- In Rome we say
cheese like it rains.
- [Mark] Okay.
Alright, I gotta begin with the carbonara.
Twist a, twist a fork bite.
Good morning everyone, it's Mark Wiens
with migrationology.com, in Rome, Italy.
It is a nice, bright, sunshine morning,
we have a full day of
sightseeing, and doing things
and eating in Rome, so we're
gonna go have breakfast
real fast, and then we're gonna head out.
Ying and I are the first ones
to breakfast this morning.
And we have a nice view
overlooking the city,
we have a nice view and the park and so
I just got my first plate of food, I have
just kind of a mish-mash
of many different things,
of many different proteins, an omelette,
some salmon, some salami,
some bacon, and then
some vegetables, and
these are little, little
pickled shallots I think.
And this is some wonderful
looking bacon, check out
the streakiness of it.
We're getting ready to
leave in a few minutes for
a full day of sightseeing
in Rome, but let me
just quickly show you
on this map, sort of the
rough plan, we are staying
up here near to Spagna,
we're gonna take the
Metro down to Colosseo.
We're gonna go to the
Colosseum, we're gonna go to the
Palatine Hill, and we're
gonna go to the Forum.
We'll try to eat around
here, go to the Pantheon,
go to some other sites around
here, walk around here,
walk around here, and then
maybe go back down here
to visit San Giovanni, we'll
see how our time comes.
(upbeat music)
We took the Metro from
Spagna to Colosseo Station,
and immediately, right
at the exit of the Metro,
we are at the base of the Colosseum.
We are here a little bit
early, before they open,
so we're just gonna walk
around for a little bit,
and I have pre-bought the
ticket online and then
printed it off, so I
hope we can just enter
as soon as they open.
It was really good actually
that we printed off
our tickets because then
after we got through security
we passed the whole line,
just scanned in, it has a
little barcode, and we are
into the Colosseum now.
We have decided to climb
the stairs to the top first
to get a view, an overall
view from the top.
- [Ying] Look at the view.
- [Mark] This an awesome view.
- [Ying] Oh, you can see everything here.
- [Mark] At one point
this Colosseum could hold
up to 80 000 spectators.
(upbeat techno music)
And it was covered in a
flooring, so now you can see
sort of some of the
underground area, but this is
where the gladiators would
fight, and also this is
where they would reenact
battles, and it could even
be flooded, so that they
could reenact naval battles
and depictions as well.
You have seen so many photos,
and you've seen movies
that depict the Colosseum,
and so just imagining
the battles and the
events, and the things that
took place within the
Colosseum as you're walking
through here, that's
what, that's what really
comes to mind when I'm walking through.
We are on our way next to the Forum.
Right across the plaza
from the Colosseum is the
Roman forum, and this was
the heart, the very center,
of ancient Rome, and so
many of the most important
buildings, and this is the
area where Rome thrived.
(relaxed music)
And I think one of the
things that's really
making it amazing to
visit right now is how
quiet and peaceful it is.
(relaxed music)
Right behind me is what
remains of the Temple of Saturn
which is one of the
oldest temples in Rome.
It dates back to the sixth
century BC, but the remains
of what you can see right
now date back to 42 BC.
Oh, they have fresh cold water.
It's just a short walk
from the central Forum area
up to the top of Paletine
Hill, and from up here
there's the Imperial
Palace, you can get a view
of the Forum, as well as Circus
Maximus on the other side.
(relaxed music)
And now I'm overlooking
Circus Maximus, which is
a giant open-air horse
chariot racing stadium,
and also they held public
events here, and it could
accommodate up to 150 000
people that would watch events.
You could easily spend a
couple of hours walking
and exploring around the
Forum area, but it is now
my favorite time of the
day, so we just exited.
(upbeat music)
- Hi guys.
- Hello.
- Would you like to drink something?
- Just water please.
This is a restaurant
that serves, actually I'm
a little bit overwhelmed
by the menu, there are
so many things to order.
Crepa?
- Crepa, one.
- One, and also amatriciana?
- Amatriciana.
- Amatriciana.
In Italy, I really honestly
have very, very little
experience with Italian
food, and even ordering
Italian food, so I was looking
at that menu, there are
so many things that I haven't
tried, I wanna try it all
when I'm here in Italy.
To begin with, I got a plate of antipasto,
and this is, this is a mixture
of different vegetables
which appear to be slightly
battered and deep fried,
this is a red chili, there's
some eggplant, some onions,
maybe potatoes, I'll start
with piece of eggplant.
