Rome: Lunch @ Hosteria Romana

We left Palazzo Braschi at 1:40p. Time to get some food.

But not any old place would do. No, we had a specific place in mind and it was 20 minutes away. It was a place called Hosteria Romana, which we had lucked into after our visit to Palazzo Barberini in 2018.

We walked along packed streets, zig-zagging around tourists either lallygagging or waiting in long queues to get into one or another of the popular sites. Winding our way past Fontana di Trevi, where I could not resist a quick photo op over the heads of the wall of people on all sides of the fountain, we finally arrived at the restaurant.

With no reservations, we had to wait about 15 minutes, but we knew the food would be worth it. After all, it’s not for nothing that the locals come to the place in droves.

There was no question as to what I was going to order — cacio e pepe … the pasta dish that is a particular specialty of Rome. It’s a simple dish … just pasta with a cheese and black pepper sauce. But done right … well, mamma Mia! Mui ordered a carbonara with a small side salad and was very happy with both choices. Vino de tavolo [table wine] washed down the delicious bites of pasta and a tiramisu wrapped up our meal.

Thus sated, we opened Google Maps to figure out what to do next.Read more