Text Sudi Pigott
Image Corbis

Enterprising chefs and new restaurants are shaking up the dining scene in the Eternal City

The capital of traditional dining is loosening up. Roman cuisine has tended to look admiringly back on its classic culinary past rather than embrace the future, but a wind of change is blowing. Alongside a burst of new museums designed by hip architects – such as Zaha Hadid’s dramatic Museum of 21st Century Art, known as MAXXI – an open-minded breed of chefs and restaurateurs is bringing new energy to the dining scene.

They’re daring to re-interpret traditional Roman dishes, which Romani di Roma (true Romans) are fiercely attached to, and pushing the culinary frontiers of local cuisine beyond stalwarts such as saltimbocca and pasta all’amatriciana. It’s exhilarating to experience the bizarre dichotomy of dining on mould-breaking cuisine in a buzzy restaurant furnished with iconic modern Italian designer furnishings, yet still gaze out at timeless classical monuments.

“Our cooking is no longer stuck in a rustic time capsule, catering only for Romans hankering after the next best thing to Mamma’s cooking,” says Daniele Costantini, owner of Boccondivino (6 Piazza di Campo Marzio, tel. 06 6830 8626, www.boccondivino.it). The restaurant may be housed in a 16th-century palazzo with a terrace facing Santa Maria in Campo Marzio, but inside there’s contemporary art, arresting zebra print chairs and cutting-edge lighting, and the food is classics given a contemporary edge such as cacio e pepe (pecorino Romana and black pepper) with the zingy addition of sweet clams.

Nearby, at Trattoria (2 Via del Pozzo delle Cornacchie, tel. 06 6830 1427, www.ristorantetrattoria.it), designers Gianluigi and Marco Giammetta have installed modern décor in an ancient building just steps from the Pantheon, with bleached woods, steel and an open kitchen. Chef Filippo La Mantia wittily uses time-honoured Roman dishes but in provocative new guises. Gnocchi alle Romana is transformed into ethereal, modish semolina gnocchi with grappa. Baccalà (salt cod) is neither deep-fried nor submerged in rich tomato sauce, as is customary, but is partnered with a frothy thyme sauce, polenta and fennel.

Riccardo di Giacinto used to work with Europe’s vanguard chef Ferran Àdria and has just opened his first restaurant, All’Oro (1e Via Eleonora Duse, tel. 06 9799 6907). This tiny contemporary gem in Parioli quarter, north of the Villa Borghese, shines in shades of cream and gold. Revelatory dishes include Parmesan soufflé with calamari ragout and roast porcini, lasagne of duck ragout with juniper berries and orange peel, roast cod with chickpea and rosemary butter, carrot marmalade and saffron sauce.

You can just imagine a time-warp Roman emperor revelling in an eating orgy of deconstructed Roman dishes at the glamorous black lacquer and red Antica Biblioteca Valle (9 Largo Teatro Valle, tel. 06 6813 6830, www.anticabibliotecavalle.com). Artichoke, that most venerable of Roman vegetables, isn’t served traditionally alla guidia (double crisp fried), but in slivers with rocket pesto, while calamari is served with a ‘soil’ of spices.

Crudo (6 Via degli Specchi, tel. 06 683 8989, www.crudoroma.it) derives its name from the Italian take on sashimi – the height of fashionable good taste among Roman buongustaii (gourmets) – and is one of the best spots close to Campo dei Fiori to indulge in creative sushi, sashimi and carpaccio. Mixing local fish and Italian herbs with Japanese ingredients, many dishes are offered in delicate, medium and spicy variants. There’s a raw bar dedicated to inventively dressed oysters and clams, too.

F.I.S.H (16 Via dei Serpenti, tel. 06 4782 4962, f-i-s-h.it) is equally hip and ultra modern, with raised bar tables, a sushi bar and Asian-inspired dishes. The cocktails are good, too.

