All'Antico Vinaio

We woke up early to catch the Boboli Gardens and Pitti Palace before it got hot as it was a toasty 37 degrees Celsius the day before.  Even with that, we were still plenty sweating after those 2 tourist attractions.  We made our way over the Ponte Vecchio to a very popular sandwich shop called All'Antico Vinaio.  It was just a smidge past 10:00am and the lineup was already forming.  They actually have 4 storefronts near each other and they have staggered opening to help move the lines.

We got a sandwich each with mine being the Tartufo Uno with mortadella with truffles, stracchino, mushroom cream and arugula.  This was all served on freshly-baked focaccia that was rather firm and crunchy.  With all of the wet ingredients, this bread did serve it's purpose by keeping its shape and keeping things within.  There was a good amount of mortadella that had the unmistakable taste of black truffles.  The mushroom cream added both moisture and another layer of earthiness.  The arugula provided some bitter brightness.

For Viv, she went with the Summer consisting of prosciutto crudo, 

mozzarella fior di latte, tomato and basil.  Due to the use of raw prosciutto, it was a bit more difficult to chew without yanking the entire slice out of the sandwich.  However, the firm bread made it easier to not destroy the whole thing.  Mild ingredients such as the mozzarella, tomato and basil helped temper the saltiness and added texture and moisture as well as aromatics.

My son had probably the best oft the bunch with the Number 5 with porchetta, roast potato cream and parmesan cream.  Beyond the thin fatty slices of the roast pork, the best part of this sandwich was the roast potato cream.  It was certainly smooth and creamy with depth of flavour as well as adding a binding agent to the sandwich.  It held things together and the whole thing felt like a roast pork plate in a sandwich.

My daughter ended up with the Manolo with prosciutto cotto, mushroom cream, mozzarella fior di latte and basil.  This one, as well as mine, was the easiest to eat since the ham was tender.  The saltiness was tempered by the mozzarella as well as the fresh aromatics of the basil.  Just like my sandwich, this featured the same earthy mushroom cream.  So does this place live up to the hype?  I would say yes because the sammies were tasty and stuffed full of excellent ingredients.  An affordable and quick lunch that won't interrupt your sightseeing or wallet.

The Good:

- Quality ingredients

- Tasty ingredients

- Inexpensive considering everything

The Bad:

- Of course the dreaded lineup

- I liked the bread and it served a purpose, but for some, it might be too firm

Antica Osteria di Pietra

After a brief hiatus from Roman cuisine (only one meal in between), we went back to the well because when in Rome...  Our destination was another recommendation and it sat near the Trevi Fountain on the very busy Via di Pietra.  Normally, that would be a place to avoid due to the touristy nature of the area where restaurants are practically pulling you into the place with their large posted menus and pictures of their dishes.  However, when we arrived, the place was bustling, but no one was pressuring us to go in nor was there any large advertisements.

As such, we sat relaxingly at our table looking over the dishes we wanted to order.  To start, we didn't do anything complex and went for the Antipasto della Casa featuring some prosciutto, coppa and spicy sopressata.  As for the cheeses, it appeared to be provolone and asiago.  We also found toasted bread with marinated tomatoes on top.  The star of the show was the tomatoes as they were fresh and sweet while nicely seasoned.

For our mains, we shared a bunch of dishes including the Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe.  This was a solid version of this dish with the salty nuttiness of the pecorino coming through with each bite.  I liked how there was only enough to coat each strand of pasta without being soupy.  There was a good amount of black pepper to give the dish some bite.  The tonnarelli itself was firmly al dente and had a great mouth-feel.  Since it is thicker than spaghetti, it already had a firmer chew, which I prefer.

We also had the Lasagna alla Bolognese which was pretty good.  I would've liked to see the sheets of pasta to be a bit firmer, but they were still good nonetheless.  The pasta sheets were fairly thin and that would've meant by virtue of being baked, it would soak up much of the moisture.  In turn, the pasta was delicate and very easy to eat.  The creamy bolognese featured properly cooked down meat that was tender and rich.  Good balance between tomato and creaminess.

