A few new places to eat in Rome
It’s easy to eat badly in Rome if you go to the places where the tourist crowds are predominant. But you can find some lovely small and friendly restaurants in the centre too. Here are three places to think about, all just a few minutes from the Piazza Navona.
La Danesina (via del Governo Vecchio, 125, open every day, tel 06 6868693) is a small restaurant with some outside tables along the narrow largely pedestrian street that runs towards the Tiber, in parallel with Vittorio Emmanuele. There are lots of restaurants and wine bars around here. Danesina is long-established and very reliable for good, authentic Roman food. It does fill up with locals at lunch times, so don’t get there much after one. The lunch time prices are simply amazing: a plate of chicory salad with anchovies, puntarelle, for three euros or so, followed by pasta for four or five euros or meat with vegetables for six. It’s a bit more expensive in the evenings but still very reliable.
Antica Taverna da Paolo & Viorica (Via Monte Giordano 23, tel 06 68801053, open every day) is down a back street off Governo Vecchio. Again this is real ‘Cucina Romana’, with good pasta and meat courses, all for very reasonable prices. There are a few outdoor tables with heating in the winter, and a busy following among locals.
Around the corner in the posh Via dei Coronari, full of smart shops, is the more upmarket Cantina del Vecchio (Coronari 30, tel 06 6867427). This lies in the heart of one of the swishest shopping streets in Rome. The menu is very impressive … and more expensive than local spots like those above. But this place is a wine bar too, with an exceptional selection of Italian reds and whites at very reasonable prices. Plus some evenings you will find free food on the counter from the restaurant kitchen… and it’s simply wonderful. I had a glass of beautiful Soave there for five euros a couple of weeks ago, and the barman happily piled up a plate of delightful cheeses and pates which I hadn’t even been expecting.
As always, Rome is full of surprises if you take the time to look and don’t follow the masses.
