Roma restaurants

Agata e Romeo

Via Carlo Alberto 45. Phone: 733 298 & 446 5842. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.140000 ($88) for two. All major cards. (E3).

Classy restaurant 200 meters from the Santa Maria Maggiore church, near the main railway station. Agata Paricella is in charge of the kitchen and Romeo Caraccia directs casually in the dining rooms, hands in pockets (his own).

The restaurant is small and refined with good and dignified service. The guests sit in wicket chairs at well spaced tables in nooks between arches under vaults. A good wine list. Specialises in Roman cooking, such as innards.

- Zuppa di scarola e borlotti = salad and bean soup.

- Rigatoni alla pagliata = pasta tubes with tomato sauce, parmesan and kidneys.

- Merluzzo con zabaione = poached cod in red wine sauce.

- Agnello di Abruzzo = rack of lamb with potatoes and mushrooms.

- Mousse de ricotta con salsa di canelle = cheese soufflé with cinnamon.

Innards:

- Animelle = sweetbreads.

- Cervella = brains.

- Coratella = lamb lungs.

- Fegato = liver.

- Pagliata = kidneys.

- Rognoni = kidneys.

- Trippa = tripe.

Ai Tre Scalini

Via di Santissimi Quattro 30. Phone: 70 96 309 & 70 02 835. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.160000 ($101) for two. All major cards. (D4).

Small and distinguished top-class restaurant, 200 meters from Colosseum. It combines traditional cooking with innovations. The owner-chef is a construction engineer, Rosanna Dupré, designing a new menu each day.

Unassuming on the outside, comfortable on the inside, with a big cupboard for glassware, somber paintings, parquet floors and an old chandelier. Ms. Dupré experiments with marinated fish, such as Spigola al sale.

- Spigola al sale = lightly salted, raw, delicate slices of sea bass.

- Ravioli al radiccho = radishes in pasta envelopes.

- Filetto di manzo en crusta = spiced veal with broccoli in crust.

- Piccioni farciti = stuffed duck.

- Spume de melone = melon cake with marzipan cream.

Alberto Ciarla

Piazza di San Cosimato 40. Phone: 58 18 668 & 68 84 377. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.250000 ($158) for two. All major cards. (B4).

One of the main gourmet paradises in the city, heavily decorated in an eclectic style, at the Piazza San Cosimato in the upwards mobile district of Trastevere on the left bank of the river Tevere. It carries the name of the chef-owner.

The room is high and dark, in blue shades. Mirrors at both ends make the place unreal and a few aquariums make it lika a luxury submarine. Reality is closer in framed currency bills and certificates on the walls. Three-armed candle-stands decorate each table. It specialises in gastronomic menus, such as an Etruscan menu.

- Insalata di gamberi = lemon marinated shrimp with mushrooms.

- Bomolotti allo sparacreddo = giant pasta tubes with a strong broccoli & seafood sauce.

- Zuppa di pasta e fagioli ai frutti di mare = pasta soup with shellfish and red beans.

- Filetto di pesce alle erbe = sea trout with herbs.

- Frutti di sottobosco = blueberries with ice cream.

Andrea

Via Sardegna 28. Phone: 48 21 891 & 47 40 557. Hours: Closed Sunday & lunch Monday. Price: L.180000 ($114) for two. All major cards. (D2).

One of the top culinary addresses in Rome, in the splendid Ludovisi district of established wealth, just 100 meters from the Borghese gardens and just off the Via Veneto.

A Spartan place with greenish walls, pictures of carriages, big mirrors, marble floor, bamboo chairs and big chandeliers. Offers excellent cheeses.

- Tagliolini con porcini = pasta ribbons with boletus mushrooms.

- Linguine al nero di seppie = pasta threads with black octopus sauce.

- Rombo griglia = grilled brill.

- Scampi alla griglia = grilled prawns.

- Formaggi = cheese from the trolley.

- Fragoline di bosco con panna liquida = wild strawberries with cream.

Italian cheese:

- Bel paese = mild and soft cheese.

- Gorgonzola = rather soft and strong blue cheese.

- Grana = very hard cooking cheese.

- Mozzarella = rubbery young cheese.

- Parmiggiano = parmesan cheese, a type of grana.

- Pecorino = hard and strong Roman ewe cheese.

