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EATING AND DRINKING |
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Eating: Cafés and restaurants
Although Rome is undeniably a major-league cultural and historic city,
it just doesn't compare to London or Paris for cutting-edge
sophistication and trendiness. In many ways it's like an overgrown
village. This can be bad news for nightlife, but it's great news for
food . Romans, as a group, are still very much in touch with the land -
many even have small farms of their own in the countryside nearby, or
they return to their home villages regularly. So the city's denizens
know a good deal about freshness and authenticity, and can be very
demanding when it comes to the quality of the dishes they are served.
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Opening hours have been given for all restaurants and cafés; note,
however, that many places are closed during August.
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Consequently, eating out is a major, often hours-long, activity in Rome,
and the meals you'll enjoy generally range from good to truly remarkable.
You'll find that most city-centre restaurants offer standard Italian
dishes, although a few more adventurous restaurants have been popping up
of late. At the geographical centre of the country, Italy's capital city
also has numerous establishments dedicated to a variety of regional
cuisines , and a reasonable number of excellent ethnic restaurants ,
though many of these are in outlying areas. Rome is also blessed with an
abundance of good, honest pizzerias , churning out thin, crispy-baked
pizza from wood-fired ovens. House wine is usually drinkable, but rarely
memorable, but there are also any number of enoteche - wine bars - who
really know their business. We've also listed a range of places serving
snacks - though most bars serve panini and tramezzini - and, at the end
of the chapter, the best of the city's gelaterie and pasticcerie .
Vegetarians will find plenty of options in virtually all Italian
eateries. Many pastas and pizzas, of course, are made entirely without
meat; lentils and other beans and pulses are a part of traditional
cookery; and wonderful fresh vegetables and cheeses are always available.
Even so, there are a number of restaurants that specialize in vegetarian
cuisine, and some of them are among the most appealing places in Rome.
One final caveat : generally speaking it's hard to find truly bad food
and rip-off prices in Rome. However, it may be wise to avoid places that
are adjacent to some major monuments, such as the Pantheon, Piazza
Navona, or the Vatican. The food in these places can be poor, and the
prices truly outlandish, sometimes as much as three times the going rate.
Drinking
Drinking is not something Romans do a lot of, at least not in public.
Despite that, you'll find plenty of bars in Rome, and, although, as with
the rest of Italy, most are functional daytime haunts and not at all the
kinds of places you'd want to spend an evening, due to the considerable
presence of Anglo-Americans, there are plenty of more conducive bars and
pubs - there's now an Irish pub practically on every corner in central
Rome. Many drinking spots are slick and expensive excuses for people to
sit and pose, but most have the advantage of having late opening hours -
sometimes until 4am in summer, and almost always until around 1am.
Prices start from about L6000 for a medium (40cl) beer (ask for a media,
pronounced "maydia"), but anywhere really fancy won't charge any less
than L10,000; sitting at a table will usually cost more, often as much
as twice the price. The only slightly cheaper places you'll find are the
odd birreria.
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Opening hours have been given for all bars and cafés; note, however,
that many places are closed during August.
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A recent phenomenon is the upsurge of wine bars ( enoteche or vinerie).
The old ones have gained new cachet and newer ones, with wine lists the
size of unabridged dictionaries, are weighing in too, often with gourmet
menus to go with the superb wines they offer. There's also been a recent
proliferation of wine-tastings ( degustazioni), a chance to sample some
interesting vintages, often at no cost. Those that still concentrate on
the fruit of the vine, however, are many in number and we've listed the
best here.
Bear in mind also that there is sometimes considerable crossover between
Rome's bars, restaurants and clubs. For the most part, the places listed
in this chapter are drinking spots, but you can eat, sometimes quite
substantially, at many of them, and several could be classed just as
easily as nightclubs, with loud music and occasionally even an entrance
charge.
Although we've, again, divided these listings into the usual
neighbourhoods , the truth is that there are plenty of drinking
establishments all over Rome. However, the areas around Campo de' Fiori
and the Pantheon, plus, of course, Trastevere and Testaccio, are the
densest and most happening.
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