Significantly, several of the feted Roman haute cuisine addresses are among the most palate challenging. German-born Heinz Beck, chef of La Pergola (101 Via Alberto Cadlolo, tel. 06 3509 2152, www.cavalieri-hilton.it) at the Rome Cavalieri Hilton and a regular on the avant-garde gourmet festival circuit, isn’t inhibited by the palatial formal dining room with its definitive splendid panoramic view. At Rome’s only restaurant with three Michelin stars, Beck’s menus are boldly inventive, drawing on the most experimental culinary techniques and offering a thrillingly different dining experience.

Recently the gourmet menu included carpaccio of scallops on amaranth grain and black corn with ginger oil, scampi with olive oil powder and tapioca vinaigrette, and amberjack fish cooked in garlic-infused olive oil on cannellini beans with baccala ‘snow’. A speciality is fagottelli La Pergola, an inside/out version of the traditional Roman carbonara. For this dish, Beck rolls egg pasta into pouches and fills them with exploding liquid spheres of pecorino and egg rather than simply mixing the eggy mixture into the pasta. Then he adds guincale, crisply cured and air-dried pork cheek, as a garnish

Ristorante Il Pagliaccio (129A Via dei Banchi Vecchi, tel. 06 6880 9595, www.ristoranteilpagliaccio.it), a long-standing gastro-address, has had a drastic design makeover and its menu has been reworked with an inventive culinary edge. Highlights include a divine chestnut soup with lardo, cauliflower ravioli with smoked eel and beef jus, saddle of venison with winter fruits and chocolate sauce and, with a nod to the East, mango beignet in yoghurt and rose-water soup.

Fabio Baldassarre, who is also a fixture on the gourmet festival circuit, bases his menu at L’Altro Mastai (53 Via Giraud, tel. 06 6830 1296, www.laltromastai.it), close to the Trevi Fountains, on “fragrances and flavours”. His highly creative and often provocative dishes owe more to El Bulli than cucina povera (simple cooking using basic ingredients). Current signature dishes include oysters in celery jelly with candied apples and slivers of gorgonzola, sea scallop carpaccio with chocolate and walnuts, and winter melon with caper mousse and caramelised sweetbreads.

Newer still is the Glass Hosteria (58 Vicolo del Cinque, tel. 06 5833 5903, www.glass-hostaria.com), With soaring beamed ceilings, an open staircase, part-glass floors and sleek seating interspersed with golden banquettes, it sits in the heart of Trastevere, one of Rome’s oldest, most atmospheric neighbourhoods.

Chef Cristina Bowerman cooks resolutely contemporary dishes with an emphasis on texture and local wild ingredients. Crunchy artichokes feature, albeit in a risotto with oysters and crème fraîche. Tomatoes are smoked and served with pork fillet with super-nutritious quinoa, venison chops partner nettle dumplings and savoury and sweet demarcations are blurred with a signature lasagnette of ice with a mousse of vegetable carbon and a pollen sauce.

Rome, it seems, is no longer the eternally culinarily conservative city.

FR La cuisine romaine moderne

La capitale de la cuisine traditionnelle se relâche. A côté d’une série de nouveaux musées dessinés par des architectes dans le coup, une “nuovo” génération de chefs/restaurateurs est en train d’énergiser la scène de la restauration à Rome.

“Notre cuisine n’est plus enfermée dans une bulle rustique, servant des repas exclusivement pour des Romains désirant la meilleure cuisine après celle de mamma,” confie Daniele Costantini, propriétaire de Boncondivino (Piazza in Campo Marzio, 6).

Au Ristorante Trattoria, le chef Filippo La Mantia propose des plats appréciés par les Romains depuis des siècles sous de nouvelles apparences provocantes; baccalà (la morue salée) n’est ni frite ni submergée par une sauce tomate, mais servie dans une sauce mousseuse au thym, accompagnée de polenta et de fenouil (via del Pozzo delle Cornachie, 2).

A l’illustre Ku de Tà, l’artichaut diverge de la préparation traditionnelle “al guidia”, croquant doublement frit, pour être présenté ici en tranches couvert de petits monticules de pesto, tandis que les calamari sont servis avec des épices organiques (Largo Teatro Valle 9).

