Roman
Via Giovanni Branca 100 Testaccio, Tel. 06 5746585
Average €25 - €30
Closed Sundays, Reservations advised

There is no place more Roman than Agustarello. From its location in Testaccio right off Piazza Santa Maria Liberatrice, to its crowded and simple interior, the restaurant could be no other place than Rome. 

The food can only be described as top quality. All the classic dishes are here : tripe, oxtail, involtini, and they are all made perfectly. The vegetables are always seasonal and always cooked with a lot of salt and a lot of hot pepper. The deserts are handmade and the coffee perfect. 

Agustarello is always a good bet and an excellent place to see what Romans really eat. It is always full so be sure to reserve. 

Via del Teatro Valle 48/49 Tel: 06 686 5970

Open Tuesday through Saturday 12:30 pm to 3:00 pm and 7:30 to 10:30 pm

Reservations required for dinner 

Credit cards accepted

Casa Bleve is no less than a hidden jewel in the midst of Rome’s tourist hordes and souvenir hawkers. Just steps from Piazza Navona and the Pantheon, you can enjoy a quiet, out-of-the-way, civilized moment of seclusion within the grandeur of a Renaissance Palazzo, with service that makes you feel like a 17^th-century cardinal. 

This enoteca stands tucked just away from the chaos of the mobs in its bright, spacious glory. It houses one of Rome’s most impressive wine cellars, a remnant of the Imperial age, and with a wine selection to match. Pop in to buy a bottle and impress your wine-snob friends back home or stay for lunch or an aperitivo and some the finest quality Italian cheeses and salumi money can buy. Now Casa Bleve also servers dinner, and although the crowd at that time of night is more eclectic than during the day (read: uppity Americans and rich old Italian guys with their Russian consorts), the food and service are simply wonderful. Expensive and worth it.

Keep an eye on Casa Bleve’s web site for special events and wine tastings – things that will make you go wild, like the recent “Amarone e non solo” and “I Gioielli di Casa Voerzio”, the presentation of an extraordinary Barolo.

www.casableve.it

Chinese  
Via S. Martino ai Monti 33/c (corner of Via Merulana) 
Tel. 06.487.2732 no reservations (get there early) 
Open daily for lunch and dinner (closed in August) 15 - 40 euro 

It is not what you expect to see in the Eternal City -- red lamps hanging outside, Chinese characters on the walls -- but there they are. Rome's chinese restaurants are everywhere. In your first few days, you can't believe that anyone goes to them, but give it a week and you will find yourself craving a spring roll. Beyond a doubt, Hang Zhou is the place to go for your fried-rice fix. 

Located a few steps from the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, on the border of Rome's multicultural Esquilino / Piazza Vittorio neighborhood, Hang Zhou is a small, hardly noticeable place that looks just like a million other Chinese restaurants you have eaten at throughout your life -- except for the pictures of Mao and the Red Guards on the walls. Tables and chairs are put into place with a shoe horn as a large numbers of clients are ushered to and from their tables.  

And the quality? It is quite good. And while not competitive with the food in New York's or London's Chinatown, everything is fresh and well made. The Perfumed Duck Peking Style is tops, the soy noodles are perfect, and the pork with Chinese scallions (erba cipollina cinese) is a delight. In fact everything on the menu is solid and if it doesn't compete with the great Chinese restaurants in those other cities, it is still an excellent and inexpensive meal. With it's wide selection of dishes and helpful wait staff, Hang Zhou is certainly the best in Chinese that Rome has to offer.  

Via San Francesco a Ripa, 56

Trastevere

Tel. 06 58.03.992 – Reservations not required; credit cards accepted; English spoken.

Lunch and dinner served; Closed Monday at lunchtime. 

When you left home, you were all keyed up for Italian food, but now the thought of yet another plate of pasta or pizza makes you nauseous. Yes, you’ve hit a wall – the starch wall. The strange thing is most Italians never feel this way, which is probably why the other diners at Jaipur are mostly English speaking and very, very happy as they greedily bite into their samosas and crack their papadum over ice-cold bottles of Kingfisher.

Jaipur is the perfect anti-Italian meal: it is well located in Trastevere, the staff is friendly, there is plenty of seating (including outside tables in summer), the menu includes all your favorite Indian dishes (although they’re not as spicy as you might expect) and best of all, unlike other great restaurants in Rome, Jaipur is never mobbed with Romans clamoring aggressively for a table. 

The menu includes a range of curries, vegetables and lentils, and the especially scrumptious tandoori specialties. In addition to the a la carte menu, you can order complete vegetarian or meat dinners for a fixed price. They also offer Indian sweets and chai, and of course, those wonderful mango lassi. Feel free to order in English – it is universally spoken here.

