The European Experience: Part 8

L'archetto & Antica Taverna
Rome

'I can't stand people that do not take food seriously.'

Oscar Wilde

And I do take my food very seriously indeed. As much as we may think massive cups of strawberry gelato are enough to sate our hunger, it isn't. After walking twenty kilometers worth of uneven cobbled pavement, which is approximately the distance from our hostel to Vatican City and back, there's nothing better than a piping hot plate of Italian food.

Stefano, our wrinkled and portly guide told us of a cafe not far from the Trevi fountain that served over a hundred kinds of spaghetti called L'Archetto. Apparently, locals frequented the restaurant because of its fantastically-reasonable prices and authentic cuisine, dining alfresco and downing liberal amounts of red wine as the night passed. We shared a table with a friendly middle-aged Australian couple who had been on the tour with us, and took an impossibly long time just poring over the menu and deciding what to order. Stefano was not kidding about variety.

I finally decided on the house' namesake specialty after an eternity, consisting of sun-dried tomatoes, bacon, mushrooms, flakes of tuna and chilli oil. It was quite literally, a gastronomic party in my mouth. Polished everything up, and ended the meal with some sparkling water and of course, the inevitable gelato.

Don't expect good service from the local waiters though. Stefano had told us that if we chose to eat at places which were relatively unknown to tourists (and places which the Romans frequent), waiters would often be brusque and bad-tempered, and impatient to boot! It doesn't help that tipping isn't mandatory in the city of Rome. The second place we ate at called Antica Taverna (an even more clandestine place along a tiny intersection which we stumbled upon) had similar 'service'; recommendations were done in a bored monotone and extracting a friendly smile was an impossible feat. For us, it didn't matter much, as we managed to eat like kings and fill our belly with excellent Italian cuisine for a good price!

Being the um, adventurous people that we are, we returned to these two places TWICE to gorge ourselves on the pasta and beef goulash and fresh bread. Good food is, well, good food! Hopefully, we didn't disappoint Mr. Wilde with repeated meals.