A twenty to thirty minute walk from the nearest metro station, Trastevere lies past a bridge atop a beautiful river that is positively magical by night. Watching the billows of water pass under the bridge was the stuff postcards are made of.
Reaching our destination with some help from Google Maps, we settled into the attractive seating of the restaurant, with a great view of the adjacent piazza square with traffic, cyclists and people in constant motion.
By this point, we’d become sick of eating pizza and pasta all the time, so we both elected to deviate from the norm.
I ordered a orange, fennel and shrimp risotto and my mouth began to water from the very first bite. The rice was moist and toasty, delicate with the grains nicely separated and full and flavour. The shrimp added a nice touch to the dish, with the meat inside the head succulent and juicy. After tossing up between this dish and a pasta dish, any regrets I had simply melted away.
Shrimp, fennel and orange risotto
My friend chose a traditional lasagne served in a terracotta tin, some fresh salad and Coke. I was intrigued to know that lasagna comes in two main varieties, ‘soft’ and ‘hard’, with the terracotta-set lasagna being a guarantee of a soft variety. I tried it and indeed, it was the soft variety my friend had tried and failed to find yesterday at another restaurant in the city. While I don’t think it quite matched my amazing risotto, the lasagna was indeed delicious. The portion was a little on the small side so I’m glad he ordered the salad as an accompaniment.
Lasagna served in terracotta tin
The food was so good I was sufficiently tempted to opt for the dessert. After observing what everyone else was ordering, I ventured out of my comfort zone and ordered something I’d never heard of before – mille fleuile with chantilly cream and wild berries. My friend ordered berries with chantilly cream and another type of cream. It turns out the mille fleuille is a type of wafer, which proved to be quite nice when coupled with the cream and wild berries. It wasn’t as awe-inducing as the risotto but it was a nice finish to the night. My friend’s tried and tested berries and cream combination was another winner, leaving us very satisfied and very full!
Mille-feuille with berries and cream
Berries with Chantilly cream
Andy’s traveler rating – Ristorante La Scala
Address: Piazza Della Scala, 58, 00153 Rome, Italy (Trastevere)
Directions: We walked from the nearest metro stop in Rome, which is quite a walk away. Here is the location on Google Maps.
Price 5/5: Very affordable, mains can be bought for 8 – 15 euros.
Service 4/5: Meals took a little long to come out, but the ambience and people-watching made up for this.
Decor 4.5/5: Nice location on a quiet piazza highlighted the moody lighting and cosy atmosphere of the heated venue.
Food 4.5/5: Food was tasty, flavourful and authentic to the palette. A definite treat.
Rating: 4.25/5 – If you’re looking for impressive Italian food that doesn’t break the bank, you could do worse than try this little Trastevere gem. It was so good we wanted to go back but we unfortunately ran out of time!
