Birthday dinners are always loaded with high expectations and my 39th in Rome would be no exception. Fortunately, La Dispensa in Rome met them. After a disappointing restaurant referral the previous evening, our host suggested La Dispensa for their amazing black truffle carbonara. The restaurant was situated in Prati by the Tiber river. It was cosy but modern - with mint green walls and small tea candles at every table. The menu was a simple portable black board which the wait staff carted round to every table, patiently explaining the specials for the day. Extra brownie points as they patiently explained every dish in English on the menu for us!
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| The appetizer |
We started with a smoked bufala mozzarella with prosciutto parma. We knew we were onto a winner when we tasted the prosciutto - it was the best we had in Rome so far.
For our pasta mains, I had the black truffle carbonara and Paul had the turbot with local tomatoes. The black truffle carbonara had all the signatures of a great dish - perfect pasta, the unami after-taste but it was just a tad too salty.
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| Pasta with turbot and 3 types of tomatoes |
Paul's pasta dish was heavenly though - with three different type of tomatoes, it had an incredible natural sweetness which I could never duplicate at home. We finished an incredible dinner with the best tiramisu I have ever had...and I have had a lot of them!
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| My 39th birthday |
