No trip to Rome is complete without a bowl (or few) of cacio e pepe, and on my recent trip, I certainly made sure to indulge multiple times. Like amatriciana and carbonara, cacio e pepe is one of the signature pasta dishes of the Eternal City. Despite its creamy texture, the dish is actually produced without the use of any cream whatsoever—simply pasta, salted water, pepper, and Pecorino Romano (a local sheep’s milk cheese) is all it takes. However, although the ingredients are simple, it’s the know-how of the preparation technique that makes the dish go from good to benissimo.
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of checking out Hotel Eden, a stunning 5-star hotel located on the Villa Borghese gardens in Rome. In addition to the luxurious ground-floor library / cocktail bar and pillow-like beds (perhaps the best I’ve ever slept on in my life, but I digress…) the hotel is also known for its rooftop restaurant, Il Giardino.
Located on the hotel’s top floor, this welcoming rooftop restaurant offers modern twists on classic Italian and Roman cuisine, each dish of which is produced using seasonal ingredients and organic produce. Both indoor and outdoor seating are available, and the space is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I opted to check it out for dinner, of course, as my cacio e pepe mission was in full force.
We started the dinner with pillowy courgette blossoms stuffed with soft ricotta cheese and salty, melt-in-your-mouth cod fritters, both paired with a glass of Fiano di Avellino from Campania. While other starters certainly looked delectable, I did my best to save my appetite for the mission at hand—the pasta, of course. To my surprise, the main course arrived not only piping hot, but in the actual steel pan it was cooked in, tableside.
Our server began to slowly incorporate the pasta’s ingredients together, dramatically pulling the long strings of tonnarelli up to his face with two large utensils. The pasta dangled into the dish below, though the sauce was so thick, it hardly dripped off. (Note: Most pros will agree that the key to a solid cacio e pepe is a clump free sauce, which means all of the ingredients have fully been emulsified.) He proceeded to twist, twirl, and somehow magically fit the entire steel dish of pasta onto a much more modestly sized plate.
The pasta steamed in front of my eyes, its aromas of cheesy pepper wafting into my nose. My partner insisted on ordering a meat-based dish, and I could tell by the looks in his eyes that he was envious of the liquid gold in front of me. I dove in for my first bite—and let’s just say, the subsequent ones followed quicker than I expected.
Creamy, clump free, and full of flavor, this simple-yet-meticulously-executed dish was certainly one of the best—if not the best—I had all trip. I can’t definitively say whether the tableside service or the breathtaking view was the cherry on top, but the pasta was undeniably the star of the show.
Il Giardino is located in the Hotel Eden in Rome at Via Ludovisi, 49, 00187 Roma RM, Italy.