The bridal lunch was at this lovely rooftop restaurant not too far from our hotel. It was a gorgeous day in Rome and this restaurant had floor to ceiling windows that created this great bright, open air feel. It actually took my breath away when I first walked in because of all the light streaming in. The decor and view of the restaurant was most definitely the high point of the meal. It was early in the day, so I opted for a morning cappuccino at the bar and even though I'm totally not a coffee drinker, this cappuccino was amazing. It was sweet and frothy and made me realize why people are obsessed with coffee in the first place.
We sat down and started the meal with how many Italian meals start, a dish with tons of prosciutto in it. It was essentially an arugula/mixed green salad with pear, prosciutto and shaved Parmesan cheese and then some balasmic dressing drizzled on top. It was a nice solid salad although I was still getting used to having so much more prosciutto in my "salad"then actual greens.
Next we had a yellow fettuccine pasta with shredded chicken in it. As Julie said, it smelled a lot like homemade chicken soup and less like a hearty Italian pasta dish. While I ate the entire dish, it was definitely my least favorite pasta of my trip. This isn't to say that it was bad, but compared to all the other pasta dishes I had on this trip, this one was by far the least impressive. It was a bit on the dry side and the chicken just didn't seem to really be a great protein for a pasta dish. In fact, when I think about it, I've rarely seen a pasta dish that has poultry in it. You usually see pork, oxtail or beef and I think there's a reason for it. Those meats have a lot more fat and flavor to them while chicken can be very lean and bland if not cooked or spiced correctly. There also didn't seem to be any sauce or a lot of wetness to the dish, which also lent to the dryness of the dish. Again, the pasta wasn't awful, I've just had much better.
The meal ended with a standard cheesecake, which was fine but I don't really relate it to Italian desserts. It seems like a good ole USA type of dessert. Again, it was fine but not mind blowing. What was most important for this lunch was the company and the fact that we were there to celebrate VA and less about the actual food. I would definitely recommend this place for a light snack and as a place to relax in a beautiful setting.
Il Valentino via della Fontanella, 14 00187 Roma 3 Forks
The rehearsal dinner was at a restaurant in the same hotel where the bridal lunch was, but this one was next door to the hotel and not on the rooftop. So it didn't have the gorgeous views of the restaurant. In fact, it was much more of a closed off, windowless event space. But it was nice that we had the entire space to ourselves, so we could mingle and be as loud as we wanted without bothering anyone. Like every meal, dinner started with a antipasti meat dish but this one had a very very fatty piece of uncooked bacon-like meat.
While I love a good piece of fatty meat, this one almost a bit too fatty even for me. It was literally white with fat. The other meats were also ok, but not mind blowing. Next we were served what was described as a white pizza with rosemary but all it was was foccacia-like bread with no cheese or sauce. So I don't know what really constitutes as a pizza but I would think it would need to have at least either cheese or sauce and this one had neither. The next course was a cacio e peppe pasta, which is essentially a pasta with pecorino cheese, black pepper, and butter. This particular dish was supposed to have squash flowers in it, but my dish did not have any of it which was disappointing because I love a good squash flower. I did notice that some people had some remnants of squash flower but it certainly was not consistently distributed across all dishes. To be honest, the pasta here was also just ok. I know that cacio e peppe is supposed to be rich and buttery, but this one just tasted too rich and didn't have the tomato punch that I love in a good pasta dish.
Again, in true Italian fashion, the pasta was just a starter. The actual main course was grilled lamb chops. The presentation was very underwhelming and the lamb chops were just very messy looking. The actual lamb was seasoned well but very very overcooked and leaning towards too dry. I usually like my meat to be medium rare with a nice pink inside but this one was just cooked all the way through and a bit tough to cut and chew.
But what made up for everything was this AMAZING dessert. Now this is what I was talking about when I'm think of delicious dessert. It was a millfeuille with chantilly cream and chocolate flakes. It had these flakey layers that reminded me of a napoleon and then it was layered with the cream similar to what you would find in a cannoli. The cream was light but sweet and it was seriously the best dish of the entire night and the best dessert I had of the entire trip. If this entire cake was in front of me, I would have totally helped myself to 2-3 slices. Everyone on the trip agreed that this was by far the most amazing part of the meal. And thank god for it, otherwise the overall meal would have been a bit lack luster (mostly in Italian terms since the food everywhere in Italy is generally so fantastic, this one just fell a bit below the bar).
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