Perpetual. Modern fine dining in the shadow of the Colosseum

You might think the Colosseum area is too touristy for a good meal. But the Celio and even Monti neighbourhoods have a great selection of casual and fine dining eateries and excellent bars – you just need to know where to look for them. Opened late in 2017, I hadn’t had a chance to try Perpetual. But I finally got around to it this week.

Together with places like Spazio by Niko Romito, the new kid on the block Zia in Trastevere, it’s one of the latest in the minimalist interiors and modern cuisine places to hit the capital.

From the moment you walk in, you can tell this place is different. They even state that in their sub-name, ristorazione differente. And not just because the interior design is impressively stunning with evocative mood lighting. Nor because the gourmet and fine dine menu is a spread of on-point contemporary dishes invented by Romanian chef and Italy transplant, Cesare Predescu (in consultation with Michelin Star chef Paolo Cappuccio) and meticulously executed by a team of young chefs including Gennaro Pernice.

No, what makes it special, is the service and commitment to learning and innovation. On arrival you’re invited straight into the kitchen to meet the team and see the gleaming facilities. Then in one of the dining halls, a hidden pastry kitchen is revealed. The staff are knowledgeable and friendly, without being in your face and with pleasure they heeded to our request of creating an off-menu secondo for us.

Here’s what we ate:

Their freshly baked bread, crackers and grissini Potato, truffle and bean shoots amuse bouche

White asparagus served with cream of toasted almonds and bean shoots

Tortelli pasta with scampi

Chat grilled octopus with bell pepper and tuber bulb

Poached salt cod

Pre-dessert

The Perpetual take on a tiramisu’

Petit fours

If you’d like to leave the meal up to the chefs, go for their eleven course tasting menu at €85. For an additional €45 you get wine pairings and at lunch you can dine on three courses for 30€. Entree and first courses are around €20 and main courses, €32.

Details:

Perpetual Ristorazione Differente

Piazza Iside, 5 | Telephone: +39 06 6936 7085 | Website

Open Monday-Friday for lunch from 12:30-15:30 and dinner from 19:30-midnight. Open Saturday for dinner only from 19:30-midnight. Closed Sunday.

Signing off from Trastevere,

Baci Maria

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