Eataly Rome

Last week while reading one of my favorite blogs I thought I had a vision, I read that a new Eataly branch was gonna open in Rome... As you have read in a previous post, I'm an Eataly lover.
So I double-checked and yes, it was true, on June 21 (just a day before my visit, if that's not destiny, then I don't know what is) Eataly opened its doors in the huge Air Terminal Ostiense, a horrible (not so much anymore) building left unfinished, like many Italian constructions, since the World Cup in 1990. So it was our first stop, we managed to get a cheap room in a hotel in the area - more on that on another post - and we were there in no time.

Eataly Rome

It is huge, 4 floors of paradise! On the ground floor there is the fruit and veggies section, the bakery, a Venchi ice cream shop, a restaurant where you can get the original Piadina Romagnola, bookstore, travel agency, etc. 

Venchi ice cream bar

Ground floor: cash registers, info point, bookstore, etc.

Season's wheel, when can you buy cheaper season's fruit & veggies

The authentic piadine from Emilia Romagna

Sicilian lemons

Yummy fruit

Peppers

Market-like fruit stands

  

Salad types

Travel agency (in partnership with Italo railways)

Jams, marmalades, confettures, honey

  

Italian desserts by region (I won't show you the pictures, I'm not that cruel!)

On the first floor there's the cheeses area, where you can see how they make fresh mozzarella, the cold cuts area, handmade pasta, cheeses bar pasta and pizza restaurants, etc. 

Cold cuts

Fresh handmade pasta

On the second floor, my favorite, there are the restaurants: Seafood, Meat, Beer section, Wines area, bar and one of my new favorites, the Roman Osteria, where Sora Anna cooks delicious Roman traditional dishes like Amatriciana, Abacchio, etc.

Roman Osteria

Wine section

Seafood restaurant

You choose your meat, they cook it in front of you

Guess what was the special of the day at the Roman Osteria: Tripe Roman style, my favorite! In this floor there's also a classroom in which you can follow wine tasting lessons.

Today's special!

On the third floor there's a restaurant with dishes from every region of Italy, like Brodetto Anconetano from Le Marche, Risotto alla milanese from Lombardy, Porceddu from Sardinia, etc.
And other fully-equipped classrooms where you can follow special lessons and Slow Food masters courses.

Equipped classrooms

entrance to the Italia restaurant

How it all started, the drawing of the first Eataly plan

Eataly in the world

Nothing was left out in Eataly Rome.

So, after walking around we chose the Roman Osteria restaurant for lunch, we got a table and got in line to order, we had 2 tripes and a bottle of red wine from Lazio, Cesanese. The total was 38 euro and a bottle of water, bread and service were included.
The tripe was delicious, not as good as Sora Margherita but close, the wine was also good, even if the outside temperature was around 32°C, the AC did its job and we never felt neither hot, nor cold.

Good, cheap wine from Latium

Poetry

Tripe (yummy)

Details

 At some point, Sora Anna came out of the kitchen and started chatting with the clients, as in a typical Roman Osteria. This was the most crowded restaurant, but the 15 minutes line was totally worth it.

Sora Anna talking to a client (in case you're wondering, Sora Anna is the one with the headscarf

We decided to switch the dessert for a nice tartar from the Meat restaurant :) it is a Piedmont specialty called Carne Cruda (raw meat) which is like a tartar but the meat is only cut in small pieces, not minced. The dressing is only lemon and olive oil, perfect to let you taste its exquisite flavor.

delicate Carne Cruda

Piedmont meats

G then got an ice cream that was nothing to talk about. We left the place a couple of hours after we entered, meditating on moving to Rome to be closer to this foodies' Disneyland, perhaps it was the bottle of wine that we just had had...

Eataly is located in Piazzale XII ottobre 1492 (Air Terminal Ostiense), right by the Ostiense station. It is open everyday from 10,00 to 00,00. Restaurants have different opening and closing times so check their website to find out more information: www.eataly.it