La Taverna degli Amici
In the centre of Rome, La Taverna degli Amici is a terrific restaurant where the chef and staff all put a lot of thought and care into what they do.
With a belated Christmas dinner to celebrate, we had too many options at hand: fancy restaurant, casual meal, traditional Roman, or a new ethnic joint. In the end, we opted for Taverna degli Amici ‘A Tormargana’, a restaurant in Piazza Margana co-owned by Italian actor Jerry Calá.
La Taverna degli Amici is a friendly place with professional but comfortable service, and clients are generally local professionals or discerning travellers; we heard a few English voices, but it didn’t sound like it was anybody’s first trip to Rome.
The menu is not huge, but complemented by daily specials, from which we chose the fettucine con bottarga, cozze e pachino and the filetto di spigola al pepe verde e pachino. Both really were delicious. We started with polpettine di melanzane con pecorino and fiori di zucca – which they prepared with ricotta and basil instead of mozzarella, making the fiori a little lighter than usual. While it can be tempting to sample everything from the main menu—the paccheri and the meats looked very good—it’s worth saving room for dessert, and following the waiter’s suggestion one more time.
Petulia had a caprese con nocciole, served with fresh whipped cream, while Rob had their mille foglie, an incredible concoction of chocolate and light (whipped?) ricotta, sandwiched between layers of crisp and delicate pastry. (Pictured, top right.)
The meal came to 89 Euro including: two antipasti, one primo, one secondo, two desserts, two coffees, an amaro, water, and a half-bottle of white Frascati.
Fettucine with bottarga, mussels, and tomatoes at La Taverna degli Amici