Italiano
Bell begins ringing in Rome
The ‘bell’ is ringing for the birth of a new restaurant for those who love good food and fine wine. It is on Via Chiana in one of Rome’s nicest neighborhoods. It is named Bell after the 18
The restaurant is run by Giuseppe Palombini and Emanuela Teotino who both came here from La Limonaia in Villa Torlonia. He explained to me that Bell seeks to be a place, with its colors and sounds, where people meet, a kind of port that acts as a crossroads for cultural exchanges.
At the entrance is a bar with a vast selection of quality spirits and drinks on the shelves behind it that in the hands of their talented bartender become delicious cocktails. These are served accompanied by ‘campanelle’ (little bells), tapas filled as desired with meat, offal, fish or just vegetables. The menu also offers starter selections of three or five pieces selected according to what best pairs with the drink. My personal suggestion is that you try the pork belly with barbeque sauce, the unusual fried polenta and tripe, the guttiau millefeuille, made with carasau bread seasoned with extra-virgin olive oil and salt, and the quail eggs.
At the table you can order pizza made by the young, Neapolitan pizzaiolo Donato Belloro or creations prepared by Chef Gabriele Cordaro, who learned his trade at important, star restaurants where he also worked under the sous chef Gabriele Pardini.
Donato’s pizzas are made using an excellent sourdough that has risen for 48 hours and ingredients of the finest quality and baked to perfection in the wood oven. Seven ‘gourmet’ (an over-sued word) pizzas are offered and they are anything but common place. They are all worth tasting but for me you must not pass up the Margherita 2.0, made will buffalo mozzarella, confit cherry tomatoes and a basil emulsion, or the original squid and chorizo sausage pizza, a pairing I though was a bit out there but that turned out to be fantastic.
Gabriele and his kitchen team offered us some equally interesting dishes. As opposed to what many multinationals try to impose today in the name of “one world, one flavor”, here flavors contaminate each other and familiar recipes are reinterpreted creating a spectacle for all the senses. The menu is quite basic offering four alternatives for each course which are changed periodically. The egg at 65°C, stracchino cheese, champignon mushrooms and rye bread crumble is soft to perfection. Not cited among the ingredients is a light sponge element that recalls molecular cuisine and is present in other dishes.
More familiar was the Carbonara with Bassiano guanciale bacon. The purée of leeks and potato was very tasty, as was the fried octopus tentacle and even the spectacular Iberian pork pluma with beetroot purée, crispy black cabbage and drops of fresh pomegranate sauce. Unfortunately, I thought the black potato gnocchi were a bit tough but the squid ragù it was serve with was really good.
The dishes were paired with Franciacorta Ricco Curbastro, Ribolla Gialla Le Vigne di Zamò and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Malandrino Cataldi Madonna, chosen from a list of essential wines from producers of recognized quality.
The desserts were also good and I tasted two of them. Napoli in White was a panna cotta with basil juice, tomato sorbet and buffalo stracciatella. Everything was strictly white thanks to the basil juice and tomato sorbet having no color. The Dulcis in Fungo was a variation of three chocolate medley with different consistencies served with an aroma and appearance that recalled underbrush. These were perfectly paired with Fior d’Arancio Spumante Maeli.
Bell may speak different languages but everything has a common denominator: Mediterranean personality.