I really wanted to try the Trippa alla Romana since I spotted it on the menu several meals ago.  This time I went for it and knew I had to eat the whole dish myself.  Well, everyone else's loss since this was delicious!  Each strip of tripe was cooked until super tender with only a minor buttery bite.  There was no gaminess as this was prepared properly before and during cooking.  Loved the creamy tomato sauce as it was mild and not overpowering.

Our favourite dish of the meal was the Spigola alla Sicillana or sea bass with olives, capers, parsley, basil and tomato.  The fish was seared up beautifully where the skin was browned and nicely seasoned.  Flaky and super moist, the sea bass was a bit buttery (as it generally is) and was also properly seasoned.  The sauce of the aforementioned ingredients provided a really bright tanginess from the olives, capers and tomatoes.

Lastly, we had the Bistecca di Manzo prepared medium-rare.  The rib-eye steak was properly seared on the outside while being medium-rare (closer to rare) on the inside.  This was our preference and it yielded a juicy steak that was properly rested.  It was seasoned enough and was served with an arugula and tomato salad.  So as you can tell, there was a little of everything on this menu representing different regions of Italy.  Normally, this would be dubious, but we felt the food was quite good and reasonably-priced.

The Good:

- Well-prepared dishes

- Solid service

- A little of everything on the menu

The Bad:

- Located in a busy part of town near the Trevi Fountain, so it can be packed

Sto Bene Roma

Our original plan was to hit up Forno Campo de 'Fiori for a quick bite at lunch while we peruse the market and the surrounding area.  However, after being dropped off by our Uber, we quickly noticed the place closed for the month of August!  Great.  Now we were standing there being solicitated by mediocre restaurants left, right and centre.  We quickly made the dash out of there and did a quick Google search for the best sandwiches near us and decided on Sto Bene Roma just a few blocks away.  It turned out to be a great decision as the place was inexpensive and their sammies were good!

For myself, I tried the Fiori with tuna, tomatoes, lettuce and seafood sauce.   This was all served on some really crunchy and crusty bread.  It was still light, but firmly crunchy on the outside.  There was a good amount of delicate tuna that had been dressed in both olive oil and the seafood sauce (which was really mayo and ketchup mixed together).  Fresh thick-sliced tomatoes and crisp lettuce completed this excellent sammie.

Viv decided on the Piramide with ham, artichokes, onion marmalade and ricotta.  I took some bites out of this one and it was even better with lots of freshly-shaved ham that offered up both moisture and saltiness to the sandwich.  The creamy ricotta provided even more moisture and the artichokes afforded some tang and aroma from the olive oil.  What really brought this together was the sweet onion marmalade.

My son went for the Augusto with prosciutto di parma, buffalo mozzarella and parmigiano (he omitted the arugula).  This was a classic combination of saltiness that was tempered by the blank slate of the mozzarella.  Due to the meatiness of the prosciutto, it was imperative that the bread stay intact so that each bite wasn't resulting in things slipping out.  The crunchy bread did its job and each bite yielded all of the ingredients.

My daughter opted for the Farnese with mortadella, pistachio pesto, brie and a balsamic cream.  I do believe this was the best tasting sandwich as well as being the moist impactful.  There was a nutty herbaceousness from the pesto and the creamy sweet tang of the balsamic complimented the buttery brie.  Of course there was a bevy of sliced-to-order mortadella which made this sandwich fulfilling.   Well, I guess this proves sometimes we don't have to think too hard to find good eats.  Somewhat random, but ultimately delicious and easy on the wallet.

