{"id":2340,"date":"2019-02-20T13:32:53","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T13:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devourromefoodtours.com\/?p=2340"},"modified":"2022-09-28T17:29:28","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T17:29:28","slug":"best-restaurants-testaccio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/dev.devourtours.com\/blog\/best-restaurants-testaccio\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Favorite Rome Restaurants by Neighborhood: Testaccio"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
Located on the banks of the Tiber, Testaccio is one of Rome’s most popular neighborhoods right now, for its many restaurants, markets, and tranquil daytime atmosphere coupled with a whole section of nightclubs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
It wasn’t always like this.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
From 1891 to 1970, Testaccio was Rome’s meatpacking neighborhood, with many of the residents working in the gigantic slaughterhouse<\/a>. The abattoir has since been converted into a museum<\/a>, and Testaccio from an industrial periphery into a quarter known throughout the city for food.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Down-and-dirty trattorie<\/em>, once the haunts of meatpackers, still serve traditional Roman cuisine, especially the beloved dishes that used the by-products of the slaughterhouse: sweetbreads, calf intestines, lamb lungs and liver. If that’s your idea of a good meal\u2014or even if you’re more into cacio\u00a0e\u00a0pepe<\/a><\/em>, pizza and Roman-style doughnuts\u2014here are the best restaurants in Testaccio.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Nothing fancy, nothing innovative, just a small menu and a few wood tables in the dining room. That’s all there is at Agustarello<\/a>, and after 60-some years in Testaccio, that’s all you would want.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Still more of a locals’ place, even as Testaccio becomes increasingly visited by tourists, here Alessandro the chef expertly prepares plates like rigatoni\u00a0con\u00a0sugo\u00a0di\u00a0coda\u00a0alla\u00a0vaccinara<\/em> (pasta with “tanner-style” oxtail rag\u00f9, spiked with pine nuts and warm spice), or cicoria ripassata\u00a0<\/em>(bitter green chicory saute\u00e8d in garlic and oil).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Also a good spot to try some of that slaughterhouse cuisine, like tripe or pajata\u00a0alla\u00a0piastra\u00a0<\/em>(calf intestines, still stuffed with milk, grilled until crispy on the outside and molten inside). Trust us, it’s really<\/em> good.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Passi (Via Mastro Giorgio, 87<\/em>) is that rare bakery whose pizza is way better than its bread. And by pizza, we’re talking about pizza\u00a0bianca<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Bubbly, crisp, almost-fried-tasting because of the generous amount of olive oil brushed on top, it’s pretty hard to pass Passi and not stop in for a strip wrapped in wax paper.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n What’s better than pizza\u00a0bianca<\/em>? Piazza\u00a0bianca\u00a0con\u00a0la\u00a0mortazza<\/em>. That means slicing it horizontally, and draping porky handkerchiefs of mortadella on one half before closing with the other, a salty-sweet-savory package perfect for munching on during a walk.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Volpetti Salumeria<\/a> is a world-famous food shop on the Via Marmorata in Testaccio, purveying some of the city’s finest cured meats and cheeses. You can get a hunk of Pecorino\u00a0Romano\u00a0DOP<\/em> shrink-wrapped for your checked luggage, but the best way to enjoy the bounty that is Volpetti is to head around the corner is to the Taverna<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This comfortable space offers a full menu of modern Italian food (think spaghetti with raw shrimp and lime). But Volpetti Taverna is best enjoyed as a wine bar, a wine bar that happens to get all its ingredients from the salumeria<\/a><\/em> next door. Some of the best salame<\/em>, capocollo<\/em> and hand-sliced prosciutto you’ll find anywhere, with a glass of local white wine.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The can’t-miss thing?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n A “vertical” tasting of Parmigiano Reggiano<\/em>, each one aged longer than the previous. You’ll never taste “parmesan” the same way again.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n As a young man, Sergio Esposito worked alongside his father in Testaccio’s slaughterhouse. Then he was a butcher. Now, you’ll find him in a chef’s hat at his stall in the new Testaccio Market<\/a>, with a line three-deep.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Mordi e Vai (literally, “bite and go”) serves sandwiches, but these are no ordinary panini<\/em>. Every day, Sergio prepares different fillings, inspired by traditional cucina\u00a0romana<\/em>. There might be allesso\u00a0alla\u00a0picchiap\u00f2<\/em> (boiled beef in spicy tomato sauce) or a veal “carbonara” in a decadent cream of eggs, cheese and crispy guanciale.