Gran Caffè Rione VIII

Behind a name that could belong to any café, Gran Caffè Rione VIII fills a restored former grocery in the old Jewish Ghetto, with bare brick walls and coffered wooden ceilings. Its style sits halfway between a smart café and a relaxed bistro for the neighbourhood. The kitchen covers the whole day, from a breakfast made by hand to a filling Roman lunch with carbonara on the menu and, later, a polished aperitivo. People who live in the area count it among their favourite places, and it manages all of this near the centre of town without catering to tourists.

Turn up for breakfast if the pastries are what you want, since they are made by hand, or for lunch if the carbonara is, a dish from the filling Roman menu the kitchen serves at that hour. Finding either at this standard so near the middle of town is unusual, and the place keeps clear of the tourist trade. The name could pass for any café’s, yet the restored grocery with its exposed brickwork and wood-coffered ceilings is filled mostly by regulars from the surrounding neighbourhood.