The Roman Restaurant That'll Change Your Feelings About Fish

13 September 2018

by Giada De Laurentiis

Impossibly fresh fish is the star at this chic, Michelin-recommended restaurant

Though it's the country's capital, Rome hasn't always been a seafood paradise. The land-locked city has a strong culinary heritage of its own, and for much of its history, trucking in fresh fish from the coast just wasn't an option. Today, you can find just about anything you want to eat in Rome - from hamburgers to curry - but a truly great seafood restaurant is still something special. That's why, when my cousin Luigi wrote to tell me about the fantastically fresh fish at Il Sanlorenzo, I knew I had to listen.
The secret of the Michelin-recommended restaurant's success is its arrangement with a group of fishermen on the nearby island of Ponza in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Every day, the best of their catch is sent to the mainland by boat and delivered right to Il Sanlorenzo. When you have really great ingredients, the best chefs know not to do too much to them, and chef Tommaso Maddalena lets his seafood shine. Though there are creative, modern dishes on the menu, so are simple preparations like salt-crusted whole fish. And while the menu changes daily based on the day's catch, if plump, sweet red prawns or spaghetti alle vongole are on offer, take them!

@benjaminlrobert
High-quality fish isn't cheap, but considering the amount of love and care that goes into getting it from the sea to the plate at Il Sanlorenzo, it's worth every penny.
Il Sanlorenzo
Via dei Chiavari 4/5, Rome
Ilsanlorenzo.it