Where to eat carbonara in Rome

Carbonara is one of Rome’s most famous pasta dishes, but did you know it only became so relatively recently? The first recorded recipe was only written in 1954, when La Cucina Italiana published a recipe for spaghetti alla carbonara that today would make many turn up their noses: sautéed with garlic, gruyere instead of pecorino cheese, and bacon instead of guanciale.

Today we are in what could be called the fundamentalist era of carbonara: with all the superfluous ingredients stripped away, the dish is based only on eggs, guanciale and pecorino. Let's go and see the best performers of this fundamentalist new wave and discover the best restaurants in Rome to eat carbonara.

Known as the 'Pavarotti of carbonara', Luciano Monosilio also shares his first name with the famous tenor. His reputation has also reached overseas (he recently scored a consultancy in Cape Town), but his carbonara is one with its own reputation. It is he who, in Pipero's time, 'engineered' the bain-marie technique to obtain the perfect consistency of the sauce. The guanciale is cut into thick cubes and made very crisp. And even if his Luciano restaurant today has a more gourmet identity than that of a trattoria, the carbonara is something you must taste if you go to Piazza del Pellegrino.

And then there is Pipero, where it all began. Thanks to his natural talents as a communicator, it was the patron Alessandro Pipero who brought this dish beyond the trattoria, with the innovative idea of selling carbonara by weight. While Monosilio can claim the recipe, today in the kitchen entrusted to Ciro Scamardella, the carbonara di Pipero is not to be missed.

If we can say there is a 'Luciano Pavarotti' of carbonara, then we can also identify a 'Josè Carreras of carbonara' in this Tunisian chef, Nabil Hadj Hassen. For years he has worked at Roscioli, where he has established himself as the king of this dish. For about a year he has been in situ at Baccano, where he has brought his international style of cooking, as well as his mastery in making traditional Roman dishes.

At Roscioli, chef Nabil has left behind all the expertise needed to prepare one of the best carbonaras in the city. While the 'Roscioli method' has been taught in schools, the unique character of this shop is underlined by a counter of delicacies led by Riccardo Cecchetti, who selects the best products in terms of cheeses and cured meats. If you want to know which pecorino or guanciale is the best, you only have to ask. And for such a simple recipe, the best ingredients are the basis of a perfect dish.

Keeping with the lyrical metaphor, we can say that the 'Montserrat Caballé of carbonara' is Barbara Agosti who has dedicated her restaurant to all things eggs (caviar included). Here you can even find a carbonara menu, where you can order the classics, even the 1954 version by La Cucina Italiana. In addition, there is the carbonara on the go, a kind of fried ice cream on a stick filled with carbonara, which the chef brought to Masterchef a few years ago. 

A good example of the modern trattoria, Santo Palato of course has a permanent carbonara on the menu. Sarah Cicolini's is silky, creamy and abundant, with beautiful thick spaghetti as the base, and crispy strips of guanciale. It is one of the few permanent dishes of the restaurant, such as the boiled meatballs and the maritozzo. The changing specials can be found on the blackboard, dreamed up daily by the young chef.

Still from the new wave of modern trattorias - of those with tattooed hosts - here is Trecca, which has happily brought traditional cuisine in a modern key to a dining desert like the San Paolo district. Suffice it to say that finding a table in the Trecastelli brothers' restaurant is a challenge. To justify the success of this address, among other dishes, is the carbonara: a triumph of creaminess. 

A neighbourhood restaurant with a delightful young 'rock 'n' roll' chef. A look at the menu tells us that even though Susanna Sipione seems delicate, her cooking is anything but ethereal. Quinto quarto and Roman classics are ever-present, as well as a good number of creative dishes. Hers is a sumptuous carbonara, which really hits the spot, and makes the numerous aficionados and tourists passing through this small locale in the Prati district very happy indeed.  

This tavern in the centre of Rome is found amongst the hustle and bustle of tourism and is very popular with visitors to the city. For carbonara, it's been a reliable restaurant for decades and has not surprisingly been mentioned by Michelin. The carbonara here is tasty, sinuous, based on spaghetti, and abundant in all the right ways. 

Born of Vincenzo Mancino's project, Dol (Of Lazio Origin), Proloco Trastevere best interprets tradition by putting only selected regional ingredients on the plate. Carbonara is no exception and takes advantage of Mancino's great qualities as a selector, and the expert hand of his wife, Elisabetta Guaglianone, who leads the kitchen. In addition, it is in Trastevere, the right setting for a Roman dish 'Dol'.