Lunch at Sora Margherita

Bill and I went back to the Ghetto that night in search of Sora Margherita, another restaurant recommended in Food.Wine.Rome. We were excited to find this unmarked doorway at Piazza delle Cinque Scuole, 30. It looked very promising. We went back yesterday at noon exactly, only to be told that they didn't open until 12:30 p.m. We made a reservation and were back at 12:30 sharp.

This is our waitress in red. She settled us at our table, which had Bill's name written in the corner of the paper table cloth. She made a number or recommendations in rapid Italian, which we barely followed, but everything SOUNDED fine, so we agreed to everything and settled into our white wine and bubbly mineral water to wait, while she took orders from the other diners.

We didn't have long to wait for our first courses.

You have probably seen pictures of those gorgeous, yellow, zucchini flowers, that the Italians stuff and deep fry. Well, they are called Fiori Fritti, and here's one sitting on the plate in front of me, all ready to eat.

When I cut into it the creamy mozzarella filling, flavoured with anchovies, began to slide out. I thought you might want to see what that looked like. The flavours were out of this world. Fried food is comfort food, right? Well, we got comfortable. The waitress asked, in English, "It's OK?"

Meet appetizer number two: Carciofi Giudia. This is an artichoke which has been deep fried within an inch of it's life until the whole is crisp and edible. I asked the waitress, "How do we eat this?" She plucked off one of those petals and popped it into my mouth. I chewed off one end experimentally. She said, "All of it." It was all crispy and delicious. She asked again, "It's OK?"

Now the pasta course. She told us the noddles were made in the kitchen that morning. Here they are dressed in garlic-infused olive oil and mixed with ricotta cheese by our waitress at our table. Scrumptious

At this point we are starting to get really stuffed, so we eyed the next course with something approaching alarm. Bravely, I spooned one of the agnolotti on to my plate and cut it open for my faithful readers at home. It was freshly made ravioli-style pasta filled with beautifully spiced, ground beef. Have I used the word delicious yet? I'm beginning to lose track...

Here's what it looked like. Bill and I divided them between us and devoured them.

I glanced across the table and was pleased to see Bill swooning in ecstasy. It was all much more than OK! We passed on the meat course, opting instead for two espressos. They are said to have a gentle, digestive effect. We reeled out of there, afterward, into the blinding Roman sunshine, satisfied, in need of our siestas.