Our evenings have been quite busy lately and I just can’t shake the feeling I have to be doing something right now. Benedict is sleeping, Josh is doing some stuff for work (he works from home few times a week) and I found myself alone with my thoughts and itchy fingers ready to do something. Here I am typing about our food experience in Rome despite the fact it was in September 2016, ha!
As I previously mentioned on my Paris post, I usually research the food scene whenever we travel since it’s a great way to get to know the local culture and as we say in Brazil: “food is life”. We first traveled to Italy in December 2015 to northern Italy and we sadly didn’t have a great food experience there despite of us avoiding tourist traps. We had amazing gelato though which I will talk about it later on this post. We were determined to find the best of the best in Rome on this trip!!
One thing we kept in mind when we travel is to eat regional foods whenever possible. In Verona, I made sure to eat polenta which is traditional of that area and it was the best dish we had during our time there. In Venice, we avoided eating pizza since apparently having wood ovens is prohibited there and I can’t imagine not eating wood fired pizza. On our list in Venice there was also the “cicheti” which are pretty much like tapas and small plates. In Rome, my main goal was to eat pasta alla carbonara since I occasionally try to make it at home and I’ve eaten all sorts of variations of this dish in restaurants. It was time to eat the real thing!
We also try our best to spot restaurants where the clientele is Italian, extra points for Italian only menu. We also look at the location of eateries and prefer walking further from tourist attractions and avoid places where there is a server outside sort of recruiting customers.
Okay so back to food in Rome!
When we arrived at Termini station we walked straight to “Al Forno della Soffitta“, a little restaurant serving lunch buffet and authentic Neapolitan style pizza. Yep, I know we are in Rome but nothing can beat authentic Neapolitan pizza in my humble opinion (so much for eating regional foods but there is always a worthwhile exception). We loved it SO MUCH we returned the following night for dinner. The lunch buffet was €12.50 but they were still setting stuff up so we ordered the lunch special which included a pizza plus a drink costing €8 per person. I got the Margherita pizza and I can’t remember what Josh ordered (oops). I can’t find a picture to refresh my mind either but he loved whatever pizza he had!
The following night I decided to order pasta alla carbonara and it was very, very good and totally different than the ones I had eaten at restaurants in the USA but it was just a tad bit salty. Josh ordered a sausage pizza but he was a bit disappointed it didn’t have any sauce on it and it lacked flavor. He really loved what he had ordered the previous day (whatever it was).
Our favorite gelato place EVER Gelateria La Romana has few locations in Rome, one being conveniently located on the same street as Al Forno della Soffitta. This wasn’t a coincidence, the foodie gods were aiding us whilst we planned our trip.
We were first acquainted with this gelateria in Verona which was suggested by our airbnb host. We went to few other gelato places in town but nothing beat La Romana so we probably went there 2-3 times on our last day in Verona. Back in Rome, we had seconds and even third helpings since the gelateria was a bit out of the way from other stuff.
We had read about Pastificio Guerra, which is a tiny pasta market that also serves super inexpensive lunch and dinner serving only 2 options of pasta a day for around €4 if I remember correctly. They make the same pasta every week and I wanted to eat gnocchi but it is only served on Thursdays. We came on a Monday and the offerings were pasta with arrabiata sauce and mushroom sauce. I had the mushroom sauce and and Josh had the arrabiata. We came in at around 6pm and the food was lukewarm but quite filling. There were water and cups on the counter and we were the only ones there. I think the food would probably taste much better right when they open for lunch at 1pm but after that, it just sits in the warmer all day long through dinner. For 4 euros we can’t really complain much but the food was just okay.
Right across the street from Pastificio you will find Pompi which specializes in tiramisu. I wish I had ordered one of the unique flavors (banana tiramisu or pistachio) but we decided to order the traditional one. It was light and delicate but we thought it was lacking flavor but it was reasonably priced.
Just like ice cream places in the USA, gelato shops will either be selling artisan made or industrialized gelato. After a lot of reading about the subject, here are my tips on how to spot homemade artisan gelato:
- Color: it is expected for gelato makers to use natural ingredients so if anything has bright and vivid colors they are not homemade (sorbet being an exception). Example: Pistachio gelato should have a very light green color and not dark green.
- Container: it’s a good sign if the gelato is stored in metal containers and extra points if they have a lid on. The downside is that we can’t take a quick peek inside them but that’s when we ask for samples!
- Height of gelato in the container: artisan gelato makers typically make small batches daily, therefore if you see a tin where the gelato is overflowing it’s industrialized.
Like this: very tall and strong artificial colors= industrialized. Photo credit:Triathlon, Travel and a Tripod - Taste: gelato makers will keep in mind what is in season and also natural flavors are very subtle. I think we can all recognize when we eat something with artificial flavors like banana extract for example.
Don’t be afraid to ask for samples!
- Texture: gelato isn’t hard like our ice cream, it has a much softer texture so artisan gelato wouldn’t be holding its shape if it were pilled in the container like in the photo above.
Despite being a chain (chains get a bad rep sometimes), Gelateria La Romana makes the most amazing gelato on earth. At the Rome location we were asked if we wanted “crema” (whipped cream) on top but I am pretty sure we weren’t offered this in Verona. But hold on, it’s nothing like American cream, the texture and flavor are very different. Not sure if you can the texture of the cream by this picture:
Our favorite gelato flavors from La Romana are: cioccolato fondente (dark chocolate), yogurt miele e noci (yogurt gelato with walnuts and honey = divine), croccante all’amarena (some kind of deliciousness including cherries and nuts), and pistachio. We also had a fig one and it was so good! We love this place so much we were delighted to find out there are few locations in Madrid as well and when I was planning our Spain trip (but we ended up going to England instead), I saved a couple airbnb’s on the same neighborhood as La Romana. Yep. we are number one fans.
One thing we noticed is that even though it’s cheaper to order for 3+ flavors in 1 cone or cup, we only chose 2 flavors at a time and went back in line to order another one right after. Reason being is that we were able to really taste and savor the gelato with only 2 flavors, anything more was just too much and the flavors got mixed.
Although we plan our eateries in advance, we also allow for spontaneity. We also ate a couple other places we stumbled across but no pictures were taken.
I was so glad we had a successful food experience in Rome. I couldn’t accept the idea of having traveled to Italy and not being wowed by the food since we all associate Italy with good food. Having said that, if anyone has tips on great eateries in Northern Italy I would love to know!!
Cheers!
N.
Occasionally Rambling 