michelin star at 25, becoming the youngest Michelin starred chef in Italy at the time, after working in kitchens including The Fat Duck, RyuGin, Asador Etxebarri and Noma. Slightly excessive credentials for a former pastry shop with a conspirators’ escape hatch, which is precisely why the detail is so good.
In 2026 Yuho Kikuchi is at the stove. Recent dishes include white asparagus in tempura with ponzu, onion tarte tatin with béarnaise and mullet bottarga, fusillone cacio e pepe with langoustine and lime, and squid with black ink sauce. The seafood remains close to the Champagne, while the old Veneto references have acquired a considerably wider passport