- Provolone = strong cheese.

- Ricotta = fresh ewe cheese.

- Taleggio = mild & creamy cheese.

Buco

Via SantIgnazio 8. Phone: 679 3298. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.90000 ($57) for two. All major cards. (C3).

Near the Pantheon. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Campana

Vicolo della Campana 18. Phone: 686 7820 & 687 5273. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.95000 ($60) for two. All major cards. (C2).

An inexpensive restaurant in the old center, 400 meters from the north end of Piazza Navona, with refreshingly well made Roman everyday food.

This is a simple and neutral place , bright and clean, with close tables and attentive waiters in perfect Italian style.

- Penne con carciofi = big pasta tubes with artichokes.

- Pappardelle in salsa lepre = broad pasta reams with hare sauce.

- Involtini di manzo con puré = skewered veal slices with mashed potatoes.

- Filetto di tacchino = turkey with mushrooms and two types of cream sauce.

- Fragole di bosco con panna = wild strawberries with cream.

Roman cuisine:

- Abbacchio = baby lamb.

- Alla romana = (usually) with tomato and sometimes red wine.

- Asparagus.

- Mint.

- Pecorino cheese.

- Ricotta cheese.

- Stracciatella = egg and cheese soup.

- Trippa = veal tripe.

Camponeschi

Piazza Farnese 50. Phone: 687 4927. Fax: 686 5244. Hours: Closed lunch & Sunday. Price: L.175000 ($110) for two. All major cards. (B3).

Directly in front of Palazzo Farnese. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Cannavota

Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano 20. Phone: 775 007. Hours: Closed Wednesday. Price: L.65000 ($41) for two. All major cards. (E4).

A good restaurant with low prices, beautifully designed, on the square in front of the cathedral San Giovanni in Laterano. It is the best known seafood restaurant in Rome, offering traditional cooking.

The interior resembles a mountain hotel. Massive wooden columns and beams and panels, high chairs, lots of paintings and pictures.

- Fritto misto di mare = deep fried seafood with lemon.

- Linguine alla reviglio = spaghetti with tomato shrimp sauce.

- Risotto alla Cannavota = rice with tomato, cream and lobster.

- Filetto di tacchino = turkey breast under a roof of mushrooms and cheese.

- Scaloppe alla verbena = veal slices under a roof of mushrooms and cheese.

- Insalata mista = mixed salad.

- Macedonia di frutta = marinated mixed fruit.

Roman seafood:

- Antipasto di mare = cold seafood platter.

- Fritto misto di mare = deep fried seafood with lemon.

- Insalata di mare = seafood salad.

- Risotto di frutti di mare = fried rice with seafood.

- Zuppa di pesce alla romana = shellfish soup.

Cesare

Via Crescenzio 13. Phone: 686 1227 & 686 1912. Hours: Closed Sunday evening and Monday. Price: L.110000 ($69) for two. All major cards. (B2).

Behind the Palace of Justice and the Mausoleum of Hadrian, a very Roman restaurant, convenient for visitors to St Peters and the Vatican museums.

A long row of a few rooms connected with arches and exaggerated in length by a mirror at the end. Wooden panelling and bright walls. A noisy and a happy place frequented by regulars.

- Breasola = dry salt meat with grana cheese with oil and lemon, similar to prosciutto.

- Penne alarrabiata = short pasta tubes with tomato, lobster and pepper sauce.

- Saltimbocca alla romana = thin veal and ham slices, fried in butter and then cooked in Marsala wine.

- Fragolini con panna = wild strawberries with cream.

Cesarina

Via Piemonte 109. Phone: 488 0828 & 460 828. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.140000 ($88) for two. All major cards. (D1).

Big and popular in country style with Bologna cuisine, in the refined Ludovisi district to the west of Via Veneto, 200 meters from the Borghese gardens and 500 meters from Via Veneto.

Brick arches divide the restaurant in sections. Lots of paintings decorate the walls. Clients talk business loudly, Italian style.

- Mortadella = unsalted pork sausages Bologna style, cooked in white wine.

- Carpaccio = thin slices of raw beef with oil, lemon and parmesan cheese.

- Tagliatelle bolognese = egg pasta with Bologna sauce, made of ground beef and pork, mushrooms, tomato, vegetables, spices and garlic.

