Roma, Italia

This is my first trip to Rome... Really great to be there as I've only seen this beautiful city on TV and magazines. For the first time there, I was so excited about trying their original pastas and pizzas and whatever food I can find.

Day 1

Upon checking into the hotel, I took about 2 hours nap after the long flight before I begin my adventure in the city. As I arrive the city riding on the hotel shuttle, I saw many historical sites and buildings. I was dropped off somewhere in the middle of the city called Via Luigi Petroselli and everything there on begins on foot. Walked for nearly 45 minutes and I discovered a restaurant or shall I call it "ristorante" called Comparone, or is it called Trastevere... Not sure which is the actual name as it has 2 names written on their signboard. Anyway, this restaurant has been established for 200 years, as what they claimed. Had my lunch there and the place is just perfect! The cooling breeze in summer makes the whole ambience wonderful!

I was recommended to try their minestrone soup as the waiter claimed that they originated this recipe. Minestrone soup is actually vegetable soup with a little bit of pastas in it. Boy was it good! The amount of vegetables in it were trully generous. It includes celery, potatoes, carrots, zucchinis, basils leaves, oregano and some pastas. This was the best minestrone soup I had besides Campbells canned minestrone soup :) EU$8.00

My main course was rather exciting.... I had a lobster linguine in tomato sauce. The linguine was "Al Dente"! Which means it's cooked to the tooth! There should be a slight resistance in the center when it's chewed. The tomato sauce were cooked with diced garlic and it was sprinkled with a generous amount of chopped parsleys. The lobster was quite a shocking too! Although it was only half a lobster, it was really fresh. The meat was succulent and juicy. Only negative part is the lobster was a little too salty. Overall, it was still a great dish. EU$18.00

I couldn't wait to try their local beer immediately after my meal. I was recommended the Nastro Azzurro beer. I didn't like it at all. First things first, I couldn't read the ingredients as it's all written in Italian. Tastes like pilsner beer. The reason I didn't like it is because the flavour really isn't there. I can taste the hop but no fragrance whatsoever. The only positive remark I could give about this beer is that it's "quite" smooth... I'll give this beer a 2/10 rating based on my taste. (4.6% alc) EU$6.00 restaurant price

Had a long walk after my meal and I bought a small bottle of Peroni beer at a drink stand near a piaza which I've forgotten it's name. This beer tastes better than the earlier one. The flavour is richer but still rather flat to compare with our own local beers. There is quite a strong malt flavour in it too. This I can tell is a lager beer. Overall, it is not bad. (4.7% alc) EU$2.50

It was dinner time then when I entered a pizzaria. Of course I'll need to try a pizza here in Italy. This is where pizza originated from and I'd be a fool not to try it. They sell pizzas in 2 ways, by slices or the whole thing. They charge pizza slices by it's weight. The average price is about EU$1.60 to EU$1.90 per 100 grams. Since I'm an eating machine, I ordered a whole pizza which is close to 700 grams. I tried the 4 cheese flavour which they call it as "Formaggi". It contains mozzarella, fontina, feta and parmesan cheese. I was kind of greedy too at that time so I asked the waiter to modifiy it by adding pepperoni on it. It turned out great BUT it's totaly different from the pizzas we have back home. The crust is really dry and it tastes like Indian naan bread. I noticed their style of baking pizzas are making it slightly burned and chared. The end of the crusts are crispy. EU$12.00

Day 2

Rented a car on the second day. Took a drive to Pisa to visit the leaning tower. It was a long drive and decided to stop at a rest area. There are many rest area restaurants along the highway and it's called Autogrill. I ordered some sort of sandwhich which it's bread is like pita. Tried 2 types of their sandwhiches which was the Buffolini and Capri. Buffolini is grilled with beef bacon, beef fillet, feta cheese and vegetables in it. Whereelse the Capri is grilled with pork ham, feta cheese and vegetables. It tasted good but it has a very strong cheesy stench. Buffolini EU$2.50, Capri EU$2.00

