Acquolina, Roma
I travelled with my parents in Rome. My parents preferred Chinese food, so I found a restaurant for them, then I sneaked out for a fancy restaurant. I made a last-minute booking, which I was very happy about, to Acquolina. The restaurant is located in a hotel on a quiet road around Piazza del Popolo. I got a smaller table for one person but in the central of the restaurant. The flower on the table was cute.
Table
Although the menu was not lengthy, it used much sea food containing prawn, shrimp, anchovy, sea urchin and eel, and the main is pigeon. In general, I liked the look of this menu.
Menu
I really like the first starter ‘Red prawn in fermented ewe milk’, yet partially because I always like red prawn :). I did not know much about the taste of ewe milk, but it certainly added a slightly creamier flavour over the creamy red prawn. They did not mention the plate paired with many fresh but bitten-flavour vegetable and flowers, which made everything more interesting, however, a very common combination one may expect with (raw) red prawn. The colour palette was also very appealing.
Red prawn, fermented ewe milk
The two pastas were not really my taste. The first ‘Spaghettini pasta’ is cooked with anchovy and some herbs. I personally found it salty, yet it was perfectly cooked pasta and anchovy, and the salty taste was expected. Thus, it was a good dish overall. The second ‘Ditalini pasta’, in my opinion, needs more thought. It used a chicken stock pasta sauce, which provided a really good base flavour. The problem, however, was that the pasta was very hard and there was something very soft and jelly, which I believe is part of sea urchin. I could only taste one out of the two ingredients, and they are completely separate. Maybe I have the stereotype, popular in Japan, that sea urchin should be like creamy butter, but the chef here wanted to focus on the freshness. Nevertheless, this dish did not work for me.
Ditalini pasta, sea urchin, chichen
The chef is certainly very proud of his fried artichoke and indeed it was very nice! It was presented as a flower, maybe a rose, seated on some cream sauce with vinegar drizzling around. The lower part of the artichoke was still soft and tender. I certainly cared less on the taste, to be honest, since (1) artichoke itself tasted between bitter and fibrous, and the chef had to use a strong sauce to make it more interesting and (2) deep-fry makes everything taste good. However, the effort in this dish was appreciated and entertaining the audience.
Gerusalem artichoke
The main course, at least one of two mains, was pigeon with eel. It was in fact a main plate with two small bites, a meat lollipop and sorbet. The pigeon and eel were interesting combination, and some vegetables on the plate gave me a break from the meatiness. The entire plate had little seasoning so put focus on the ingredients themselves. Unlike other similar restaurants, the chef introduced the two small bites that balanced the rich meaty flavour. I really liked this main course.
Pigeon, eel
This was a restaurant that met my expectations, having highlight dishes that entertains the customers. The service was very good and sophisticated but also left me space to enjoy the environment and food myself. I should have mentioned that they appear to have a very large wine collection and will probably attract wine lovers.
🐼 Score: 3/5
