My husband took me to Rome recently to celebrate a significant birthday. During the visit we were exploring the city and realised it was time for lunch. We turned a corner and my husband spotted the Caffè Bianco,Via Dei Baullari, 147, Rome, Italy. It was a great find!
Unusually, for a main street Ristorante Pizzeria in the centre of the city, Caffè Bianco advertises a lunch time
special menu. It is as good as its word. You get a choice of various drinks, a salad, bruscetta and a choice of a variety of pizza and pasta main courses. We sat in the veranda area to the street side of the restaurant. It was busy, and we quickly found out why. The staff were polite, friendly and efficient. The diners are also somewhat protected by the weather by clear plastic sheets. Access for those with mobility problems is easy. On top of all that the food, for omnivores and vegetarians, was delicious.
My husband and I both chose soft drinks but requested a large bottle of still water too as the weather was hot and quite humid so we got dehydrated walking about the city. The drinks were served swiftly. Maybe we looked more dehydrated than we felt. The salad and bruchetta were served on the same plate. The salad was fresh and the tomatoes deliciously sweet. The bruscetta was not served on toasted bread as it is in the UK, but the fresh bread was warm. Altogether this made for a tasty starter.
I chose a maghuerita pizza and my husband swithered between the lasagne and a ham pizza, but eventually plumped for the pizza too. The pizza are made to order, so there was a few minutes to wait between courses. However, during that time, the cabaret came on: a diner arrived with his bodyguards. He entered by a side door and one of his bodyguards was stationed at each of the three entrances with one keeping watch outside on the street. Another minder joined the important person at his table. I was quite excited that it might be somebody really interesting, but it was a politician.
Anyway, that all gave us sufficient diversion before out main courses arrived. The pizzas were delicious. The bases were thin and the toppings generous. We enjoyed our meals at Caffè Bianco. I highly recommend this modest restaurant, without hesitation.
Valerie Penny
Val Penny's Hotel and Restaurant Reviews 