The Good:

- Loaded sandwiches with quality ingredients

- Super nice people

- Huge selection

The Bad:

- Mostly take-out, very few seats

Sushiko

Alright, here we go again, dining on something that we shouldn't be eating in Rome.  Yes, I realize that sushi, especially one that is all-you-can-eat, is not on anyone's bucket list for the city.  However, as mentioned in the Hua Wei Ju post, sometimes, we just have to take a break from eating the same thing over and over again despite the sacrilegious optics especially being in Rome.  For those trying to hate, remember, these are my food adventures, not yours.  Also, I have kids with me (albeit older ones) and I don't make decisions base solely on my needs.  Without further ado, let's dive into Sushiko and the AYCE meal we had.

First off, the pricing seemed reasonable at around 24 Euros, especially for the extensive menu that was offered.  However, it did seem a bit sketch with all of the Chinese dishes that were available too.  It is run by a Chinese family, so this wasn't surprising.  Anyways, we kicked things off with some starters including Wakame Salad, Edamame, Seafood Salad, Miso Soup and Hot & Sour Soup (yes, there is the Chinese item!).  Nothing really out-of-the-ordinary here where the everything was rather typical except the seafood salad was both good and bad.  Loved the squid as it was tender but the crab stick was hard and lifeless.  The hot & sour soup was actually quite good but needed to be thicker though.

Onto some fried starters, we had the Tempura, Ebi Tempura and Fried Pumpkin Blossoms.  Gotta say all of these were not very good.  The tempura batter was far too dense and laid on too thick.  Hence it was overly crunchy and hard.  Furthermore, they fried the heck out of everything where the veggies were overdone while the ebi was indiscernible because it just melded into the batter.  Really didn't like the blossoms as the batter was also extremely hard and far too fried.

We ordered a selection of Nigiri including Salmon, Tuna, Ebi, Unagi, Tako and Branzino.  It all looked good and in fact, the salmon, tuna and branzino were nicely textured and fresh.  However, the sushi rice underneath was really dry and in dire need of seasoning.  Really too bad because the fish itself was appealing.  The same couldn't be said about the tako as it was also dry and a bit too chewy.  Unagi was typical being soft, but needed a bit more sauce.

For our specialty roll, we chose the Black Dragon Roll featuring a tempura shrimp and avocado on the inside wrapped in black rice and topped with seared salmon, tobiko, mayo and teriyaki sauce.  Again, with the hard and overfried ebi tempura, the roll ate heavy and overly crunchy.  The torched salmon on top was buttery soft while the sauces didn't add too much moisture to the roll.  We thought the black rice was actually quite good and we should asked for it in our nigiri if we had known.

The kids just love the raw fish, so we got some Sashimi (Salmon & Tuna) and Carpaccio (Salmon, Tuna and Branzino) as well.  The main difference between the two was partially the cut as well as the carpaccio having a ponzu sauce in the middle of the plate.  As mentioned, the fish quality was decent and the textures were soft without being mushy.  In terms of flavour, the fish was on the bland side, but it tasted fresh and had a nice sheen.  I preferred the carpaccio as I love the tang of the ponzu.

Our last round of dishes included the Gunkan Salmon and Tuna Rolls, Shiromi Yaki, Stir-Fried Veggies, Beef Yaki and Salmon Maki.  Other than the crappy sushi rice, the gunkan salmon and tuna rolls were good due to the amount of fish.  That overshadowed the rice and that was a good thing.  Super surprising, the shriomi yaki was excellent.  The fish was cooked perfectly and was buttery soft with plenty of seasoning.  Beef yaki was okay but the meat was a touch tough.  We only got the veggies because we needed veggies, it was not overdone.  Overall, the fish quality at Sushiko was surprisingly good.  On the other hand, the sushi rice and tempura batter were shockingly horrible.  I guess if you order the right things and avoid the regular sushi rice, the meal could be fairly good.  But for us, it was only okay.