As I arrived Pissa, I was amazed to find Duff Beer! In case you do not know what Duff Beer is, it's a very famous beer brand which only exists in The Simpsons cartoon. I was shocked that such a beer from a fictional cartoon is brought to reality!!! Bought a 6 pack which costs me EU$18.00 and drank it immediately. Funny thing, it tasted really good! Maybe it's good because it is not made in Italy, instead it's made in Germany. For more info, visit http://www.duff-bier.com/. (4.9% alc) EU$3.00

I had my dinner in a restaurant called Ristorante Ingresso. The place setting is typically Italian like what you watch in the movies. This is a place where the Godfather Don Vito Corleone would have his meal. I had to try how the spaghetti bolognaise (pronounced "bor lo nay" here) tasted like. It looked different as the tomato sauce is more brown than red. They use pork lard to cook the sauce which makes it extremely delicious! A mixture of beef and pork was used to make the sauce too unlike the typical plain beef or chicken style we have back home. The waitress told me that this is the original style of cooking bolognaise sauce in Italy. EU$9.00

Day 3

Today I travelled South of Rome heading towards Sorrento. Had my lunch in a local restaurant which I have forgotten it's name. Tried the lasagne and it turned out OK but more on the dry side. The portion is really huge and thick. It has minced beef, minced pork, mashed hard-boiled eggs with lots of herbs and spices. Honestly, I'd prefer the lasagne in Dave's Deli back home 10 years ago. EU$8.00

After visiting the town of Sorrento, the drive continued all the way to Amalfi. Took some pictures before heading to Risto Al Corso located at Vietri sul Mare which was about an hour plus drive from Amalfi. This is quite a famous restaurant recommended by the locals. The place setting isn't bad. Dining area is upstairs as the ground floor is only used as a reception and kitchen. Everything inside the restaurant is red and black in colour. Although the lightings are a little gloomy, it still gives a warm welcoming feeling. This time, I had a superb meal with numbers of varieties. They gave a free appetiser which is some sort of fried dough balls with herbs in it. Tasted good but the only thing is it might be a little dry.

Grilled Prawns were fresh. They were extra large too. European size if you know what I mean. Garnished all over with freshly chopped parsley. Squeeze the lemon on them and it'll give you a slight zest in the flavour! EU$10.00

Then there came the The Joint Brace. It came with 3 types of meat which were grilled pork, grilled veal and sausage. It turned out "so so only lah" :) It is garnished and cooked the same way as the grilled prawns. Squeeze the lemon in it, and you'll get the same thing too. I'll explain about the sausage later as I ordered extra sausages after having this. EU$8.00

My main course was the Penne Arrabiata. The portion was extremely huge. It's cooked with capsicums, cherry tomatoes, parsleys, oregano leaves with chicken and pork. YUM! YUM! YUM! It tastes extremely good! I love it so much! It isn't too oily and the flavour is just wonderful! EU$5.00

Lastly was the 3 sausages... And I thought sausages come in a shape of the you know what, but this is different. It doesn't have the pork intestine as the skin instead it's just the meat. It is fully homemade. This is my favourite dish I had in my whole Italian trip. I love it so much! My mouth is watering now as I try to describe it. It's really juicy and tender. But I believe a picture is worth a thousand words. The picture has 1 sausage missing, I ate it before I took a picture of it :) EU$5.00

Had some wine during the meal. Was recommended to try Sam Marcus red wine. I don't know what kind of wine this is but it tasted quite good. Goes well with our meal and very appetising. EU$6.00

When I got back to my hotel in Rome, decided to get one last round of booze before I hit the sack. Tried a bottle of Birra Moretti. It's a lager beer and this is the first Italian beer which I quite enjoy. There is a little crisp in it, flavour is fairly rich, quite fragrant and smooth to down. I recommend this beer for tourists visting Italy. Shouldn't be wrong :) EU$3.00 (large bottle)