“When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do.” In Rome, this was the key phrase I kept in the back of my mind, activity-wise anyway. Regarding the food, I may have ventured off the Roman path and gone with what sounded good at the time while making sure it was all new.
The main restaurant I was at in Rome was the Comodo Mercato Trevi Ristorante, which felt like a modern up with the culture kind of restaurant.
First thing first, yes, we ordered some drinks. Seeing how I would never be back, I had to choose a drink that goes with the restaurant. The Treasure Island drink is a signature cocktail that can only be ordered at Comodo Mercato Trevi Ristorante (well, this version anyways).
It tasted so good I would have ordered three more glasses if it didn’t have alcohol in it. With just my one glass, my tastebuds thanked me, with passion fruit and vanilla sugar syrup being the leading flavors.
For our appetizer to split, my friend chose chicken tacos as she wanted a sense of home, and though, as I said, I only wanted to try new items, I said OK, as it’s just an appetizer — there can be one exception, right? And I was happy to make the exception. These tacos were small and cute but had a power punch. Being my first taco with tomatoes (yes, this is true), I thought this was a newfound discovery.
For my main course, I ordered the Glazed Octopus Skewer with BQQ Sauce, mayonnaise, onion, and roasted leeks. Priced at € 18, this was a massive shock to me the way it came out. Even though the description said it was on a skewer, I wasn’t entirely expecting it to be this large. I let my friend try some, and she said it reminded her of a chicken texture with BBQ sauce. And I have to agree for the most part, as I thought it was a little chewier than chicken. I wasn’t a fan of the leeks, but everyone has a different pallet. The octopus is definitely something I want to find now that I’m back in the U.S. because it was just delicious.
And what usually is my favorite part of a meal but has a hard time following up to the octopus, the dessert was a big surprise — a good one. I got a cake-shaped dessert that consisted of chocolate Bavarian cream, a coffee biscuit, and a slice of banana in the middle with marshmallow cream. Everything blended together well with the cake, and everything made with it was soft, melting with each bite.
And even though I had one dessert, who says you can’t have multiple? Lucciano's Roma is a gelatin dessert place that you could say is a tourist trap, as it serves Colosseum gelatin. As a tourist myself, I knew I would be paying for overpriced gelati just because it looked like the Colosseum, but I couldn’t say no to the chance to be able to eat the Colosseum. I opted for the peanut butter flavor, which was the best choice I made in that shop. It had a rich and creamy texture, with the peanut butter flavoring being stronger than expected, but that’s a good thing.
After a long day, what better than an Aperol Spritz to go from a meat, cheese, and wine store? This bottled version was a little stronger than the ones I had from restaurants, but delicious nonetheless.