Restaurant Il Drappo, Rome

Ms Bear had fond memories of a Sardinian restaurant she ate at during her first visit to Rome almost 20 years ago, and made it her mission to track down a candidate to equal her recollections of a fabulous meal.

Inspiration came by way of another blog with detailed descriptions of the treasures on the Il Drappo menu, as well as the living treasure called Valentina, who told us through her English speaking kitchen staff that she's been cooking for 28 years.

It is a jewel box of a restaurant festooned wih drapes and flowers, but the cuisine is far from delicate. My earlier memories of Sardinian cooking are now replaced by the punchy Spaghetti con Bottariga e pomodori di Pachino (i.e., dried roe) and Mr Bear had a osso buco he was impressed by. We polished those off, along with a fantastic salami platter on paper-thin bread, and some of the fried seafood morsels that Romans love.