The Good:

- Reasonably-priced

- Nice people

- Good fish quality

The Bad:

- Sushi rice was not good

- Tempura batter was worse

 

Frigidarium

Continuing on my quest to find the best Gelato in the few days we were in Rome, it brought us to another highly-rated spot in Frigidarium.  It worked out quite well for us since we were dining at the nearby Osteria da Fortunata for lunch.  We made the short stroll over to the busy Via del Governo Vecchio to find a small lineup for the tiny gelato shop.  They have been around since 1988 and pride themselves on using a minimum of 50% fruit in their sorbettos.

I went ahead and got a medio with three flavours including Limone and Melone Sorbettos and Amarena Gelato.  Oh the fruit flavours really popped here with the limone being the most impactful of the 3 we've had.  This was very tart, but refreshing and natural tasting.  The melone was also very fruity with little bits of canteloupe strewn throughout.  It was on the sweeter side though, possibly from the ripe fruit.  As for the amarena, the vanilla base gelato was creamy and more rich than the other 2 I've had.  It was on the sweeter side, especially with the cherry preserve.

Once again, my son went for the Cioccolato Fondente as well as the Straciatella (probably with my influence the night before).  Once again, the gelato here delivered as he thought this was the best of the 3 he has tried so far.  The gelato was richer and thicker than the other two and the dark chocolate really came through with balanced bitterness.  As for the straciatella, it was creamy and rich while being sweet.  It had a good amount of chocolate shavings in it.

After some coaxing, my daughter relented and got a single flavour of gelato coated with chocolate.  She didn't get very creative as a result and had the exact same flavour as my son with the Staciatella.  Naturally, without the influence of the chocolate gelato (like in my son's order), this ate a bit sweet while being creamy.  Of course the abundance of chocolate on top made it sweeter.

Viv went for the Fruitti di Bosco Sorbetto as well as the Coffee Gelato.  She thought the mixed berry sorbetto was natural tasting as well as being a bit sweet.  She wasn't a huge fan of all the seed though as it broke up the texture too much.  She did enjoy the rich coffee gelato though as it aromatic and had a strong coffee hit and aftertaste.  Compared to the other gelato we've had so far, Frigidarium was our favourite.  Spoiler alert: this was our favourite of the entire trip (including more gelato to come after this post).

The Good:

- Natural impactful flavours

- Creamy texture

- They really load up the cup

The Bad:

- Fairly sweet

Osteria da Fortunata

After a less-than-stellar Chinese dinner in Rome, we learned our lesson and went back to the well.  We did have Osteria da Fortunata on our list of places to eat, but it was nowhere near the Colosseum.  Our tour was in the morning and ended around lunch time.  We were pretty famished and tired, but nothing in that area interested us, especially with the restaurants displaying big pictures of their food and staff trying to lure us in.  So we made the decision to make the 20+ minute walk over to Osteria da Fortunata.  Luckily for us, the line moved fast and we were seated in less than 10 minutes.

Looking over the menu, we decided to get 2 appies including the Suppli with aborio rice, beef and fior di latte mozzarella.  These were fairly large and fried up until firmly crispy on the outside.  It had been fried long enough so that the cheese had completely melted in the middle.  We found the rice filling to be well-seasoned with a tomatoey sweetness and quite a bit of saltiness.  Rice was perfeclty al dente.  The other appie was the classic Prosciutto with Melon.  Nothing complex about this dish but the prosciutto was decent with its classic saltiness.  Not the best prosciutto but still good nonetheless.  The canteloupe underneath was supremely ripe, sweet and juicy.

Onto the mains, we went for a couple of pastas including the Strozzapreti Carbonara.  This was made with the pasta that was being hand-made behind the front window.  Well, that was completely legit as the pasta had an excellent chewiness to them.  Good rebound and bite while not being hard.  This was one tasty carbonara with the saltiness and fattiness of the guanciale as well as the nutty saltiness of the pecorino and parmesan.  To top it off, we had perfectly blended egg yolk to create a creamy sauce with a good amount of pepper.

