"After experiencing some below par meals in a couple of restaurants new to us, we decided to go for safety rather than further exploration, when in the area. We had dined at Trimani before on a couple of occasions and surprisingly, had only...submitted one review. As usual, the limited menu provided more than enough scope for us not being fussy eaters or exhibiting any of the now trendy food allergies. So I jumped right in and ordered a rather odd sounding starter Crostino, with lardo, warm mozzarella and rocket. It wasnt bad but then again, it wasnt that good. Lardo needs to be sliced thin very, very thin. Its analogous to prosciutto which is delicious when sliced thinly but can be indigestibly chewy when sliced too thickly. If the lardo had been sliced thin, then it would have melted, (or at least partially melted), into the toasted bread and supplied a good base for the cheese. Instead it was very chewy but still quite tasty. My wife had poached egg in what can only be described as hazelnut porridge. Sounds a little iffy? Well she just loved it. The egg was perfectly cooked and as the runny yolk oozed out to mingle with the porridge, it provided a wonderful medium for bread dunking. We both had pasta courses. I had an absolutely brilliant fili fini pasta, (think angel hair dressed with radicchio and cheese. After my initial mouthful I thought I had made a grave mistake, it being very bitter but for every following mouthful, it just got better and better. Thats the thing with bitter flavours, (and only the Italians really understand bitter they take a little getting used to but the results were well worth it. My wifes mezze maniche tubes with mushrooms and bacon was good but a little under seasoned. Only I had a secondi and boy was it good. A beef tartare, using beef from the Piedmont, that was absolutely how this dish should be prepared and served. No lazy mincing of the beef here, it was correctly chopped into small dice and all the better for it. The chef also understood that beef served this way needs a great deal of flavour enhancement and to this end, a delicious combination of pickled and fresh additives were mixed with the beef to deliver a stunning result. The same cannot be said for the accompanying fried potatoes which were pretty rubbish to be honest. Neither of us had a dessert but we did have a very good bottle of Primitivo from the producer Gianfranco Fino, plus an end of meal digestivo from a producer unheard of before. I had forgotten that they do not serve coffee, (or they didnt this day at least). While Trimani may not be up there with the best Roman restaurants, it does deliver food that is well above regular restaurant levels and way above standard wine-bar offerings. This was one of many visits and up to date and Trimani has never let us down."
Fagioli Verdi
