Rome-ing Around

 

The Pantheon. I must be back in Italy

There's something nice about being in a place that's familiar. The most telling is when you're familiar with what to order to get your coffee how you want it!  We do love how even the coffee machines in Italy dispense decent coffee.

We had one day to make the best of our day in Rome. We were hoping that we could catch at least one of Jonah's concert but it was not to be. So we did the next best thing, enjoy the food that the Eternal City could offer. After dispensing with the important matter of Jonah's dirty socks and undies, it was off for a food tour with the Berlees. What else would you do before a degustation dinner at a Michelin star restaurant in the evening? We went into it blind. The menu was online was not the most detailed...we decided that we could cope with "5 stories" and hoped for the best. The Amex platinum charge team kindly took care of making the reservation for us, in our bid to maximise our benefits from the card. In this case, fine dining credits!

Dinner at Per Me Giulio Terrinoni was outstanding. Not only was the food superb but the service was wonderful. Informative but casual and friendly. Best of all, we were able to share the meal with friends. I wish I had taken note of what I was actually because the memory failed by the time I had to write this post...

No more local guides, back to old fashioned paper maps and google to work out the most efficient and cost effective laundry strategy

Oh real bacon, how I've missed you so

The exterior facade of our hotel. Convenient location without having the hordes of tourists

First stop of food tour. Deli. Could be in any store in Leichardt...

But having everything explained with that Italian accent and experiencing it with friends elevates the experience lol

In seriousness though the food was good 

Next up local bakery

For Roman style pizza. The guide was very specific to explain how it was very different to those in Naples

Super delicious potato pizza

As it often happens in Italy, you walk into a random passageway

And find yourself walking through an entrance of an ancient 1st century theatre

The restaurant that we were taken to used part of the original walls of the ancient theatre in its rooms downstairs

Local specialty

Pistachio tiramisu. Apparently Johnny Depp walked past us...but we all missed except for Alex who didn't tell the rest until 6 hours later...

Espreso the Italian way

No food tour is complete without gelato. I chose pino mugo which I imagine what eating a Christmas tree would be like

Waiting for the restaurant to open...

Shrimp carpaccio. One of the best dishes I've had. 

Fish sandwich

Pear dessert. Sorry that's all the brain retained!

These liquid filled balls just burst with flavour

What you get when you order espresso