Our second pasta was also very good in the Gnocchi Ragu.  Unlike the meal on our first night in Rome, the gnocchi here was served hot and also had a soft, yet chewy texture.  Ultimately, they were soft enough that they weren't stiff, but also had a nice rebound to them.  As for the ragu, it was plenty meaty and rich with lots of acidity from the tomatoes balanced off with sweetness.  This was a touch salty, but it couldn't be accused of being bland either.

We decided on 2 meat dishes including the Roman Saltimbocca similar to the one we had the first night.  Comparatively, the veal here was seared more aggressively, hence there was some nice browning on the edges.  It added a crisp texture to the rest of the tender meat.  It wasn't as floury as the previous one either.  It was topped with prosciutto and that provided the necessary saltiness.  The fried sage and butter added a luxurious flavour.

Our last dish was the Coda alla Vaccinara which as essentially stewed Oxtail in a tomato red wine sauce.  This was a fabulous value at $17.00 Euros as oxtail is pretty expensive.  Portion-wise, it was huge with large pieces of oxtail that had been cooked to the point of being melt-in-our-mouths tender (which is difficult to do with the larger pieces as they are leaner).  Flavours were strong being a bit salty, but it meant there was on longing for any more seasoning.  We also found some richness to go with the slight spice.  In general, the food at Osteria da Forunata is quite good and well-portioned.  They do use quite a bit of salt which may turn some people off.  We enjoyed it and thought it was one of the better meals so far.

The Good:

- Large portions

- Reasonably-priced

- Tasty

The Bad:

- Salty

- Hurried service (still nice, but hurried)

Neapolis Caffè

I considered not blogging about Neapolis Cafe because it was just a quick top for an American-style breaky on our way to our Colosseum tour.  So nothing sexy or interesting about the cafe other than the fact it was close to our hotel and conveniently along the route to our destination.  However, it was serviceable and really, would be handy for anyone to drop by for the same purpose.  So I finally decided to include this as a blog post.

So it was a relief to my son that he was going to have an actual breakfast rather than some pastry this time around.  He went ahead and got the Cheese Omelette with Prosciutto Cotto.  It came with a small smattering of rocket salad as well as panini-pressed white crustless bread.  Yep, this was pretty much a basic omelette that was not as overcooked as its appearance.  The inside was actually fluffy and filled with cheese and ham.  It did the job.

Viv decided to get the Salmon Omelette also served with a rocket salad and toast.  This was folded into a quarter circle and was also more fluffy inside than its outward appearance.  There was a decent amount of cold smoked salmon that was still buttery and soft.  That provided all of the flavour needed for the omelette.  We felt the rocket salad could've used more dressing (or was there even any?) because it was plain.

My daughter only wanted Pancakes and they looked a bit too uniform in terms of appearance and level of doneness on the outside.  So as a result, they weren't exactly fluffy, but they weren't chewy either.  They really put the cake in the pancakes in terms of texture as they were not airy.  Not a bad attempt and the addition of fresh whipped cream and strawberry made things look nice.

For myself, I had a Cheese and Prosciutto Panini that also had some arugula in it.  As you can see, this was super thin and really didn't amount to much.  But I wasn't super hungry and just wanted something simple and fast.  The bread was crustless and put in the press just enough that it was crispy but not crunchy.  Since it was so thin, the slice of cheese surrounded by 2 thin pieces of prosciutto was enough.

We also got some pastries to go including a Cornetti and a Chocolate Cornetti. For those who are unfamiliar, the "croissants" in Italy are sweet and made with eggs.  This one was no exception and in fact, had a sugary glaze on the outside (not all Cornetto have a glaze though).  I tend to find Cornetto to have a texture similar to brioche and this was exactly that.  Pretty decent, but the outside could've been a bit crispier.  As you can tell, nothing about Neapolis is super interesting.  However, it did the job and wasn't very expensive.  An option for those need to grab something early morning before whatever they need to do.

The Good:

- Inexpensive

- Serviceable

- Nice people

The Bad:

- Basic