The Roman Guys Trastevere Locals Food Tour: a Rome food and walking tour
If you’re investigating The Roman Guys Trastevere Locals Food Tour, you’ve come to the right place! Read on for a full review.
I have to say that my favourite time of day to take a food tour in Rome would have to be around twilight. It’s at this time of the day that you can combine many different kinds of eating experiences which are so beloved by the Italians: the early evening aperitivo, in a piazza or on a pretty street corner; dinner itself, comprising many courses, to be savoured in good company; and of course, an after-supper gelato, taken to go, preferably in some ivy-clad side-street, just as the lamp-light starts to gleam on polished cobbles and the moon rises above the ruins of Rome.
The Roman Guys Trastevere Locals’ Food Tour combines all these elements and is a great introduction to Italian cuisine, particularly if it’s your first time in the capital. Read on for a full review of this food tour in Rome, one of several offered in the city.
Review: The Roman Guy’s Trastevere Locals Food Tour
From the meeting point, in refined Piazza Farnese – behind the chaos of Campo de’ Fiori, which resembles the contents of a rubbish truck at this hour – the Roman Guys Trastevere Locals Food Tour starts with a stroll to an out-of-the-way enoteca, a typical wine-bar, which in this case has been serving Romans for many years.
Here, at this first stop on the Rome food tour, our guide Elaine demonstrated the right way to toast friends with a glass of prosecco (to avoid any international incidents) paired with a succulent tomato bruschetta.
Then we headed to Roman institution Filetti di Baccalà for that most local of street snacks – deep fried baccalà. It’s remarkably close to British chip shop battered cod and has to be washed down with sharp white wine from the Castelli Romani to take the edge off the taste of the oil, which lingers visibly in grey rings on the greaseproof paper.
Only at this point did we cross the river to Trastevere, enjoying the late afternoon sun gilding the Tiber as we passed over Ponte Sisto for the next stage of the Rome food tour. The Roman Guy’s Trastevere food tour continued with a visit to a popular pizza al taglio (pizza by the slice) shop – deep in Trastevere’s characteristic cobbled streets – and a tasting plate of cheeses and cold cuts, in a very interesting spot which sources ingredients from its own farm.
After that, it was on to the main event of the food tour – dinner at Da Teo, a Trastevere institution where booking is essential. We tasted Jewish-style artichokes, with their gorgeous bronze petals, like charred sunflowers – a local deep-fried speciality – and two types of pasta, amatriciana and cacio e pepe. They were all excellent.
Finally, as the sun gave up its attempt to imitate the Martini commercial, we crossed back via Isola Tiberina – the enchanting Tiber island, its marble ghostly white at this hour – to round off the evening with an ice-cream in Largo Argentina, finishing the food tour at about 9pm.
Before meeting, we had been warned to bring our appetites but in the end there was ample food without being excessive. The Roman Guy’s Trastevere Locals Food Tour is a great introduction to the maze of Trastevere and is best enjoyed near the start of your holiday, just so you can go back and explore still further with a bit of local knowledge under your belt.
Testaccina was a guest of The Roman Guys Trastevere Locals’ Food Tour. The 3.5 hour tour is currently priced at $84 per person. For more information about this Rome food tour, or to book tickets, click here.
