Before I speak about this wonderful Sardinian dinner I have to speak about how we got there and so I have to back-track to the evening before when we arrived in Rome. We had just taken the train from Florence to Rome and here we were and once again it was dark and hard to see all that we should be seeing : especially as this was our first time ever in Rome. The same thing happened to us in Florence ; we arrived in the dark. Oh well, we would see what all the excitement was about the next morning with the daylight.
Our tour guide Massimo had told us to take the #38 bus and get off at a certain stop and that the Hotel Panoramica would be " just there ". I took him for his word and was simply concerned now with getting off at the right stop. I asked a women as we stuffed ourselves into this bus like sardines if she spoke any English? She said she spoke a little and I asked her if this was the right bus for our stop? She had to get off and check the sign and when she returned seconds later she said that it was. Thank you. All the people in Italy were so helpful. I could not get over this simple truth : they were all helpful, kind and respectful. Wow, that blew my mind - still does.
Anyway we had trouble finding the hotel in the dark. It was a busy time of the day in Rome. We were now in the ritzy area of Rome and the Hotel Panoramica was on the Via Arno ( after the river ).
I know, I know : you are all asking : where's the wine in all of this? Well, the wine would later be an excellent bottle of white Falanghina that we enjoyed thoroughly with our Roman meal of different stuffed potatoes with various cheeses and meats. I found them a bit dry and needing of some kind of sauce. They were some of my least-favorite foods on this trip. We did as the ancient Romans did ; we ate some of these small baby-size like Russet red potatoes. We gave it a shot. It will take at least another shot or two to be sure that we are enjoying them as they should be enjoyed. Our waiter that night was polite and yet not very attentive at all. We had to pour our own wine at the table. My daughter remarked upon this and I had to agree that it was perhaps the first time in a long time that this has happened to us. We managed anyway.
To make a long story short the hotel was about three blocks down the street from the bus stop and the sign for it was small and attached to the side of the building and not lit-up so that anyone could easily see it. The funny thing was that as we ambled down the Via Arno in the dark looking for it no one that I asked as they passed seem to know it. This got my daughter on the phone to the hotel and then the last man that I has spoken to came running back towards up saying : " It's here! It's here! ". I called my daughter and there indeed it was. Mystery solved and we took one of those funky old wooden and glass elevators in the well( center ) of the building on up to the 6th floor.
This part of the city reminded me a whole lot of Paris, France and I told my daughter. She found this surprising. Later others when I asked agreed with me. WE dropped our bags and were off quickly in pursuit of dinner. We both were looking forward to a meal and some good wine after all this uncertainty and travel.
I will continue this later and get to the part of the Sardinian HOSTARIA UNIONE SARDA Ristorante/restaurant ( Via Basento, 74 00198 Roma, Tel : 06 855 1025 Fax : 06 85 46 270 unionesarda@katamail.com ). I promise. We passed it later in the dark after our dinner as we went in search of the old Roman city walls that were again supposedly just four blocks down the street. They were. too if we had just kept going and crossed one more boulevard/via. We did see the Roman tomb though we did not realize what it was. We saw lots and the next morning a lot of it was pointed out to us by Massimo as we took the bus to the Via Borghese.
Cheers and stay-tuned, TONY
PS : Our dinner was excellent here at the HOSTARIA UNIONE DARDA. The food and the service and the one bottle pictured above of the slightly effervescent Sardinian white wine LADAS Vino Frizzante ( do they use the Vermentino grape to make this? ) were all marvelous. We'd return there as it seemed not so much a tourist attraction but an actual restaurant where the Romans were happy to dine in. What more can anyone ask for when they want an authentic experience of where they are.
Our British friend Ken said when we mentioned it that both the Sardinian and the Sicilian food in Rome was excellent. He was right. I loved the friendly service as=lmost as much as the food : that made the experience special and memorable for me.
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