- Filetto di bue Toscana = steak with lemon.

- Semifreddo Cesarina = ice cream with pudding and chocolate sauce.

Checchino dal 1887

Via Monte Testaccio 30. Phone: 574 6318. Fax: 574 3816. Hours: Closed Sunday dinner & Monday. Price: L.155000 ($98) for two. All major cards. (C5).

One of the few real gourmet restaurants in Rome, between the Tevere river and Stazione Ostia. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Convivio

Via dellOrso 44. Phone: 686 9432. Fax: 686 9432. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.160000 ($101) for two. All major cards. (C2).

Between Piazza Navona and the Tevere river. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Costanza

Piazza del Paradiso 65. Phone: 686 1717 & 654 1002. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.100000 ($63) for two. All major cards. (C3).

Steak and seafood restaurant with traditional, solid Italian cooking in an alley just 100 meters from the Campo deFiori square in the old city center.

Unassuming as it is on the outside it is as exciting on the inside. The main room is a romantic cave with vaulted ceiling and antiques in niches, such as amphorae and column stumps. Illumination is indirect and stylish. On the side there is a panelled room with a fireplace.

- Crepes funghi e tartufi = very hot pancakes with mushrooms and the expensive white truffles grown in Northern Italy.

- Entrecote griglia = grilled beef.

- Asparagi = fresh asparagus in oil.

- Tiramisu = Venetian chocolate pudding with coffee chocolate.

Tartufi: The Italian type of tuber, the underground mushrooms dug up with the help of trained dogs and pigs. This type is white and almost as expensive as the French black ones. They have a pungent aroma and are always used uncooked, usually in small amounts with some other food. Tartufi is one of the things essentially Italian.

Crisciotti

Via del Boschetto 30. Phone: 474 4770. Hours: Closed Saturday. Price: L.100000 ($63) for two. No cards. (D3).

Typical, busy and devoid of tourists, in a side street 100 meters from Via Nazionale and 600 meters from Fori Imperiali. The food is simple, typical Roman fare, based on vegetable soups, mixed salads and fresh fruits of the season.

Local regulars sit in three small rooms under rustic decorations, where brown paintings hang on red-painted walls above heavy stone masonry. Fish are on view in a big refrigerator of glass.

- Zuppa did verdura = a filling soup of colorful vegetables.

- Agnello = lamb straight, with nothing on the side.

- Insalata mista = mixed salad.

- Frutta de stagione = fresh fruits of the season.

Galeassi

Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere 3. Phone: 580 3775 & 580 9898. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.95000 ($60) for two. All major cards. (B4).

On the main square in the fashionable Trastevere district, not as expensive as neighbouring Sabatini, but also specialising in seafood.

This is a clean and cosy place with dark panelling and dark wooden ceiling, but otherwise bright. The smaller streetside room is the better one.

- Fettucini con funghi porcini = Broad pasta reams with boletus mushrooms.

- Risotto creme di scampi = rice with scampi chunks.

- Mazzancolle al forno = king prawns oven-fried in the shell.

- Saltimbocca alla romana con funghi = veal and ham slices with sage and mushrooms.

- Ananas = fresh pineapple.

- Macedonia di frutta = fresh fruit salad.

Shrimp: There are several Italian types of shrimp:

- Gamberi.

- Scampi.

- Gamberoni (big).

- Mazzancolle (very big).

Galeone

Piazza San Cosimato 27. Phone: 580 9009. Hours: Closed Wednesday. Price: L.160000 ($101) for two. All major cards. (B4).

Interestingly decorated seafood restaurant on the San Cosimato market square in the Trastevere district, which is the part of the city center on the other side of Tevere river.

It has a high wicket ceiling. The guests sit in carved chairs on a stone floor under leaded window panes and wooden columns and beams.

- Linguine alle vongole = pasta threads with small shells.

- Tagliolini allaragosta = pasta reams with crab chunks and tomato sauce.

- Spigola alla griglia = freshly grilled sea bass with lemon.

- Misto di frutti di bosco = fresh wild berries, including wild strawberries.

Italian fish:

- Bonito = tuna.

- Merlano = whiting.

- Merluzzo = cod.

- Rombo = turbot and brill.

- Rospo = monkfish.

- Sogliola = sole.

- Spada = swordfish.

- Spigola = sea bass.

