Eating in Rome
By Franz Scheurer and Roberta Muir
We arrived in Rome on Christmas Eve. As we arrived at our hotel, The Inn at The Spanish Steps, gospel
singers were setting up under the giant blue Christmas tree half way up the
steps - welcome to Christmas in Rome!
The Inn at the Spanish Steps is on Via dei Condotti, Rome’s most fashionable shopping street, just a
few doors from Piazza di Spagna,
one of Rome’s most beautiful squares.
We never tired of the view from our penthouse perch overlooking the
scene at the Piazza di Spagna
- it changed with every hour of the day and looked so different wet and dry at
sunrise and sunset. If you have to or
want to stay in Rome, then the Inn at the Spanish Steps is a terrific hotel
with courteous, helpful staff, superb facility and it’s affordable. We highly
recommend it.
The Inn at the Spanish Steps
Via Condotti 85
00187 Rome
Tel.: +39 (0)6 69925657
http://www.atspanishsteps.com/
On Christmas Eve, our concierge, Franco, sent us to Gaetano
Costa, the eponymous, recently-opened first restaurant of an up-and-coming
chef.
GAETANO COSTA
It’s bright, almost minimalist, with lots of glass, steel, bold splashes
of colour and a glassed-in pastry kitchen where Gaetano assembles desserts and finishes dishes. Service is
smart and helpful and we settled in with a Val d’Aosta Blanc de Morgex and a Basilicatan Aglianico de Manfredi from the
extensive all-Italian wine list. Roberta loved the crisped artichokes with bread
stuffing, pecorino crostata and fonduta
sauce and Franz adored his just-seared foie gras (fresh, of course). His chicken and prawn with wilted
spinach was the dish of the night, while Roberta found the saffron-tinted paccheri (large rigatoni) stuffed with razor clams, pretty,
but a little too firm (though no doubt ‘correct’). Desserts, chef’s specialty,
were excellent; thin, caramelised apple slices on
great puff with excellent vanilla ice cream and a refreshing, intense mandarin
foam sorbet. Euro 190.
Gaetano Costa might not feature in the Michelin guide as yet but I have no
doubt it will. This is a fabulous place!
Score: 8.5/10
Gaetano Costa
Via Sicilia 45
00187 Rome
Tel.: +39 (0)6 42016822
http://www.gaetanocostarestaurant.com
ANTICA PESA
Christmas dinner at Antica Pesa
in the bohemian Trastevere district was fun with warm
service. A warren of rooms that in the 1600s was a Vatican customs house and
simple osteria, the walls of the main dome-shaped
room are now covered with bright murals, the lights are suspended from twisted
copper grape vines and the ancient cellar is extensive.
This was the set menu:
Deep-fried Jewish-style artichokes
Hamburger of San Biagio salsiccia
with primo sale
Spaghetti cacio e pepe
Cappelletti of braised beef in capon brodo
Roasted lamb shank with herbs and potatoes
Pistachio & caramel semifreddo
Panettone & coffee
The food was excellent and the service swift without giving you the
feeling they were trying to rush you. Roberta again adored the deep-fried
artichokes and I thought the cappelletti was the best
dish; beautiful pasta, lovely filling and a superb broth. A bottle of 1998 Est Est Est
dei Gelsi from Umbria worked
a treat will all the dishes and didn’t turn metallic with the artichokes
either.
Score: 7/10
Antica Pesa
Via Garribaldi 18
00153 Rome
Tel.: +39 (0)6 5809236
OSTERIA LA GENSOLA
But our favourite find in Rome was Osteria La Gensola, a simple
family-run osteria on the cobbled Piazza della Gensola in Trastavere. Franco sent us here on our 3rd night and we
weren’t convinced at first by the seafood-heavy menu or the waiter who seemed to
want to tell us what to eat and drink. But as it filled with locals, who all
seemed to know each other and the staff, we felt at home and loved it so much
we went back on our last night.
The menu is a mix of Sicilian and Roman cuisine, as the restaurant was
Sicilian when the current owners bought it; the seafood arrives daily, mostly
from the south coast, they have a weekly market menu and the pastries,
including an authentic cassata (which was too sweet and cakey for us) come from
Sicily twice a week.
On the first night, Roberta overdosed on her favourite
deep-fried artichokes (they were huge) and she also decided she just didn’t
like carbonara. Franz was in his element with a
rigatoni of oxtail and a tripe dish - both very Roman - and finished with an
excellent piece of simple pan-fried John Dory. We drank a delicious savagnin and an expensive Aldegheri
Amarone della Valpolicella and shared a yummy soft apple crumble with a very
cinnamon-heavy ice cream for dessert.
On our final night we asked Simone (the waiter, by now our best friend) to
just bring us food ... but not too much (how quickly attitudes can change). He
poured a pleasant local white wine and brought out little deep-fried squares of
chickpea flour (pettole, a Christmas specialty), ceviche of sea bass (spicy with white pepper), excellent
tiny tuna meatballs in a tomato and smoked provola
sauce, and superb flash-fried tiny squid (the size of a finger nail). Then
Franz had spaghetti ricci di
mare (pungent with sea urchin) and I had paccheri Norma
(tomato, eggplant and ricotta salata).
We rolled out happy!
Osteria La Gensola is a gem! It’s hidden away and you
won’t find it by accident. If you’re in Rome make sure you have at least one
meal there.
Score: 8/10
Osteria Della Gensola
Piazza della Gensola
15
Rome
Tel.: +39 (0)6 58332758
http://www.osterialagensola.it