Palatium

Around the corner from the Grand Plaza Hotel on Via del Corso is a restaurant called Palatium on Via Frattina. My brother and I ate there years ago for lunch and loved it so much that we went back for dinner on the same day. That was roughly 4-5 years ago.

We were anxious to see if it was still as good as we remembered. I wrote down the dishes we had from primi to secondi and the 2 desserts we loved. I even wrote down the waiter's name who spoke very little English but managed to communicate everything to us. Our waiter this time looked familiar but I was not sure if he was the same one. I asked him his name and sure enough it was Dado. The menu has changed totally, probably a different chef by now. He was tickled pink when I told him we remembered him from years ago as I also showed him a copy of the list of dishes we ordered.

Since we had a buffet breakfast at the hotel and panini for lunch plus gelato before dinner we decided we would share a primi between the 3 of us. We ordered the Spaghetti with just fresh tomatoes and bacon. All of a sudden our appetites emerged. It was more aldente than any pasta we have had and was very light. We were amazed on how this simple dish could be so good. It's probably the pasta they use and the fresh tomatoes. It was just magical. We also thought we should have ordered a bowl each. For secondi, Gary had meatballs that didn't look too exciting, in fact they looked pale. Sandi had a chicken dish with red peppers. It was just ordinary chicken...end of story. My fillet of trout was very good but nothing out of the ordinary.  Even if our main entrees failed to impress any of us, we all decided it was worth going back just for the spaghetti.

For dessert we ordered a chocolate cake with a cherry filling to share and a tiramisu.
The cake was very moist and had a bit of tartness from the cherry filling. It was delicious though I preferred the tiramisu which was soft unlike most tiramisu that is served in the U.S. This had a strong coffee flavor, light and wowed me and Gary. Sandi didn't even try it since she hates coffee; besides, she was so happy with her cake.

It is too bad that we ran out of time so we will not be able to to go back to Palatium at least on this trip. The spaghetti will have to wait. I just hope they don't take it away from their menu.