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n These sandwiches are so messy they come wrapped in a plastic sleeve to catch any falling bits, and so tasty that after you finish, you’ll be rooting around in that bag trying to find some undiscovered nugget of braised meat. There’s now a second location near the Re di Roma metro stop (Via\u00a0Appia\u00a0Nuova\u00a0221<\/em>).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n While you’re wandering around the Testaccio market, you may see Augusto, owner of Piatto Romano (Via G. B. Bodoni, 62)<\/em>, poking artichokes at a greengrocers or chatting with the butcher while he slices steaks. High-quality ingredients, well-executed, make for good meals, but it’s the added sense of place<\/em> that makes Piatto Romano a great spot to eat.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n All the classics are here: cacio\u00a0e\u00a0pepe<\/em>, spaghetti with tiny flat-shell clams, and abbacchio\u00a0al\u00a0forno<\/em> (roast suckling lamb). The best dishes are the fried ones, including luscious olive\u00a0ascolane<\/em> (meaty green olives stuffed with shredded beef, breaded and fried) and a superlative carciofo\u00a0alla\u00a0giudia<\/em> (purple artichokes from the Roman countryside, boiled crisp in olive oil). During grape harvest season, you can even get an old Roman favorite \u2014 vine-fattened snails, stewed in tomato sauce.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Everyone needs a proper breakfast<\/a>, and in Rome, that means coffee and a breakfast pastry, very often a cornetto<\/em>\u2014the Italian version of a croissant, but sweeter and less buttery.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n When you walk into Linari<\/a> in the morning, you’re greeted by the glass-cased bar, piled with cornetti<\/em>, some plain, others stuffed with cream or jam. A full-service bar, pastry shop, caffeteria and gelateria, Linari is the most popular spot in the neighborhood for all-times-of-day sitting, sipping and snacking.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The morning is the time to go, though. Excellent espresso and foamy cappuccino at the bar needs something sweet, be that a cornetto<\/em>, a slice of marmalade pie, or a maritozzo<\/em> (a sweet brioche filled with whipped cream).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Our favorite, though? The ciambella\u00a0fritta<\/em>. This is a flat, oblong doughnut, eggy inside and showered with crunchy granulated sugar outside. Dipped into a cappuccino, you’ll wonder why you don’t have breakfast like this every morning.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Officially known as “Enoteca Palombi,” this cavernous spot is really called “The Beer Oasis,”<\/a> because of the hundreds of bottles that line the walls. Italian, German, Belgian … whatever you want to try, they probably have it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n But this is no simple beer shop though. There’s also a big wine list by the glass, strong Aperol Spritzes, and a full menu, including a hefty cutting board of local cured meats and cheeses.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Inside, the best place to sit is in the wine-cellar basement. In the summer, best show up early and snag one of the picnic tables outside, right in Piazza Testaccio across from the famous amphorae fountain<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The ideal Roman pizzeria is a simple place, with good pies, cold beer, and no-nonsense service. Il Grottino (Via Marmorata, 165)<\/em> checks all those boxes, and more.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Roman-style pizza<\/a> is thin and crispy (about half the height of a classic Neapolitan pie). And the pies at Grottino do come out of the wood-burning oven crackling and slightly smoky. But there’s a bit of added heft to the crust that makes the pizza seem more substantial, better prepared to bear the toppings and not split like an earthquake fissure, while still remaining light and flavorful.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Your waiter knows what you want, and won’t waste timing getting it to you: a draught beer, a fried potato croquette, and a pizza\u2014for the hungry, a capricciosa<\/em> with prosciutto, mushrooms, artichokes and a hard-boiled egg.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n
1. Agustarello<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
2. Passi<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
3. Volpetti Taverna<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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4. Mordi e Vai<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
5. Piatto Romano<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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6. Linari<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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7. L’Oasi della Birra<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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8. Il Grottino<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
9. Fraschetta da Sandro<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n