Giarrosto Toscano

Via Campania 29. Phone: 482 1899 & 482 3835. Hours: Closed Wednesday. Price: L.140000 ($88) for two. All major cards. (D2).

An agreeable place beautifully designed in a basement opposite the Borghese gardens, about 100 meters from the upper end of Via Veneto. It offers Tuscany cooking from the Florence area.

Arches and vaults divide the restaurant into several parts. The walls are brightly panelled all the way up to the arches. Where panel and arches meet there are rows of bottles. mainly with Tuscany wine such as Chianti.

- Grandantipasto = a collection of starters, including devilled egg with potato chunks, filled pumpkins and artichokes, meat dumplings with tomato sauce, white ricotta cheese dumplings, sausages and ham, raw prosciutto ham, smoked salmon and melon.

- Bistecca alla Fiorentina = coal grilled and salted beefsteak with spinach.

- Frutta con gelato = fresh fruit with ice cream.

Ricotta: Soft, unsalted cheese, reminiscent of Greek feta cheese, eaten fresh. Usually it is put into pasta envelopes or used in sweet bakery, but here it is served in wet and soft dumplings.

Girone VI

Vicolo Sinibaldi 2. Phone: 6880 22831. Hours: Closed lunch & Sunday. Price: L.135000 ($85) for two. All major cards. (C3).

A few steps from Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Mario

Via delle Vite 55. Phone: 678 3818. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.80000 ($51) for two. All major cards. (C2).

Very lively and rather inexpensive place with Tuscany cooking in the district of fashion shops beneath the Spanish Steps, about 400 meters from the steps and 200 meters from the traffic artery of Corso.

The decorations are simple. Small paintings and photos are tightly hung on the walls above the panelling. Most of the photos show Mario with thick brows in the company of famous and beautiful people. The restaurant is divided by arcades into three rooms with tightly set tables. Chianti in 1,5 liter bottles are put on the tables and drunk out of water glasses. The waiters are very busy and effective.

- Risotto con funghi = rice with mushrooms.

- Ribollita = vegetable soup.

- Ravioli verde = small pasta envelopes with spinach, cheese, egg and parmesan cheese.

- Due quaglie arrosto = two soft quails.

- Castagnaccio = hot and soft chestnut cake with whole nuts.

Tuscany cuisine: Generally considered the top of Italian cooking. The Queens of France were often brought from Florence, bringing with them their chefs, starting what is now called classical French cuisine. The best pasta in Italy comes from Tuscany: ravioli and gnochi. And Tuscany is one of the best wine regions in Italy.

Montevecchio

Piazza Montevecchio 22a. Phone: 686 1319. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.130000 ($82) for two. All major cards. (B3).

Tiny gourmet temple of 28 seats on a tine square in the densest and most inaccesible part of the old city, 100 meters to the west from the north end of Piazza Navona. Its speciality is game.

Earlier it was known as the restaurant Pino et Dino. Master chef Antonio Civello has changed it into a gourmet temple of the French type. The front door is locked and reservations are obligatory. The ceiling is high, the wine rack cupboard is huge, the single wall painting is huge and the wrought iron chandelier is huge.

- Strudel di funghi = Mushroom dumpling.

- Crepes al gorgonzola e noci = pancakes filled with gorgonzola cheese and almonds.

- Anitra alle noci = duck with almonds.

- Capretto dAbruzzo al forno = oven-baked venison.

- Tiramisu = Venetian chocolate pudding with coffee chocolate.

- Creme brulée = caramel crusty pudding.

Italian game:

- Allodole = lark.

- Beccaccia = woodcock.

- Capretto = kid.

- Capriolo = roebuck.

- Cervo = venison.

- Chinghiale = wild boar.

- Lepre = hare.

- Quaglie = quail.

- Starna = partridge.

- Uccelletti = small birds, such as sparrows.

Moro

Vicolo delle Bollette 13. Phone: 68 40 736 & 67 83 495. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.120000 ($76) for two. All major cards. (C3).

Hidden in a side street about 100 meters from the Trevi fountain and other 100 meters from the main traffic artery Corso, you find this essential Roman restaurant offering true Roman food. It is mainly patronised by elderly local people even if travelers are also welcomed.

