Dal Bolognese, Le Jardin de Russie, La Pergola...
DAL BOLOGNESE
The second cheapest restaurant on the list, Dal Bolognese has been serving up typical Italian fare on Piazza del Poppolo for almost 70 or 80 years. You can eat inside, but it’s better to go outside when the weather is nice. And come October, November or December, the smell of white truffles pervades Dal Bolognese, but if you go at any other time, it’s impossible to find the delicious fungi (as is the case with porcini mushrooms). Whatever you do, give these mushrooms a try if you go right in season. Like many other Italian restaurants, the seats are a bit crowded, so you might have difficulty talking to the rest of your company. If you keep the wine intake down, a meal at Dal Bolognese will probably set you back about 60 or 70 euros. Reservations, meanwhile, are not required for lunch.
LE JARDIN DE RUSSIE
I’m not talking about hotels today, but I can’t help but mention Hotel de Russie, one of my favorite hotels in the Eternal City. Hotel de Russie belongs to Rocco Forte, a brand of a British hotel group. Like the others in the chain, it is a boutique hotel. More than that, it’s the best place for accommodation in Rome. The building is surrounded by a courtyard or, you could say, a big, layered garden. There is a bar on the ground floor of the garden, while the top floor is used as a restaurant called Le Jardin de Russie. Rome’s weather is nice during six months of the year, so it’s a real treat to enjoy a drink outside in the garden come summer.
The restaurant has a 60-person capacity, while the accompanying café has a 100-person capacity. The place, run by Fulvio Pierangelini, is a hit with both locals and tourists for lunch and dinner. (Lunch, you will guess, would be absolutely perfect in the garden in summer.) Le Jardin de Russie serves traditional Italian food alongside a wide-ranging wine menu for an affordable price. Even if I don’t stay in the Hotel de Russie, I also come to the restaurant for a meal. A meal here will set you back about 80 or 90 euros.
LA PERGOLA
Our last restaurant is La Pergola, which is well-known by tourists. For me, it is the best restaurant in the Italian capital. The restaurant is located near the Vatican, inside the Waldorf Astoria Cavalieri Hotel. Le Pergola, which has a German chef named Heinz Beck, is the only restaurant in Rome with three Michelin stars, meaning it typically draws rich tourists. Given such elegance, it’s no surprise that you should try to make a reservation a couple of months ahead of time. You can enjoy traditional Italian dishes at this magnificent restaurant, but why don’t you experience Beck’s special gastronomical menu for 200 euros, excluding wine. But whatever you eat, the food is delicious, especially the gnocchi and cheese.
Le Pergola is open every day except Sunday and Monday, while it also closes its doors in January and August. The restaurant’s wine cellar is also bursting at the seams, with 50,000 different types of wines, making it one of the biggest in the country alongside Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence. This means that you’ll need to spend a long time choosing a wine, although you can download the wine list ahead of time to help you make a decision.