Jaipur is reachable by the #8 tram from Largo Argentina or the H bus from Termini Station. 

Piazza Carlo Forlanini 10,

Monteverde Nuovo

Tel. 06 537 3087 – Reservations recommended; credit cards accepted; English menus available.

Dinner only (and aperitivi on weekends). Closed Mondays. 

Mò Mò is where the Roman’s go to see and be seen. It’s both a trendy nightspot as well as a family-friendly eatery with lots of big tables for large groups. On weekends, it can become positively packed with the uber-glitzy , but you can still find a niche (if you reserve) to take in the view at this enormous villa-turned-restaurant. Once home to the Director of nearby Forlanini Hospital, this Art Nouveau villa has been completely restored and offers two floors or dining along with a jazz-themed lounge and a well-stocked bar – one of the best in Rome. In the summer, the whole kit-and-caboodle moves outside to an enormous terrace, creating quite a scene.  

The menu contains much of the usual Roman fare, with more creative daily specials written on blackboards throughout the dining area. While the pasta dishes and pizza can be uninspired, we recommend the fish and meat dishes that are prepared on the large open grill in the middle of the restaurant. There is also an ample selection of dinner salads and a notable wine list (the cantina is visible through a glass atrium at the restaurant’s entrance). True to its self-given title ‘Desserteria’, the dolci here are not to be missed – they are all homemade on site and the tiramisu is especially killer.  

In short, Mò Mò is an experience – although the food does not bowl us over, the villa and its chic crowd are not to be missed, the staff is friendly (a rarity in Rome) and its great for kids – the only restaurant we know of in Rome with a baby changing station.  

Mò Mò is reachable by the #8 tram from Largo Argentina (with a 5-10 minute walk) or by the #716 bus from Ostiense station. 

Panattoni “Ai Marmi” (l’Obitorio)

Viale Trastevere 53-59, Trastevere. Tel 06 58.00.919

Average €20-25/person 

Open for dinner; closed Wednesday. No reservations. No credit cards accepted.

     Pizzeria Panattoni “ai Marmi” is known by Romans as ‘l’Obitorio’ or ‘the morgue’ because its long rows of marble-topped tables remind you of…well, you get the picture. But have no fear – the sumptuous Roman delights and wood-fired pizza will make you forget about its morbid name immediately. For tourists, ex-pats and locals alike, this well-located Trastevere eatery is the classic Roman food experience for 50 years and counting. Opening early (for Rome anyway, at 7) and closing late, l’Obitorio’s prime-dinnertime waiting crowds can begin to resemble mob scenes. Try to get there before 8 or after 10:30 to avoid the rush, and don’t mind the carefully cultivated crankiness of the wait staff – abuse at the hands of irate waiters is yet another Roman tradition that you can actually learn to enjoy if you don’t take it personally and have a good sense of humor. 

     Seated either inside at the infamous marble-topped tables or out on Viale Trastevere with the trams whooshing by, you’ll be able to kill your hunger pangs with some of the best Roman antipasti in town: we especially recommend the fritti or fried starters (forget about your diet!) such as baccalà (fried salt cod with fresh lemon), supplì al telefono (fried balls of rice filled with melty-hot mozzarella that stretches out when you pull them apart – like a telephone wire) and fiori di zucca (zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella and anchovy) – there is nothing like it.

     Once you’ve sampled the starters (be careful not to fill up on them!) you’ll want to savor the real thing: a thin and crispy – very Roman – crust, topped with, basically whatever you want. While the simple Margherita (cheese and tomato sauce) and Marinara (just the sauce topped with garlic and oregano) can’t be beat, you can also experiment with tried-and-tested favorites such as Napolitana (with anchovies), quattro formaggi (four cheeses), bresaola and ruchetta (thin slices of cured beef and fresh arugula or rocket), boscaiola (‘from the forest’ – a hearty mushroom extravaganza) and, for those big appetites, capricciosa (a little bit of everything). 

     If you’ve been in Rome awhile and thought of yet another pizza causes your stomach to seize up, they also offer a wide selection of tasty bean dishes that won’t add any more starch to your poor tummy. And as if you haven’t enjoyed this place enough, they’ve got homemade desserts, including a quite good rendition of tiramisu. 

     For a solid, Roman pizzeria experience, this place is everyone’s old standby. It’s easy to find (just along the #8 tram) and the huge wood-fired oven churns out reliably great pizzas well past midnight. Just bring cash and don’t be surprised if everyone else along the tables is also speaking English, especially if you get there on the early side (the Italian crowd doesn’t show up until at least 9). You can all swap grumpy-waiter stories and have a good laugh over your Peroni beer and pizzas. 

Buon appetito!