The furnishings are old-fashioned but not antique. Wooden panels cover the lower walls and above them there are discordant paintings. There are two dining rooms, the front one is better. Specialises in everything alla Romana = in the Roman way, which in fact can mean anything; and in antipasti assortiti = small and sundry appetisers.

- Spaghetti alle vongole = spaghetti with small shellfish in the shell.

- Ricotta = soft cheese.

- Abbacchio alla romana = a slice of lamb leg with pan-fried potatoes.

- Vitello cacciatora = veal with mushrooms and tomatoes.

- Insalata mista = mixed salad with oil and vinegar.

- Fragoline di bosco = wild strawberries.

Alla Romana:

- Abbachio alla romana = lamb cooked in egg, lemon and white wine sauce.

- Gnochi alla romana = mashed potato dumplings with tomato sauce and cheese.

- Pizza alla romana = pizza with mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and basil.

- Piselli alla romana = beans fried with onion, ham and butter.

- Pollo alla romana = chicken pieces fried in oil and butter with onion, ham, pepper and tomato.

- Saltimbocca alla romana = thin veal covered in ham.

- Trippa alla romana = tripe in tomato mint sauce, accompanied with pecorino-cheese.

- Zuppa alla romana = shellfish soup.

Nerone

Via delle Terme di Tito 96. Phone: 474 5207. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.65000 ($41) for two. All major cards. (D4).

Unpretentious and inexpensive, very Roman, about 200 meters north of the Colosseum. Its speciality is beef and French fried, so it is frequented by many foreign visitors. Many Italian places have inferior steaks for tourists, so seek out places which are used by local regulars, like this one.

This is a lively place with happy locals mixed with curious travelers, sitting in two rooms on comfortable wood chairs under vaulted ceilings and high panels, big and small paintings. The kitchen is in plain view.

- Anitpasto misti = a cold buffet of 34 items.

- Antipasto di mare = a choice of seafood from the cold buffet.

- Filetto de bue ai feri con patate fritta = thin and wide beef steak from the pan, with French fried.

- Gelati misti = three types of ice cream.

- Frutta di stagione = fresh fruit of the season.

Orso 80

Via dellOrso 33. Phone: 686 4904 & 686 1710. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.95000 ($60) for two. All major cards. (C2).

Strangely resembling a skiing hut in the old city center, 300 meters from Piazza Navona. An inexpensive restaurant with cuisine from Abruzzi, the mountainous region east of Rome.

An arch divides the restaurant in two parts. The front room is panelled with light pine in Nordic skiing style with inlaid cupboards of wrought iron. Many kinds of incidental paintings decorate the walls.

- Zuppa pavese = egg, bread and cheese soup.

- Risotto alla pescadora = rice with tomato and squid.

- Spaghetti alle vongole = spaghetti with shellfish in the shell.

- Filetto di bue alla griglia = grilled beef filet.

- Polla toscana arrosto = oven baked chicken.

- Frutta mista = mixed fruit.

- Creme caramel = caramel pudding.

Italian soups:

- Brodo = clear soups.

- Minestrone = clear soups with pasta.

- Minestre = thick soups with rice or pasta.

- Egg soups such as zuppa pavese and stracciatella.

Pancrazio

Piazza del Biscione 92. Phone: 686 1246. Fax: 686 1246. Hours: Closed Wednesday. Price: L.120000 ($76) for two. All major cards. (C3).

Build from the ruins of Teatro di Pompeo, a few steps from Campo deFiori. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Papà Giovanni

Via dei Sediari 4. Phone: 868 5308. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.165000 ($104) for two. All major cards. (C3).

Old family friend, amusingly tastelessly decorated restaurant with a locked front door, excellent cuisine and an ever-changing menu. It is 150 meters south of the Senate in Palazzo Madama and 50 meters north of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.

It is divided into long corridors with sofas and low tables on one side and bottle racks on the other. Naked bulbs hang from the old ceiling of carved wood. The walls show the varied brickwork. The wine bottles have not been dusted for decades.

- Misticanza con neretti = sea-urchin salad.

- Farfalla di spigola = marinated sea bass.

- Tagliolini alla cardinale = pasta reams with mushrooms.

- Vermicella pomodoro verde = green spaghetti with cheese.

- Portafoglio con funghi = broccoli and Brussels sprouts enclosed in veal slices.

- Granatina di filetto = veal dumplings with small tomatoes on salad.

