Welcome to Rome, Italy! We’re practically locals here—
Well, sort of. We lived here for six months in 2017,
and while we were here, we spent a lot of time with some pretty serious foodies.
And while there are so many things that we can show you here in Rome,
our favorite spots happen to revolve around food.
So we're going to take you on a DIY Food Tour here in Rome, Italy.
We're Jana and Brett.
Since our honeymoon nine years ago,
we've spent more than 24 months living and traveling in Europe.
So far, we've ventured to 25 countries, but our goal is to visit every country in Europe
and to explore every nook and cranny of the Alps.
If you've been following us for any length of time, you know that I love coffee!
And Sciascia is my favorite place in Rome.
Sciascia opened in 1919 and my favorite thing to get here is the chocolate espresso.
It's so good. It sounds ridiculous. It sounds like a frou-frou drink, but trust me,
if you're thinking Starbucks right now, you've got it totally wrong.
This is incredible.
Both Sciascia and our next stop are in the Prati neighborhood, right next to the Vatican.
So if you're going to visit the Vatican or St Peter's, you have no excuse not to go to these.
Plus, George Clooney apparently really liked Sciascia too.
So our next — a raindrop just fell right on my nose!
Our— This next—
This next stop is not a place we're going to eat
right now because it's an international food store.
So we're going to buy some really yummy Italian
foodie gifts and we're going to take them home to enjoy later.
In particular, I love to get Sicilian chocolate
and loads and loads and loads of Italian herbs, especially the pizza seasoning.
They don't have any pizza seasoning, you can't see my sad frown, but that's okay.
I am still going to get Herbes de Provence because it's super yummy on lamb.
Arrivederci a Roma. Bienvenue a France!
This is Le Carré Français.
We were introduced to this place by some
friends who spent 9 years living in Paris and absolutely loved it.
So we got a croissant and some macarons,
and we're going to enjoy a temporary stop in to France.
Sometimes carrying around a camera and talking feels weird, but sometimes it's really beneficial!
Because I don't know if he was the head baker, the head chef, the owner, I'm not sure,
but he saw us talking on the camera and he invited us to go downstairs
into the kitchens where we saw them making the dough for croissants.
He told us how they make the macaroons and showed us the kitchen.
It’s so fascinating and they have quality ingredients made fresh every single day,
which is another reason why we love this place.
The French have totally ruined croissants for us because nobody else makes them nearly as good.
So I sure am grateful that when we come to Rome, we can enjoy traditional French croissants.
When in Rome, eat as the Romans eat. And based on this line right here,
I think we've chosen the perfect lunch spot,
starting with focaccia with burrata and pesto. Yum!
Delicious. Also, we don't normally just stand on the street corner and eat.
But because of the pandemic, its takeaway only
and the outside of the restaurant was crowded with people — you saw the line.
And then the birds came, and I've had a bad experience with birds taking my pizza.
So we came one street over and no people, no birds, we can just eat in peace.
It's funny because there are people walking by right now….Well, there's no crowd of people.
We also ordered cacio e pepe because it's like the dish of Rome — and it's Brett's favorite.
I cannot even begin to describe to you how good this cacie e pepe is!
If you only try one dish in Rome, it has got to be this!
It's so simple. It's basically pasta,
which is like flour and water, cheese and pepper. That's all it is.
But trust me, we try to make this at home. And while our version is pretty good,
it is nothing like the flavor you get here in Rome.
Now that we're refueled from our lunch, we can continue our tour and
we're going to my favorite spot in Rome, and I'm so excited.
Bet you can't drink just one — coffee that is. We're at Cafe Sant Eustachio.
And while it's like less than two blocks from the Pantheon, locals come here all the time
and are willing to brave the tourists because this is really, really good.
Now a couple of things you need to know about coffee in Rome.
The first is that if you want to stand at the bar and drink
like the Italians do, it's a lot cheaper.
If you sit here like we are right now,
you're going to pay more. But we wanted to relax and enjoy this beautiful setting.
The second thing you need to know is cappuccino really isn't drank after lunch.
In fact, sometimes if you order a cappuccino, they'll make fun of you. But
I often order a cappuccino just to kind of see how they react.
And I'm going to enjoy this one.
Now that you've had your second coffee, can we finally go to my favorite place?
I thought this was your favorite place?
The Pantheon is my favorite building in Rome,
and we just happened to have to walk by it to go get my favorite food.
I love gelato. It is my favorite! And of course,
Italy has the best gelato in the whole world, so I have to have lots of that while we're here.
I definitely recommend Frigidarium. It's just a few
blocks — blocks from Piazza Navona, and it's made from authentic ingredients.
And you'll often find locals here, which is always a good sign.
I just realized something. For some reason,
it's not okay to have cappuccino after lunch because of the milk, I guess.
But apparently it's always okay to eat gelato, no matter the time of day?
If you have a logical explanation for this,
hit that subscribe button and leave us a comment below.
We're not done with our sweet treats because we just came to another bakery.
We have been here so many times and the lady who owns it always remembers us, she's super nice.
But with ask them is they use high quality ingredients and it has been
in the family since 1940, when her grandfather opened this bakery.
And trust us, it tastes just as good as grandma's cookies.
One of the amazing side benefits of eating your way through Rome is that there are
incredibly beautiful and super old things everywhere you go.
A can't miss Italian food experience is aperitivo.
This is what the Italians do to unwind after work or a long day.
They'll meet friends, they'll buy a drink and aperitivo is cool because
usually you get some kind of small bites to go along with your drink.
Now that can totally vary in what you get based on the place you go.
This restaurant in particular, though, has a huge buffet spread,
and we're going to sit here and enjoy aperitivo just the way the Italians do.
When you walk around here in the evening, you will see loads of people drinking this drink.
It is an Aperol Spritz, super popular, and if you like the flavor of orange,
you should definitely try it.
We have one more essential stop to make today —
gelato! This is my favorite gelato in all of Rome.
And when we lived here, I can't even tell you how many times I came here.
But do yourself a favor and come to Come Il Latte!
And if you're not sure where it is, head to our website — link in
the description below — and you can find a map with all the locations of every
single place that we went today on our DIY Food Tour in Rome, Italy.
Oh my gosh, it's so good. There's a reason it's my favorite.
If you like chocolate, wine and Italian food,
then you're going to love what we have to share with you today in Piedmont, Italy.