Tasting Trastevere

Just one last Rome post on my list before I get back to my life here in Holland (which has been pretty awesome lately, by the way). Still on the food trail, I simply must blog about Trastevere.

Nearly everyone I talked to who had ever been to Rome insisted that we visit Trastevere. A Roman neighborhood with narrow, winding streets that date back to medieval times, it has maintained its charm and character while becoming a local hangout and foodie hotspot filled with great restaurants and happening pubs. "You will love Trastevere," our Dutch teacher, who had lived in Rome for years, assured us.

And we did. Three of the four dinners we had in Rome, we had in Trastevere. We took pretty much the same route each time, making these stunning sunsets over the Tiber a regular affair.

For our first dinner, we headed to Dar Poeta, a pizzeria recommended by a few people on Chowhound. We got there before seven so we didn't have a hard time getting a table, but just one hour later the queue for tables was snaking all the way down the cobblestoned alley. There were quite a few tourists in the queue, but also a lot of people speaking Italian, which is always a good sign.

I ordered the Superbufala, topped with raw mozzarella bufala, black olives, tomato and pecorino cheese. Not only was I knocked out by all that glorious cheese, but the crust—somewhere between light and crisp on the bottom, chewy and soft on top—was unlike any I've ever had.

But that's not the showstopper at Dar Poeta. The Nutella and ricotta calzone is.

Ready for some food porn? This is what happens when you cut into the calzone.

The whole pillowy mass deflates, and our old friend Nutella oozes out to say buon appetito.

Another stab with the knife and fork...

Then it's ciao, ricotta! Or should I say chow?

Needless to say, we were two very satisfied customers.

The next night, we ate at Da Fabrizio, which we had seen on the way to Dar Poeta.

Da Fabrizio served what was hands down my best meal of the trip: a heaping plate of fresh, homemade pasta (which tasted so different from every pasta I'd ever had before!) with extra-virgin olive oil and shavings of black truffle. (The white truffle pasta, at €40 a plate, was simply out of my budget.)

It was so good, I lost my senses completely and forgot to take a photo of it. I did take a photo of our starter, though: slices of prosciutto from this massive porcine leg, which Fabrizio carves up himself.

On our last evening in Rome, we got lost while trying to find one of the restaurants recommended on the Chowhound forum. I went ahead of Marlon and kept taking random turns, following my gut... as in tiyan, haha. We ended up at a small piazza where this picturesque old farmhouse-style building stood. How could we pass a place like this and not want to step inside?



It turned out to be a pizzeria and taverna called the Taverna de' Mercanti.

It was huge inside, with giant wood and brick ovens.

We ate outside, of course—we wanted to enjoy the warm weather before flying back to Amsterdam. The food was average (grilled pigeon and a very good patatas al forno for Marlon, a pizza for me), but the medieval tavern atmosphere was wonderful.



Afterwards we had gelati (produzione artigianale again) while watching a street magician perform in front of the church of Santa Maria di Trastevere.

After living in Holland for a few months, the idea of an entire neighborhood where almost every restaurant is a good one sounded almost unbelievable to me. But now I know that (duh) Trastevere is real! And I'm missing it already.