Fried cod fillets “Dar Filettaro”
If you come in Rome you can’t miss to taste this amazing delicatessen, and the best place to buy it is at a tavern called “Dar Filettaro”, located in a tiny piazza, Largo dei Librari 88, off Via dei Giubbonari, between Campo de’ Fiori and Via Arenula.
This little and beautiful square is dominated by the Saint Barbara church, the church has been closed during the entire period of 900, it was deconsecrated and used as a warehouse by a Roman interior designer, till it was opened again and restored in 1982.
The specialty of the house is, of course, the fried salted codfish fillets (filetti di baccalà). It is not a typical restaurant, here you can eat cod fillets, chicory and anchovy salad (puntarelle con alici, a typical Roman salad), beans with fresh onions, no first or second courses “cooked”, on long and rustic tables with typical paper tablecloths. These are all foods which came from the popular and poor Roman culture.
It is a place outside of time, were you will found the authentic tastes of Rome near clothing stores and trinkets shops in Via dei Giubbonari, and imitates the old Roman“fraschette”or taverns, where you could take your food from home and order only wine.
Cod fillet is very tasty and it can become a perfect snack after walking for a lot of hours searching the treasures of Rome. As the tradition says, fillets are served as a steak 10/15 cm long; they are passed in a butter of flour and water and fried in huge pans with boiling oil. The filetti di baccalà can either be eaten at the restaurant, which also has tables outdoors, or else wrapped up to take away as a tasty street food snack.
It is typical Roman family-run business, even if prices have risen (€ 4,50 take-away €5,00 seated) everyone should taste a cod fillet once in their life!
Largo dei Librari 88 +39.06.686.4018 Monday – Saturday, 5:30 pm-10:30pm.
Recap: fried cod fillets are served as a steak 10/15 cm long; they are passed in a butter of flour and water and fried in huge pans with boiling oil. Taste it at "Dar Filettaro".