LOCATIONOn the ninth floor of the Rome Cavalieri hotel, approximately 15 minutes’ drive from the centre of town.
DETAILSThe Rome Cavalieri is a hotel known for its high standards in luxury, and this vanguard in style certainly extends to La Pergola. Depicting ancient colonnades, a rare Aubusson tapestry hailing from the 17th century sets the scene on the restaurant’s rear wall for all things imperial and impressive. Treasured antiques carry through the stately ambience - oil paintings on the walls, decorative urns on windowsills, bronze candelabra floating overhead and a giant oriental, green-glazed celadon vase as the room’s focal point. Silver-gilt porcelain forms the final fitting welcome for the restaurant’s lauded modern European fine food.
FOOD & BEVERAGEHead chef Heinz Beck’s broad understanding of European cuisine infiltrates the menu of La Pergola with dishes that hint at varied cooking styles – Italian, French, German, even oriental – yet throughout, the focus remains on classic preparation techniques combined with Italy’s own impressive, seasonally-changing range of produce.
Beck showcases Italy’s high-end food products – take the northern city of Alba’s famed white truffles, which appear in the likes of fillet of red mullet with white truffle and mushroom consommé on a brunoise of carrots and chestnuts – alongside his favoured quality imported ingredients such as caviar (try the deep-fried zucchini flowers with caviar on shellfish and saffron).
Meanwhile, a high-end take on the local Roman favourite, spaghetti carbonara, takes shape in the Fagottelli La Pergola; small pasta pouches filled with a creamy cheese sauce spiked with the flavour of ham, simply dusted with freshly ground pepper, hinting at Beck’s culinary cheekiness and innovation.
The beverage menu is equally not to be missed. La Pergola’s impressive cellar, abundant with some 53,000 bottles, directs drops to their ‘Italian’ and ‘Non-Italian’ classified wine lists, curated by award-winning sommelier Marco Reitano. There is even a water menu offering 29 varieties, spanning Japan to Great Britain.