Crudo est l’un des meilleurs établissements pour savourer le sushi, le sashimi et le carpaccio mélangeant des poissons locaux et des herbes avec des ingrédients japonais (via degli Specchi, 6). FISH est tout aussi branché et moderne avec des plats inspirés de l’Asie (via dei Serpenti, 16).

Incontestablement, quelques-unes des adresses de la haute cuisine romaine figurent parmi les endroits les plus appréciés. Heinz Beck, chef de La Pergola au Cavalieri Hilton de Rome, crée des menus complètement expérimentaux. Récemment, on pouvait y savourer un carpaccio de coquilles Saint-Jacques sur des graines d’amarante et de maïs noir, à l’huile de gingembre, et des maquereaux cuits à l’huile d’olive infusée dans l’ail sur un lit de haricots cannellini avec de la morue “snow” (via A Cadlolo 101).

A la Glass Hosteria, le chef Cristina Bowerman prépare des plats qui mettent l’accent sur la texture et les ingrédients sauvages de l’endroit. Les artichauts croustillants figurent en bonne place dans un risotto aux huîtres et à la crème fraîche, les tomates sont fumées et servies avec des filets de porc à la quinoa, délimités par des saveur sucrées sous la forme d’une petite lasagne de glace avec une mousse de carbone végétal et une sauce de pollen (Vicolo del Cinque, 58).

Rome, semble-t-il, n’est plus la ville éternellement conservatrice en matière culinaire.

NL Moderne Romeinse keuken

De hoofdstad van de traditionele keuken vecht zich vrij. Naast tal van nieuwe musea ontworpen door hippe architecten, duikt in Rome ook een nieuwe soort chefs/restauranthouders op.

“Onze keuken zit niet langer gevangen in die ouderwetse traditie waar we enkel koken voor Romeinen op zoek naar mama’s keuken”, verklaart Daniele Costantini, eigenaar van Boncondivino (Piazza in Campo Marzio, 6).

In Ristorante Trattoria geeft Filippo La Mantia klassieke Romeinse gerechten een provocerend nieuwe interpretatie. Zo wordt baccalà (gezouten kabeljauw) niet gefrituurd of overgoten met tomatensaus, maar opgediend met een luchtige tijmsaus, polenta en venkel (via del Pozzo delle Cornachie, 2).

In het trendy Ku de Tà worden artisjokken niet traditioneel “al guidia” superkrokant gefrituurd, maar geserveerd in schijfjes met rucolapesto, terwijl de calamares op een kruidenbedje rusten (Largo Teatro Valle 9).

Crudo is een van de beste adressen voor sushi, sashimi en carpaccio. Lokale vissoorten en kruiden harmoniëren met Japanse ingrediënten (via degli Specchi, 6). Het al even hippe en moderne FISH serveert Aziatische gerechten (via dei Serpenti, 16).

Het zijn de haute cuisine-adressen in Rome die de smaakpapillen nog het meeste prikkelen. Heinz Beck, chef van La Pergola in het Rome Cavalieri Hilton, pakt uit met experimentele menu’s. Een recent voorbeeld is een carpaccio van sint-jakobsschelpen op amarantzaad en zwarte maïs met gemberolie, gevolgd door amberjack (vis) bereid in olijfolie met look op cannellinibonen met baccala-”sneeuw” (via A Cadlolo 101).

Bij Glass Hosteria legt chef Cristina Bowerman de nadruk op texturen en lokale wilde ingrediënten. Knapperige artisjokken duiken op in een risotto met oesters en room. Gerookte tomaten begeleiden een varkenshaasje met quinoa. Hartig en zoet versmelten via een ijslasagnette met een mousse van koolstof (als natuurlijke zwarte kleurstof) en een pollensaus (Vicolo del Cinque, 58).

Rome heeft zich duidelijk bevrijd van de conservatieve keuken.

Latest posts from: features