- Creme brulée allo zenzero = crispy caramel pudding.

- Pastiera di castagne = chestnut paté with whipped cream.

Paris

Piazza San Callisto 7a. Phone: 581 5378. Hours: Closed Sunday dinner & Monday. Price: L.130000 ($82) for two. All major cards. (B4).

A few steps from Santa Maria in Trastevere. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Passetto

Via Zanardelli 14. Phone: 654 0569. Hours: Closed Monday lunch and Sunday. Price: L.140000 ($88) for two. All major cards. (B2).

A solid piece of the old block. Real Italian waiters of the old school serve food from plates as in the days before World War II. It is in the old city, 100 meters from Piazza Navona.

A long front room with a high ceiling, big mirrors on one wall and strange paintings on the other. Cork floor and panelling. A more conventional back room.

- Pasta e fagioli ai frutti di mare = pancake with chopped fish, baked with cheese and tomato sauce.

- Zuppa di cozze = mussel soup with the shells.

- Filetto al pepe verde = pepper steak with asparagus.

- Creme brulée = caramel pudding.

Zuppa di cozze: Oil, onion and tomatoes are heated in a pan, water is added and finally the mussels are added, opening on the way to the table.

Pianeta Terra

Via dellArco del Monte 95. Phone: 686 9893. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.300000 ($189) for two. All major cards. (B3).

One of the main cuisine temples in Rome, behind locked doors which are difficult to find in a pedestrian alley 200 meters away from the Campo deFiori square. The name means: The Planet Earth. Roberto Minetti cooks and Patrizia Minetti directs the service.

There is a bar and a sitting room downstairs. A dark dining room is upstairs, with different dark shades in the panelling. The ceiling is vaulted. There are special menus, taste menu, seafood menu, Roman menu and a conventional menu. The meal starts with four different breads.

- Criole al oeli di pomodoro e basilico = eel in basil and tomato sauce.

- Paté de foie gras in salsa di Recioto = goose liver in white wine sauce with redcurrant berries, wild strawberries and raspberries.

- Zuppe di lenticchie con gamberi = lentil soup with big prawns.

- Vermicelli alle mezzancolle = pasta with big giant prawn chunks in strong tomat sauce.

- Risotto au zuchine e zafferano = fried rice with zucchini, saffron and grana cheese.

- Pesce con cicoriette fritte = turbot with chicory.

- Insalate di carne = marinated beef slices with apple slices.

- Dolche di Patrizie e Roberto = fine desserts of the house.

Piccola Roma

Via Uffici del Vicario 36. Phone: 679 8606. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.80000 ($51) for two. All major cards. (C2).

Always busy, full of parliamentarians and pressure specialists, journalists and bureaucrats in a hurry, with their overcoats ready on the big pegs at the tables. Near the parliament, 200 meters from Corso.

As many exemplary restaurants in Rome this one tries not to be obvious on the outside. When inside it is rather big, in a few rooms on the first floor. The walls have brick up to the middle. Above that there are strange and accidental paintings and posters. A wine shelf goes through the restaurant.

- Prosciutto di San Daniele = lots of smoked ham, thinly sliced like Parma ham, only better, served with figs.

- Risotto pescatore = rice with squid and mussels.

- Abbachio forno = lamb, well done, with grilled potatoes.

- Gelato, three types of ice cream, with chocolate mint, vanilla and mocha.

Prosciutto is typically Italian. The best internationally known smoked ham comes from Parma. In Italy the one from San Danieli is considered at least equal to the one from Parma. The ham is always cut in very thin slices. Out of Italy it is usually accompanied with melon, but Italians like figs better.

Piperno

Via Monte deCensi 9. Phone: 654 0629 & 654 2772. Hours: Closed Sunday dinner & Monday. Price: L.110000 ($69) for two. All major cards. (C3).

In a shady alley in the Jewish ghetto, beautiful and comfortable, with very good food, just under the walls of the Censi palace, about 50 meters from the Tevere river bank.

This is a big dining room with a circular buffet in the middle. There is wood everywhere, in the floor, in the panelling and in the ceiling. The furniture is of good quality. Enormous paintings of ancient ruins decorate the walls. There is also a simpler back room.

- Carciofi alla giudia = artichokes fried in oil in Jewish style.