Oh, and some olives in the middle.
Set this onto my plate,
oh I gotta have some of
that chili as well, or
some of that pepper.
Mmmmm, it's a really soft,
like fully tender pepper.
A little bit sweet, and sour.
Maybe it's the tomato sauce,
or, there's some tomatoes
on there that make it
really sour and tart.
Yeah, that is equally as
creamy, that eggplant.
It's kind of like a, almost
tastes like breadcrumb crust,
that's fried, and crispy, and
kind of almost gummy as well.
Amatriciana?
- Amatriciana.
- Amatriciana, okay.
The main dishes have arrived,
and I got, we ordered,
Ying and I ordered two
different dishes to split,
this one is trippa, which
is tripe, and this is
I think a Roman style preparation,
very heavy tomato sauce,
and then he sprinkled on
some cheese on top, and
I think there's, I think
it's all, I don't think
there's any pasta in here,
I think it's just all tripe.
My kind of a dish, just sauce and tripe.
Okay, I'm just gonna taste this first.
Mmmmm.
That tripe is nice and soft, but it also,
okay bits of it are a little
bit chewy, but it's wonderful.
And then that's kind of
a, a little bit of a tart
tomato sauce, but not too salty at all.
That's awesome.
And then this is a type
of pasta, this one is
called amatriciana, and
this is a, also a very
common pasta dish, tomato
based, and then I'm not sure
if you can see, there
are little cubes of cured
pork belly, and then
wrapped up in this pasta,
and let me, let me stab some.
Mmmmm.
What I love about that is the
tomatoes are so sour and tart,
that is delicious, and that
little pork belly just gives it
so much flavor along with
the tart tomato flavor.
I think you gotta use
some of this bread to
scoop up all of that sauce because...
You gotta scoop up all
of that tomato sauce.
That really mops up all of this sauce, and
you can definitely,
actually after I tasted
the other dish, which is just pure tomato,
and then going back to
the tripe dish, you can
definitely tell that it has a bit of a,
an organy taste.
The name of the restaurant
is Luzzi, and that was,
what I really liked was
that tripe dish, if you can
imagine a texture that is both very soft,
but slightly chewy at the
same time, and I know that
sounds kind of ironic, but
as soon as you have that
tripe dish you'll know
exactly that contrast.
One of the reasons we
ate here is because it's
right on the route of
where we're gonna be going,
we're gonna be visiting
some churches next, and it's
just kind of on the back
side of the Colosseum.
We are walking towards the
Basilica di San Giovanni,
but on the way we were gonna
stop at the Basilica di
San Clemente, but unfortunately
they have just now
closed for lunch, we just
missed it, and they won't
open up for another couple
of hours, so I don't
think we're gonna hang
around, we're on our way
now to San Giovanni.
(upbeat music)
The Basilica di San
Giovanni was commissioned by
Constantine in 324,
and it is significantly
important in Rome because it was the first
Christian Basilica in all of the city.
We just got through security,
and we have entered into
the foyer entrance way of
the Basilica, and it is
just stunning, it's huge
and the detail in the walls,
in the columns, in the floor, is amazing.
And then also the doors are just gigantic.
It almost takes my breath
away, and what really
strikes me right off the
bat, are the marble statues
lining the side of the
cathedral, of the 12 apostles,
and then the roof is
golden, with so much detail.
You just walk in here and
literally this sense of like
peace and quiet and calm
just overwhelms you.
And I'm just gonna stop
talking right now and
just listen to the peace.
That was just amazing to
walk inside the Basilica,
it's so big and yeah, just such a
quiet, calm, peaceful place.
We just walked across the
street from the Basilica di
San Giovanni, and right
here there's another chapel,
and inside there's
supposedly a staircase that
Jesus walked up at Pontius
Pilate's palace in Jerusalem,
and then the staircase was
brought to Rome, and so
you cannot walk up the
staircase on your feet, but you
have to walk up on your
knees, and with every step
that you take on your
knees you also say a prayer
until you reach the top of all 28 steps.
Ying and I are gonna make
the climb up the staircase
on our knees.
Ying did a really good
job, but I was definitely
in pain the entire time.
I actually wasn't expecting
it to hurt that much.
I think that took us about 15 minutes, and
you just kind of creep
up the steps very slowly,
but it was well worth it.
We walked back to the
Metro, we're gonna take it
a couple of stops to our next place.
We got off the Metro at
Barberini Station, and we
are gonna walk towards the Trevi Fountain.
(upbeat music)
Hello, can I have the three cone?
