A trip to Rome without visiting La Pergola would be inconceivable to me . Restaurant with lots of awards, three Michelin stars, three forks from Gambero Rosso, 19 ½ points from Espresso and for many the best in Italy.
However, it does not have a place in the 100 top restaurants of the world by “50 best restaurants of the world” of the magazine “restaurant magazine”. You will probobaly say “so what” but still it has a significance. I would characterize the restaurant as Italian with a French aura. A lot of decoration, expensive furniture, silver dinnerware, amazing views, very good service, permanent sommelier, what about food though? The evaluators of the “50 best restaurants of the world” as opposed to the evaluators of Michelin give greatest weight in food and tend not to pay attention to other factors which complete a restaurant. And as it seems that they were not amazed by La Pergola’s food. Neither was I. The creations of the chef, Heinz Beck were for me a bit conservative, they were within a “safe zone” without him proposing any new ingridient or technique and in addition when the deserts were presented to me, the eggs weren’t well beaten so they smelled. However, the wines that the sommelier suggested fitted perfectly the dishes of the chef.
FOOD
The dinner began by bringing me butter (as the French habit suggests) which I did not taste and an amazing green olive oil which I devoured during the dinner, afterwrds he brought a neutral welcom dish and the main course started with the amberjack tartare which was accompanied by cucumber, potato and parsley vinaigrette. Cool and balanced dish. Tuna Carpaccio with wasabi cream, gelatin cubes scented with cumin, spinach and beetroot in two forms. Dish better than the first one and with a more complex flavor. Third dish was the shrimps accompanied by scallop consomme which disovled powder of dried vegetables. Complicated technique but the result didn’t justify the try. I think the dish came out at a wrong time. The Carpaccio was a dish with strong flavours which covered the flavour of the shrimp. Next was tortellini with ricotta cheese and beans and afterwards tempura shrimp in fried squid and celery puree. Subtle flavors, well executed but not amazing. Cod with chili sauce, marinated artichokes and black olive leaf. Very tasty. The main course ends with braised calf cheeks, burrata cheese cream, endive and rice pops. A variety of cheese followed, where I asked for Italian cheese and the dinner ended with some deserts which let me down because they smelled egg.
SERVICE
Very good service. Excellent flow of dishes. In the end the chef came to chat with the customers.
ENVIRONMENT
A lot of decoration, silver dinnerware. I would say that it was the typical decoration imposed by French logic, in order for the restaurant to have more chances to get a third Michelin star.
BEVERAGES LIST
Rich wine list with Italian wines being dominant. The wines that I tried were all amazing. Santa Maddalena Mock 2012, Coppo Monteriolo 2010, Produttori Cormons Vino della Pace 2009, Guerrieri Gonzaga S. 2006 Leonardo and Tramin Roen 2011. Very good vinification matching perfectly the chef’s dishes.
CONCLUSION
In terms of environment and service I was very pleased. In terms of food, while the dishes were well executed (except for the deserts at the end) I was not thrilled. Especially for the money I paid.
