An aperitif at Il Salotto and dinner at the Adelaide restaurant in the Hotel Villon

Distinct flavors, precise and recognizable cooking and food consistency, simplicity and taste: these are the ingredients Gabriele Muro uses at the Adelaide restaurant inside the Hotel Vilòn in Rome.

Bring together a set designer, a photographer and an interior designer. Then add the aromas of Procida fishing boats, tropical inspirations from Costa Rica, an elegant touch of Roman aristocracy and the exoticism of a colonial atmosphere. What you have is small, timeless place of old world charm in the heart of Rome, in the Campo Marzio district, on a narrow and hidden street. It can be found at Via dell’Arancio 69, the Hotel Vilòn, next to Palazzo Borghese.

It is a melting pot, a combination of different elements that perfectly harmonize in their diversity, creating a unique and light atmosphere through an enlightened entanglement. A discovery, a place you would not expect. In a moment you find yourself in a parlor of a bygone era, a lounge bar where the furnishings are in tune to a suffused bossa nova beat, were classic styles alternate with Moroccan themes, art deco furniture, bright fabrics, with green plants creating a jungle effect that opens on to a patio with large windows. Then there are the paintings and enormous photographs of examples classic architecture with a surrealist touch, metaphysical suggestions that complete the eclecticism of the place. The atmosphere is the work of Paolo Bonfini, a film set designer who “dressed” the setting of Vilòn, while Giampiero Panepinto added his whimsical touch to the locale and Massimo Listrini lent his photographs. All this is In Salotto, a lounge bar where the hostess is the cheerful and welcoming bar lady Magdalena Rodriguez from Costa Rica. There are syrups, spices, aromatic herbs and flowers. Rose buds, mallow flowers, lavender, cinnamon, water that is aromatized differently every day and an elegant and firm hand to make the signature Cocktails created for Vilòn, from the Hemmingway Daiquiri to the Ottobrata Romana.

From the bar you enter Adelaide, the hotel’s restaurant named after Adelaide Borghese, an aristocratic yet welcoming salon with an impeccable but not rushed service, always with an eye on elegance but in an intimate atmosphere that is never too formal. This is the fiefdom of Gabriele Muro, a chef from Procida. When he talks about his childhood on the island you are suddenly transported to the island of (Arturo) Elsa Morante, amid the intense aromas of gorse, “the solidary alley roads closed in by ancient walls behind which are fruit groves and vineyards that seem like imperial gardens”, amid the “beaches with clear and delicate sands, and smaller coves with the shores covered with pebbles and shells and hidden behind giant rocks”. There standing in Procida’s small port, waiting for the fishermen to return from a night of fishing with spotlights, is the young Gabriele. And then the boats come back to port, followed by a flock of hungry and intelligent seagulls. “They gave us baskets of anchovies that we could not clean until the next day because they were too fresh to gut.

Gabriele has come a long way from his childhood on Procida to where he is today, working in star kitchens in Switzerland and Spain, from that of Ramòn Freixa in Madrid to that of Pietro Leeman at al Joia Alta Cucina Naturale, toAchilli al Parlamento in Rome.

At the table you will find the smiling sun of the south, one slightly veiled by shyness. The time necessary to “dunk” warm bread into two different olive oils and select a wine from their very classic wine list and then you look at what the chefs has to offer.

Some examples: Crostino bread with butter, anchovies, green peppers and burrata; Panatela di Traiano; crudité of tomatoes with a shell and seafood salad; Capriccio d’Estate: Gragnao linguini with sea urchins, pezzogna fish carpaccio, mint, capers and candied lemon; Non Solo Giovedì (Not only on Thursday): potato gnocchi soft and crispy cod and a purée of roasted peppers.

Distinct flavors, precise and recognizable cooking and consistency, simplicity and taste. An emotional and “Proustian” approach to cooking that has as its mission dipping back to the past, returning to one’s (the chef’s) youth and carefreeness (ours).

The dessert list is curious and enticing, the work of the young chef pâtissier Andrea De Benedetto. The most spectacular and particular dessert is: Vi svelo un segreto (I’ll tell you a secret), a soft biscuit with crumbled almonds, almond namelaka, grapefruit gel and fresh citrus. Tu vuò fà l’americana (you want to be American) is a banana brownie with walnut frozen custard, pecan praline, banana preserve, bread wafer and caramelized bananas. And of course there isBabà al rum, an exotic version with mango and pine apple preserves, Chantilly cream, lemongrass and mint.

Before leaving, go out to the lush green patio for a last cocktail (available also in a small dose), perhaps even a Hemmingway Daiquiri paired with a Cuban cigar and a summer breeze, while the quadreria, a small room with a 19thcentury flair (where you can dine in private), sits there in the shadows and the summer aromas of a hidden Rome add to the evening that last touch of sparkling carefreeness.

Related Products