Which is Rome’s best kept secret?

Il mio gelato naturale di Ermanno di Pomponio, Via Luigi Poletti 2 Roma.

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update: New location @ Via Luigi Poletti 2 Roma

Mr. Ermanno’s ice cream shop is invisible. No signs or visible elements help you identifying the place. The address is the only key: via Romeo Rodriguez Pereira 170, Rome (the shop has moved to Via Luigi Poletti 2, Rome).

An opaque sliding glass door barriers the inside view of his shop from the eyes of people passing by.

Ring the bell and the door will slide open letting you. Mr. Ermanno will welcome you in a nice and elegant shop framed with awards, quality certificates and pictures testimonying his 3 generation family’s history of ice cream makers in Civitavecchia.

Mr. Ermanno is the first generation to establish a shop in Rome after 30 years of making “gelato” in Civitavecchia.

Let’s talk about Mr. Ermanno’s art: il gelato naturale is, an unique and delicious, natural and organic, ice cream for real lovers and passionates about gelato.

Nothing in Rome certainly compares to Mr. Ermanno gelato. And I’m ready to bet too that you have never tasted something better in all your life. His gelato is amazing from the first spoon you take (no ice cream cones, just cups are served).

Chocolate, Pistacchio, Nocciola, Crema, Croccantino ai frutti di bosco are the most common flavours you’ll find all year long.

The secret of his gelato? Really simply: Mr. Ermanno total committment to quality.

He uses only organic and first class ingredients as biodynamic milk and cream, nocciole (nuts) from the Langhe, Piedimont or Pistacchi from Bronte, Sicily or just the best qualities of cocoa as Amedei, Toscano black, Domori o Chuao.

His committment to quality could even appear, to the eyes of a first time visitor, excessive and even paranoic. Dare not ask for panna on top of your ice cream….otherwise at your risk!

Said that also to alert you that your cup of ice cream will be carefully weighted before handed to you. Exactly as in an expensive grocery store where you buy products as caviar or truffles. The price of a cup of ice cream is, indeed, another indicator of the extreme quality involved in his product: 50 euro per Kg.

So it may sound absurd paying almost 5 euro per a cup of ice cream but after tasting it you’ll understand why you’ll never care…

Open from 12 AM to 10 PM. Closed on Tuesday,

But, now, I am glad to announce that a new street food is born and it is super: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Trapizzini’s!

00100 is the name of a new place in Testaccio where, beside an excellent Pizza a Taglio, you will find Trapizzini.

What are Trapizzini?

Certainly, you are all asking the same questions: what are trapizzini, are they any good? Let start from the last and easiest question: they’re damn good! What are they is a little bit more complicated question to answer. But let’s try….

Imagine a square made of pizza-bread; cut the 4 angles and keep them. Now you have 4 triangles.

Take one of them and cut, with a knife, the longest of the 3 sides. Now open your triangle and filled it with Pollo alla Cacciatora sauce and chicken.

What you got is a Trappizino! Now eat it all: good? Yep!

What about the other 3 triangles? Fill them with Trippa, Coratella or Coda alla Vaccinara and you will have the rest of those wounderful trappizini that 00100 serves from lunch to noon!

Despite the recent right-wing party success at the national and municipal election held in April and the consequent raising sentiments of intollerance directed to immigrants and clandestines, the Eternal City is little by little being conquered by new culinary tendences represented by an unexpected appetite for Indian, Japanese and Middle East cuisine.

Habits that belongs mostly to more tollerant and open minded habitants as those living in cosmopolitan cities as London and Paris that have funded their success by investing on the cultural diversity of their citizens.

Sushi, Kebab and Tandoori are now getting mainstream, perhaps not for the majority of romans that keep eating their “cacio & pepe”, but certainly for a increasing minority of people who, for curiosity, interest or even emulation, are having a try of these non traditional dishes.

Personally I can say that for me is a question of survival: I’m quite sick and tired of eating pasta every day of my life. So I am quickly abandoning everyday’s Italian cuisine in favor of a diet made of, once a week, sushi, kebab or felafel, noodles or chicken tandoori.

I love them all but my favorite cusine is Indian cuisine and Kerala’s one in particular.
Frankly if I could reborn I’d like to be born Indian.

So you might as where to go and get excellent Indian food when you are in Rome and you fancy something spicy?

The answer is simple: Guru, Kerala’s Cuisine, in Via Cimarra, 4 Rome 00184 Italy, for reservation call +39 6 474 4110.

Here you will find high standard of Indian cuisine and a courteous welcome from my friend Thomas who will also advise you on your choice of dishes.

I’ve dined here with my wife or friends hundreds of times…not kidding!

And every time is delicious and satisfaying as the first time I tasted this wonderful spicy cuisine that have changed my culinary habits right here in Rome!
Even my wife, who is roman and a gifted cacio & pepe cook, is in love with chicken tikka!

But my favorite attraction is the new exclusive restaurant named Open Colonna after the acclaimed chef Antonello Colonna who is responsible for giving the restaurant its particular style.
The restaurant is located within the “serra” or conservatory, which is an exciting new architectural feature of the building with striking impact.

Today, at lunch time, I’ve spent an hour with some colleauges trying for the first time the menu.

Well, the menu, in terms of quality and pricing, is really surprising and valuable for Rome, which remains quite an expesive and often dissapointing city for the quality of its lunch consisting typically in pizza, sandwiches and salads: so 15 euro for a first and second course, water, wine, dessert and coffee prepared by a Michelin starred chef is trully a bargain!!!

If you consider that this is the opening week, we can expect that the daily menu in the next days is going to get better and better; so my suggestion is: at lunch or at dinner it really worths a try!

And then don’t forget Rothklo and Kubrick: good food and art are a really great combination!