Eating Rome: Aromaticus

I very rarely read travelers’ guides such as Lonely Planet or Frommer’s, but once in a while a headline in an email catches my eye and I see what they can tell me Rome has to offer. In Frommer’s May 15th post on what to do in various cities this summer, they highlighted a fairly new Roman restaurant called Aromaticus, in Monti. A visit to the website, though crisp and simplistic, does not shed much light on the restaurant. So after googling it and reading a great write up on Parla Food, my friend and I headed over on a sunny Saturday afternoon to see what they had to offer.

The restaurant is in the heart of Monti, quite close to Metro B Cavour stop. It is a very inviting place. When you first walk in you are greeted by a mixture of plants, wooden handmade furniture and books. Aromaticus is not only a restaurant, they also sell aromatic plants, edible flowers (by special order only), and an assortment of other farming relating items, such as herbs and other seeds.

We were greeted by Luca, who is one of the owners, who was very kind. Matt and I looked over the menu and everything looked so good we just left it up to the experts and asked Luca that they just serve us what they think we should try. And of course that was the best thing we could’ve done.

The first dish was a gazpacho, which was followed by an aromatic salad topped with edible flowers.

Next we had baked potatoes that were topped with a gorgonzola cream and nuts, followed by tuna carpaccio of tuna on top of melon, which is a spinoff of an Italian favorite, prosciutto e melone.

Finally, they brought out what I had been waiting for, carpaccio di carne, better known by its French name, beef tartare.

Our meal was paired with an ice cold white organic wine. Everything was absolutely delicious and the open conversations with Luca made it quite an enjoyable afternoon. So if you are looking for something different in Rome, definitely head over to Aromaticus.

Aromaticus
Via Urbana 134
+39064881355
Metro B: Cavour