Primi, secondi, dolci

And a lovely lunch

On Friday we had lunch at Trattoria Lilli. It was lovely, and slightly off the beaten track, so it was mostly full of Roman families having lunch rather than tourists.

We shared bruschetta con pomodori, which was garlicky and delicious. I had bucatini all’amatriciana, which I loved, and Phil had the tagliolini a cacio e pepe, which was, I think, the best of the two pastas. We shared a bowl of insalata.

I um-ed and ah-ed over what to have for lunch. All’amatriciana was the thing that was on my mind as we walked there, but when I saw there was cacio e pepe I wanted that. I was also tempted by the meatballs in amatriciana sauce and the chicken in vinegar. I was also quite tempted by the Roman tripe, but worried that because I’ve never had tripe before I wouldn’t like it and that I’d then be stuck with a plate of food I didn’t want to eat.

What I really wanted was to have primi and secondi, but I knew I wouldn’t have the room. Plates of pasta here are generous - so generous that even this glutton would struggle to manage a second plate of food. Sharing bruschetta even felt like a stretch, not least because we’d had a sausage and what was essentially tomato bruschetta for breakfast.

I admire the way the Italians have room for primi, secondi and dolci. And antipasti. I think it’s an excellent skill to have.

In hindsight, I wish I’d taken advantage of Trattoria Lilli’s half portions of primi and secondi. Then I could’ve had both my delicious all’amatriciana, and the vinegar chicken. I probably didn’t need a double amatriciana whammy.

But I was very happy with my choice of primi.

At a table across from us there was a couple out for lunch with their two young children, and the children’s grandfather. I liked the way they all ordered a pasta, but only the adults got secondi. The children were occasionally fed forks of each of the three adults’ secondi, which seemed like a great arrangement for them, getting to try three different dishes. I wanted to be one of those kids.

Although we didn’t have room for primi and secondi, of course we had room for dolci. Phil had a little glass bowl of tiramisu and I had the fresh peach with lemon and sugar. It was one of the nicest little plates of cut fruit I have ever eaten and a perfect way to end a lovely lunch.

A long lunch is such a nice thing, I think. I like that you get to linger for a while, and drink a few glasses of wine. I like that you have time to talk with the person you’re eating with. I like that if you take your time you can eat more than you think you can. And I really like the idea of long family lunches like the one we saw happening, especially if there are fork smorgasbords going on.