Trattoria Da Cesare al Casaletto

Tucked in the residential Monteverde neighbourhood far from any tourist circuit, Da Cesare is the trattoria that Roman food writers send their friends to. Leonardo Vignoli and Maria Pia Cicconi took over in 2009 and quietly turned it into one of the city's most respected kitchens without losing its neighbourhood-joint soul. The cacio e pepe is textbook, the supplì are shatteringly crisp, and the offal dishes honour the old quinto quarto tradition of Testaccio's former slaughterhouse district. Tables spill onto the pavement in warm months, surrounded by apartment blocks rather than souvenir shops.