Chocolate chip, chocolate chip Ying.
And anything else Ying?
Thank you.
- Thank you.
- I don't know if anybody
ever comes to Rome
without having some gelato,
there are many places
to get gelato around this
area, we came to a place
called Gelateria
Valentino, we ordered half
chocolate chip and half coconut.
Oh yeah, that is pretty
awesome, really really milky.
Wow the coconut is really good too.
It has again a really, really
milky, milky, creamy flavor
to it, and even a very smooth texture.
And then in the coconut
you can have, you feel the
little pieces of dried coconut as well.
And that gelato should
lead us to what is one of
the most iconic sights in all of Rome.
I'm gonna look over to my right hand side.
And there it is.
(upbeat music)
As much as that was cool
to see, we are pretty hot
and tired now, so Ying and I
are heading back to the hotel,
we're gonna spend a couple
of hours, and tonight we have
a very special big dinner
coming up, stay tuned,
dinner coming soon.
Tonight Ying and I are
going to go meet Valentina
and Antonio, and they
are from Rome, they were
really helpful and they
reached out to me when I
mentioned that I was coming
to Rome, and they really
helped me put together a
good itinerary of what to do
and see, and also eat, in
Rome, so we're going to
meet them for dinner
tonight, I am predicting
a very good dinner.
We arrived at Piazza di
Spagna, and this is another
famous plaza in Rome,
there are the Spanish steps
over here but it looks
like they are doing some
renovation on them right
now, so I don't think
they're open, but then
it's a nice plaza to just
walk around and people watch as well.
We are walking on our
way to dinner now, and we
have just stopped by the Pantheon.
But we're gonna come back
tomorrow to go inside
and to explore more, we're
just kinda passing through
but it is just a breathtaking sight.
(upbeat music)
(Italian conversation)
- He's not sure about the
rabbit, he has to catch it first.
(Italian conversation)
(Italian conversation)
- We met up with Valentina
and Antonio, and we have
come to a restaurant
called Trattoria Dal Gino,
and it specializes in
especially Roman style dishes.
So normally it would be common
for you to have your own
plate of pasta and you
would eat by yourself?
- [Antonio] Everyone chooses it's own.
- [Mark] Okay, but we
have decided to combine
Italian food with Asian
eating style, so we're
gonna have a bunch of dishes
and share them all together,
so that we can taste all
of the different dishes.
This one is cacio e pepe.
- [Antonio] Cacio is
the other Roman name for
sheep cheese.
- [Mark] Ah, okay.
And then this one is the carbonara.
With eggs.
- [Antonio] Pork cheeks.
- [Mark] Pork cheeks.
- [Antonio] And pepper.
- [Mark] Thank you very much.
- [Antonio] You should
take this, this and that,
and you scrape it on top.
- [Mark] Antonio says --
- [Antonio] That side.
- [Mark] Oh, other side, okay, okay.
Antonio says always more
cheese is a good idea.
What type of cheese is this?
- [Antonio] This is sheep cheese.
- [Mark] Sheep cheese.
- [Antonio] Roman sheep cheese
- [Mark] Roman sheep cheese, wow.
And then, over both
pastas? Over everything?
- [Antonio] Just put it, in
Rome we say cheese like it rains
- [Mark] Okay.
Alright, I gotta begin with the carbonara.
Twist a, twist a fork bite.
Mine's gonna be a big bite.
- [Antonio] If you're
not careful, you're gonna
get everything.
- [Mark] Sauce all over, yes.
Okay, I gotta work on my
fork, okay there we go,
I think I've got a nice twirl.
Oh yeah.
Wow.
And this is also cooked
with pork cheek, so there's
little pieces of pork
cheek in here, and that
gives a lot of flavor to
the entire dish, and also
you can taste that black
pepper in there as well.
That is just absolute rich deliciousness
coating the noodles.
I'll try this one next.
Wow, okay that one is incredible.
The combination of that
sheep cheese, which has this
like salty, kind of complex
cheese flavor, and then
it's complemented so well
just with that black pepper.
And then just coating
that pasta, that is a,
just a superb combination,
it tastes just simple, but
all about the flavor from
that cheese, and the pepper.
(Italian conversation)
Oh the wine is amazing.
- [Antonio] The wine's good huh?
- [Mark] Yeah, oh it's so like smooth.
Oh, grazie, grazie.
And we also got another
pasta, with anchovies and
tomatoes, and anything else in this one?
Anchovies and tomatoes and garlic.
And sheeps' cheese, also.