- Filetti di baccalà = deep fried salt-cod.

- Le palle de nonno fritte = deep fried ricotta cheese with chocolate in butter pastry.

Carciofi alla giudia: The artichokes are opened and flattened, cut in pieces and deep fried in an oil mixture of secret ingredients. After cooking they are golden and look like flowers. This is a speciality of the Jewish ghetto.

Preistorici

Vicollo Orbitelli 13. Phone: 689 2796. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.120000 ($76) for two. No cards. (B3).

In the west end of the renaissance center of the city, in a pedestrian alley leading off Via Giulia near its northern end. A cosy restaurant with a locked door and a small doorbell sign and no other identification. It is run by one of the most adventurous chefs of the city, Luigi Frizziero.

The restaurant is in a few small rooms with vaulted ceilings. It is heavily panelled and decorated with big paintings. There is no menu.

- Prosciutto = thin slices of raw veal.

- Risotto di mare = rice with giant prawns.

- Filetto al pepe = pepper steak.

- Filetto griglia = grilled steak.

- Creme brulée = caramel pudding.

- Fragole = strawberries.

Risotto: A rice dish from the Po valley, generally connected with Milan and Venice. The rice is first fried in oil or butter, often with onions, and then cooked in a small amount of liquid, wine or the juice of the food, which then is mixed into the rice when it is served. Often butter and grana cheese are added.

Quinci Gabrieli

Via della Coppelle 6. Phone: 687 9389. Fax: 687 4940. Hours: Closed lunch & Sunday. Price: L.200000 ($126) for two. All major cards. (C3).

About 100 meters from the Pantheon. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Romolo nel Giardino

Via di Porta Settimiana 8. Phone: 581 8284. Fax: 580 0079. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.100000 ($63) for two. All major cards. (B3).

Enchanting garden restaurant in Trastevere, near the river. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Rosetta

Via della Rosetta 8-9. Phone: 686 1002 & 654 8841. Hours: Closed Saturday & Sunday. Price: L.180000 ($114) for two. All major cards. (C3).

The best seafood restaurant in Rome and one of its gourmet temples, in the old city, 100 meters north of Pantheon. You have to sound the bell to get in. From humble beginnings this Sicilian restaurant of the brothers Riccioli has gradually evolved into the refined place it is today. When we discovered it a decade ago it was much more basic than it is now.

The furnishings are elegant, with a big buffet overflowing with flowers, fruit and wine bottles. On the inner wall of the room there is a fish artwork in mosaic. The only discordant note is the piped music, which is happily absent in most Roman restaurants.

- Cappesante ai carciofi = scallops with artichokes.

- Spigola macinata al arancia = marinated sea bass in orange and lemon juice.

- Scampi insalata = prawn salad with grana cheese.

- Rombo griglia = grilled brill.

- Polipa griglia = grilled octopus.

- Macedonia di frutta = mixed fresh fruit.

- Sorbetto = lemon sorbet.

Shellfish:

- Arselle and vongole = small shells.

- Cappe and cappesante = scallops.

- Cozze and muscoli = mussels.

Sabatini

Vicolo Santa Maria in Trastevere. Phone: 581 8307. Hours: Closed Tuesday. Price: L.130000 ($82) for two. All major cards. (B4).

A popular place with travellers, but good in spite of that. In a pedestrian alley leading off Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, about 10 meters from the square. The district is a former slum that is changing into a fashionable one. There is a sister establishment with the same name on the square itself, equally good. Both have atmosphere and good seafood cuisine.

The center of the restaurant is the grill oven and buffet which we pass when we are shown to our tables in one of the side rooms. In the middle there is a traffic congestion of hurrying waiters and cooks. The side rooms are more quiet, with old, painted ceilings with wooden beams. This restaurant has been used as a location in a Fellini movie.

- Trippa alla romana = pan-fried tripe in tomato sauce with mint and pecorino cheese.

- Crespolini = pancakes with spinach, cheese, egg and liver.

- Costata di bue = steak.

- Tiramisú = chocolate dessert.

- Trippa: Can be soft and tasty when it is correctly cooked. It is a national dish all the way from Rome to Florence.

- Pecorino: A hard ewe cheese reminiscent of grana or parmesan.

