Roma. A city containing gorgeous crumbling architecture, an actual country, and a lot of damn good pizza and pasta. To be honest, I don’t have a lot of great photos of the food I ate in Italy. Frankly, I was way too busy eating, and Rome was no exception. We ate some good food, and we ate some bad food, and we paid way too much for pizza near Trevi fountain.Finding breakfast, lunch and dinner can be a challenge, so I’m only going to talk about three restaurants in Rome.

Here is Rome for breakfast, lunch and dinner

This being my second visit to Rome I was much more excited about eating than I was about partying — which I did a lot of my first time — and we totally splurged on the hotel. White bathrobes, big bathtub and best of all, breakfast in bed.

Breakfast in Rome (in bed)

That’s right, every morning a lovely man would knock on our door with a tray of fresh pastries and hot coffee. High living at Roma Dreaming. It might not look like much, but the fresh berry pie was dense and moist and prepared us for a day of travelling back in time to when Augustus reigned supreme. The cappuccino was perfect. The ‘juice’ was meh.

The view from the balcony wasn’t half bad either. Even my atheist boyfriend marvelled at St. Peter’s dome.

Lunch in Rome

Lunch was a surprise. Apparently I have hipster radar and stumbled upon the only sandwich shop in Rome straight out of Brooklyn.

Gorgeous baguettes lined one full wall at My Bags baguetteria near the Piazza del Popolo. I went simple; prosciutto and mozzarella, Adam went for Cotto with smoked provolone and shaved ham. No need for condiments.

The place was packed inside and out, so we ate our sandwiches in the Borghese Gardens a short walk away with a one-legged pigeon I just can’t forget.

We worked up an appetite exploring ancient ruins.

Adam jumped around the Colosseum like a kid at Christmas — the exact reaction I had the first time I visited — the history nerds gleefully wandered, topping each other’s historical facts about the Colosseum and the Roman forum.

Dinner in Rome

The June evenings were warm, just cool enough to wander down the Corso to find a restaurant.

A rule of thumb: try to avoid the well-priced prix-fixes english menus in Rome. It might look appealing, and they are certainly in abundance, but they are average meals with pre-made sauces. Look for Italian menus on quiet streets for the perfect Roman meal.

Antica Enoteca is on the via della Croce a 3-minute walk from the Spanish Steps and a great place for alfresco dining.

Cacio e Pepe. I’d heard about it for years and somehow it had evaded my eyes on menus the first visit to Italy, probably because the only thing I ate was Carbonara (not that there’s anything wrong with Carbonara).

Cheese, pasta, pepper, perfetto. I cannot even describe how delicious this plate of pasta was, I won’t try, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Adam’s mushroom ravioli was also amazing. But not as amazing as the meat salad I had for my main. There aren’t any pictures of my Carpaccio di Manzo because I was too busy scarfing it down and moaning at how the thinly sliced beef melted in my mouth while warm parmesan reggiano and arugula danced on my tongue.

Every night there was gelato. Anywhere and everywhere.

I always had half-white chocolate, half-dark chocolate. Adam always went white chocolate.

Buonanotte amici.