And this one is the house special.
This one is really good
too, you can taste,
of course you can taste the anchovies.
A little bit of cheese
in there, and then also,
I think some kind of
parsley in there as well.
That tastes like kind of refreshing.
Adding a little extra pepper.
All of the pastas are
just unbelievably good,
I really, I think I really
loved that one with the
sheep's cheese, and pepper,
that combination just
complements each other so
well, but the carbonara
is also impressively
good, it's so rich, and
so like, yeah it's just
incredibly rich and creamy
and just packed with flavor,
the butter, the eggs,
the pig cheek, and I
definitely need to work on
my pasta twirl.
(Italian conversation)
All of the pasta, that
was only the beginning
of this meal, we have now
moved on to the main courses,
and we have a bunch of different dishes.
We got some liver, which is
a Venice style preparation,
boiled beef which is then
fried and then combined with
tomatoes and onions and
pine fruit, and then this is
another interesting vegetable
dish that we got here,
which is chicory weeds,
which I don't think I've ever
had before, rabbit which
looks like it's, I think
it's been braised in some
wine, and also rosemary,
and then the final meat
dish I think we got is veal,
thin strips of veal, with prosciutto?
- Prosciutto.
- Prosciutto,
with prosciutto on top, and
then with fresh sage on top,
butter and white wine sauce.
I'm gonna start with the
liver, liver and onions.
Oh yeah.
I love liver, oh that's
really nice because
you can actually taste
the white wine in there,
and I also got a piece of
sage in that bite as well.
That sage is wonderful.
Okay onto the rabbit, and
it looks like I got the,
I got some ribs portion.
Let me flip him over.
Oh it's okay to grab it?
Okay, I think it's maybe easier
to grab it with my fingers.
Wow.
The rabbit is amazing, it's so tender.
It's almost like dark meat chicken.
Onto the beef now, with the tomatoes.
Wow.
Yeah, that is a stunner.
That beef, again it's
fall-apart tender but it
sort of like, it sort of
like flakes in your mouth.
And then that's like a,
a sweet, but like very,
very fragrant tomato
and onion topping, and
I'm trying to distinguish
the spices in there,
the herbs and there's definitely the pine,
the pine cone fruit, in
there, although I'm not sure
if I can decipher that on
it's own, but also there's
a little bit, Antonio was
telling me that there's
also a little bit of
fennel in there as well,
that's an amazingly,
an amazing combination,
that's delicious.
Veal, let me take out a
toothpick, and you can see
that piece of sage on top.
Oh yeah.
That is awesome as well.
The sage on there is what
gives it it's twist of flavor.
This is the vegetable, that
chicory, the chicory leaves.
We're eating that sort of
at the end of the meal.
Just a hint of a bitter taste to it.
Really good, and you can
taste that it's fried
with garlic as well.
I have a piece of bread, in
Italian it's called scarpetta,
and what you do is you
take a piece of bread,
I'll go over here to this
plate, and you just mop up
all of that juice and oil
and flavor from that dish,
oh and some rosemary as
well, you mop that all up,
you get that all in there, and you
clean the plate that way.
That would make any type
of bread taste good.
We finished off all of the
food, and we decided it
would be a great idea to
order one more dish, and
not only any one dish,
but a baby lamb dish.
Oh that just, oh that's beautiful.
Wow.
That is like...
It almost has a creamy
texture, it's fantastic,
and again that like, butter, I'm guessing
butter and white wine sauce with rosemary.
(Italian conversation)
Thank you very much.
Mmmm, wow, you can taste
all those herbs in there.
- It's about a hundred herbs or something.
- It almost has a little
bit of an anise flavor,
a little bit of a peppermint
flavor, a little bit of a,
and that's the combination
of all those herbs.
Do we stand here and have it?
- [Antonio] We stand here, yeah.
- [Mark] Probably one of
the best Italian meals I've
ever had, huge thank you
to Valentina and Antonio,
it was fun to hang out
with them, I'm gonna end
the video for today right
now, thank you all very much
for watching, please
remember to give this video
a thumbs up if you enjoyed
it, leave a comment below,
and also make sure you
subscribe if you're not already
subscribed, for lots more
food videos, and I will
see you on the next video,
thank you again for watching,
see you for the next day in Rome.
(beep)
Or some of that pepper.
Oh, I'm using the, I'm
using the knife upside down.
In Italian it's called carpetta.
- [Antonio] Scarpetta.
- [Mark] Scarpetta.
In Italian it's called scarpetta.
(upbeat music)
