Open Baladin. We decided to try all the smoked beers! Eric got ‘Jenny the Smoker’ scotch ale and I had the Open Garden Smoked Ale. We decided to split the stronger Imperial Ghisa, a smoked stout from Lambrate. I remembered later that we had this beer at the brewery in Milan on a previous trip!
Tonnarello. Recommended by our hotel hostess, we ate dinner here the first night. They only had space outside at 9pm so we kept our coats on and sat near one of the heaters which kept us comfortable. The service was very friendly, although it took longer than expected for the food to come out – even the waiters seemed surprised we were waiting. My mussel and pasta dish was delicious and Eric joined the clean plate club with his cacio de pepe. The tiramisu dessert was also memorable. Highly recommended.
Roscioli Caffè Pasticceria. Part of a group of eateries, we grabbed breakfast at the pastry shop a total of three times during this trip. Counter service was a bit rushed, you stand to consume your coffee, eat your pastry and leave. However, the pastries… OMG. Eric always went for the chocolate croissants (quite dark and rich chocolate) and I tried the apple custard pastry twice. So good. The woman behind the counter remembered me the second day, which was rather nice.
My-Ale Craft Beer & Street Food. We still talk about the magnificent bread from My Ale experienced during our last trip so we had to return for another panini lunch. This time we split a raspberry Berliner Weisse which complimented the recommended smoked cheese and ham nicely.
Frigidarium. Still our favorite gelato place in Rome. There will be a line and it will be worth waiting in it. Eric had the most intensely minty gelato either of us has ever tasted and I had a coffee and caramel with chopped peanuts. We returned on our last night and got the exact same thing as we did on the first day. Don’t mess with perfection.
Enoteca il Goccetto. Managed to get one of the last tables in the back, ordered a glass each of wine and the ‘drunk’ carpaccio that was served with a nice ryeish bread. And… that was the last time our waiter spoke to us. We tried flagging him down several times to order more wine but the place was packed by then and I guess he just wasn’t into us. Eric had a Cortese 16 rocca (dry, apple, little spice and mineral, went nice with food, but not amazing. Served very cold.) I had a the Trento doc Conti d Arco which was a pleasantly dry and bubbly prosecco. Since we couldn’t get service for round two, we paid at the bar and left.
Essenza Wine Bar. Another repeat place from our trip to Rome a year ago, we grabbed a table and settled in for several rounds of toasts and small plates, including a tiny gorgonzola salad. Our favorites were the parma ham with mushroom cream and the yellow tomato, sardine and cipollini onions toasts. We split a bottle of the Merotto Prosecco Brut Berretta which matched well with everything we tried.
Pasta Chef S.Angelo. Delicious housemade pasta from a very casual take-away style environment. We had the carbonara and the amatriciana with little glasses of rose wine. Quite tasty. Everything was served on compostable materials. Would make a good takeaway option for lunch or dinner, very reasonably priced.
Fatamorgana Monti. Stopped by for a quick gelato cone. Eric’s chocolate was much better than my choice of coconut. Their sunny patio was packed on Sunday.
Al Vino Al Vino. We arrived just after they opened at 6pm and we had the entire place to ourselves. The server was very friendly and we managed to get our second glasses ordered before the place really started the fill up and get busy. To pay, we had to track somebody down… a common occurrence at many places in Rome.
Mimi e Coco. We dined a bit on the late side here so I changed things up and ordered carpaccio (instead of pasta) and Eric got his standard cacio de pepe. Everything was delicious. Once again the wait staff was hit and miss but service was friendly and they have a good variety of wines available by the glass. We had to sit outside as the place was still busy at 10pm but with my back to the heater it was comfortable.
Mercado Testaccio. A covered market in the lesser-known Testaccio area with many food stalls. We selected Mordi & Vai for sandwiches (somehow my order was misinterpreted but the ones we did receive were good, nonetheless), followed by chocolate and pistachio cookies from Romeo and then a glass of wine each at Chicchi e Lettere. Definitely worth the trek from Centro!
Fonte della Salute. Ducked in here to avoid the sudden rainstorm for a quick gelato. The one I really wanted was out, so I settled on a caramel. Eric really liked his chocolate.
Cajo & Gajo. Dinner on our last night was back in Trastevere. We were a bit tired of sitting outside so we opted to wait for an indoor table. There wasn’t a lot of communication on how long that would be but thankfully it was only about a five minute wait at 9pm. Eric loved his pasta with chicken, apple and blue cheese and my carbonara with artichoke was rich and delicious. The service was friendly but I hope they have a good glass+plate budget because something shattered every ten minutes during our meal. That is not an exaggeration! We’d definitely return though.
