A Good eating day. Except for breakfast -
The strength of this breakfast was much touted by the reviewers of this hotel (a primary reason for choosing this BnB), but we found the spread very so-so. There was a chocolate tart I wasn’t tempted enough to try, and a couple of warmed croissants which I didn’t try either. The scrambled eggs in a buffet warmed looked plentiful and fluffy, very yellow. But tasted of... nothing much. I ended up having couple of sweet clementines and calling it a day for breakfast.
Thankfully, lunch made up for it!
Lunch
Borgo Antico
Borgo Pio, 21 00193 Roma
Tel 06 686 5967
- tortellini panna e proscuitto cotto (tortellini with ham in cream sauce)
- gnocchi with alla Romana (with semola flour, burato, pecorino, sage, in tomato sauce)
- patate all papalina (potatoes baked with melted cheese, mushrooms and truffles)
We chanced across this restaurant on promising looking street near the Vatican/St Peter’s Basilica - Borgo Pio. Several ristorantes pizzerias lined the street, including tables and chairs al fresco that looked tantalising, if only it wasn’t about 8 degrees. I wondered why ristorantes in Rome seem to come hand in hand with “pizzeria” - many of the eateries had “Ristorantes Pizzeria” in their names, which wasn’t the case in the other cities we’d been in. Subliminally, I felt that these double-barreled names places didn’t offer good food - it felt like they were trying to cater to as wide a repertoire as possible, pasta, pizza, you want it, we got it.
One little place stood out - it looked quaint and small, without tables or chairs outside and it had the promising looking slow food (the little snail icon) on it.
We were the first guests, and the sole elderly waiter (proprietor?) waved us in welcomingly with “prego” and we selected a corner table. He recommended the potato dish, saying that the cardinal orders this regularly(!), at least, from what we made out in his heavy Italian-accented English. I wanted to order that anyhow, but hesitated because of the already carb-heavy meal, and had originally ordered the eggplant until he suggested this.
They were all pretty good.
The tortellini with ham in cream was something we’ve had not so long ago, but the cream in this one wasn’t overpowering, and was well balanced by the saltiness of the ham. The gnocchi, which I’d expected to be little dumplings, was in large plump round pillows, sprinkled liberally with cheese, and with a large dollop (but not submerged) of tomato sauce, subtly flavoured by the sage.
And the potatoes.... mmmm...... J said, aren’t cardinals fat?! I have no idea, but if I ate this every da, fat I would be - smothered in cheese and olive oil, with chopped truffle. Fragrant and steaming hot, I gobbled it up.
A french family of 7 (5 kids!!) came in soon after, then a mother and daughter, and then three men who had made a reservation, so the nice man was kept busy taking orders but found time to take a picture of us together, something we rarely do during our travels, so that was nice.
Hot chocolate at Sant Eustachio il caffe
My favourite food occurrences during travels is serendipitously and unknowingly finding an iconic place - we saw this coffee shop teeming with people and it turned out to be The Place for an espresso in Rome, judging by the crowds at the bar and queuing up to purchase tickets. It also offered chocolate covered espresso beans, coffee ground and in beans to go in its distinctive yellow packaging, and various sweet items. Spied a review from NY times from years ago that sang its praises. We had the hot chocolate, it was molten but not too molten (like the one in bologna) - a perfect pre-dinner pick me up.
Gelato!!!!
Della Palma Gelato di Roma
via della Maddelena, 19/23
Tel: 06 6880 6752
dellapalma.it
I’d been mooning for gelato for the last two days, and the ones in Rome near the Vatican looked watery and sad, which I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by. Della was on the way to the dinner area near the Pantheon, and crowded with twittering teenage schoolgirls.
Flavours were varied and interesting, I counted about 140, and there was a soy-only selection as well. They had a near-black coloured nutella (my all time favourite) and two other variations of nutella. Other noteworthy flavours I recognized (all in italian) were profiterole, chocolate with peppers, kitkat with yougurt, mars and bounty (like the candy bars), millefoglie (looked like a millefueille?!), zuppa inglese (english trifle! like the dessert the other night!), creme caramel. The sorbet selection was extensive too, including persimmon, grapefruit, lemon.
It was hard to choose only two flavours, and in the end, I ended up with a piccolo Biscotti and Nutella with variation. Delish! must come back tomorrow!
Dinner at Vini e Buffet
Pizza della Toretta, 60 00186 Roma
Tel 06 687 1445
Pumpkin pate with toast
Anchovies and butter with toast
Rice salad with cherry tomatoes, shrimp, basil, zucchini
Couscous with chicken (with chickpeas, carrots, spicey chopped tomatoes, parsley)
Dinner was at another place we chanced across - the menu wasn’t the expected pasta primis and main course secondis - and offered tasting items, an extensive salad selection, along with hot items like pasta and couscous, crostini, pates. It remain firmly closed at 7pm although the sign said 7pm at the door. We looped around and returned at 730pm, and were waved in by another Italian elderly gentleman, who said he was just opening but please come in from the cold.
People started congregating in the bar area near the kitchen - staff? family, friends? they didn’t seem like dinnering guests, and it was all very convivial.
We enjoyed taking a break from pasta and the meat filled main courses, and the couscous was especially delicious with a touch of spice. Anchovies and butter were an interesting combination, although J would have preferred more items to be hot (the toast was hot but cooled rapidly in the cold, and the couscous was hot).
Overall, a reasonably successful eating day!
J persuaded me into two pasta dishes - spaghetti vongole and penne amatriciana (tomato sauce with sprinked parmesan and bacon bits), and a mozzarella and saucissa (sausage) pizza instead. The vongole was slightly undersalted but still tasty, and it fulfilled my craving of huge forkfuls of spaghetti. The amatriciana was good but could have done with more bacon - perhaps they were running out of supplies for christmas eve?! the pizza didn’t come with a tomato sauce base as expected, just a generous bed of mozzarella and sausage chunks. When we arrived, the restaurant only had a couple of tables occupied, but by the time our food arrived, it was overflowing with people - tourists or people not eating at home I suppose.