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Sans Souchi-

Via Sicilia 20/24. Phone: 482 1814. Fax: 482b 1771. Hours: Closed lunch & Monday. Price: L.220000 ($139) for two. All major cards. (D2).

A quality restaurant a few steps from Via Veneto. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Taverna

Via Massimo dAzeglio 3f. Phone: 474 4305. Hours: Closed Saturday. Price: L.90000 ($57) for two.,. All major cards. (E3).

Comfortable and unassuming, with quick and solid service in a cellar, about 100 meters from the square in front of the central railway terminal. It offers solid cooking in the Roman style.

There are two rooms, with high panels alternating with light walls and coat-hangers. Above the panelling there are rows of wine bottles.

- Prosciutto di Parma = raw ham with melon.

- Filetto di bue con carciofi = beef filet with artichokes.

- Torta al ciocolato = chocolate tart.

Taverna Giulia

Vicolo dellOro. Phone: 686 9768 & 656 4089. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.95000 ($60) for two. All major cards. (B3).

A cosy place with Ligurian cuisine at the west end of the old city center, near the bridges to the Vatican and St Peters.

Several small rooms and low panelling beneath rustic walls. Wrought iron rails are in arches between the rooms. Guests sit in comfortable wicket chairs.

- Trenette al pesto = flat pasta with Ligurian sauce.

- Lasagnette ai funghi porcini = small pasta plates with boletus mushrooms.

- Ravioli genovese = pasta envelopes with lamb and calf innards.

- Tagliatelle al gorgonzola = pasta strings with blue cheese.

- Vitello straccotto alla Genovese = broad and thin veal slices cooked in white wine with onion sauce.

- Faraoni di Giomnes allarancio = guinea hen with a thin orange sauce and pan fried celery.

- Pacciugo = fresh fruit and berries with sorbet.

Pesto: A famous, strong sauce from Liguria, generally greenish, made of basil, nuts, garlic and lots of grana cheese. Liguria is the name of the coastal area around Genua.

Toulà

Via della Lupa 29b. Phone: 687 3498 & 687 3750. Hours: Closed Sunday & lunch Saturday. Price: L.190000 ($120) for two. All major cards. (C2).

In the old center, about 300 meters from the corner of Corso and Via Condotti, the refined and glamorous restaurant of international business gives good service to busy clients talking into pocket phones. In spite of that it is one of the best restaurants in the city, mainly because of chef Danaiele Repette, who cooks in Venetian style.

The place looks airy and spacious. From the entrance there are some steps down to the restaurant level, which is divided by arches into several sections with well-spaced tables. Waiters abound. At the end of the meal all guests get candy drops and a very hard frigolotta bisquit which has to be smothered with an hammer.

- Carpaccio divitello con pate di olive mere e pinoli = thin slices of raw veal with olive paté, grana cheese, lemon juice and oil.

- Medaglioni dastice con insalata novelle e punte dasparagi = freshwater crab salad with asparagus tips.

- Ventaglio di petto danitra alle nerue aroccasti = duck breast.

- Cotelette dicapriolo a la ginepro con polenta = venison cutlets in ginger with mashed corn.

- Budino di nocciole con mousse di cioccolato = nut putting coated with chocolate.

Vecchia Roma

Piazza di Campitelli 18, Via della Tribuna. Phone: 686 4604. Hours: Closed Wednesday. Price: L.130000 ($82) for two. All major cards. (C3).

Corn is the speciality of this well-known restaurant in the middle of the Jewish ghetto, 300 meters from the steps up to Capitolum. There are many places with this name, but this is the real one.

The restaurant is in several small rooms with bright wooden panelling, big paintings from the history of Rome, iron bars in the windows and table candlesticks of wrought iron.

- Calamaretti affogati alluvetta = a few whole octopuses fried in oil, with tomato.

- Polenta ghiottona = corn porridge looking like mashed potatoes, corny and salty, made in the Jewish way.

- Polenta boscaiola = corn porridge with boletus mushrooms.

Polenta: Corn porridge made by boiling maize in water until it becomes thick and chunky. Then it is cooled and cut in slices which are usually fried, baked or grilled. The porridge form in Vecchia Roma is rather unusual.

Teatro dellOpera

Via Firenze 62. (D3).

The venue of great popular operas. In summer it operates in the Baths of Caracalla.

1996

© Jónas Kristjánsson