The goal at Imago in Rome is the future

On the latest menu at Imago, the restaurant overlooking Rome from the sixth floor of hotel Hassler, on top of the Spanish Steps, there’s an incomplete number eight in red, which resembles a bitten doughnut. Eight because this is the eighth menu created and presented by Andrea Antonini, born in Rome in 1991, at the helm there since the spring of 2019. Had it not been for the pandemic, there could have been a couple more, but this is reality and in this case it’s a very important result for the chef and his team, starting from maître Marco Amato and sommelier Alessio Bricoli.

The two minds at Imago in Rome: Marco Amato, left, and Andrea Antonini, right

There was a first stage when the question was only one: having changed chef, will the Michelin guide confirm the star in the autumn? Yes, it did. The single star remained, even though the policy of the Red Guide usually doesn’t publicize this kind of continuity. Announcements are only made for absolute novelties, from zero to one, but never for those who, having just arrived at the helm, maintain the previous acknowledgement. So one could even wonder if they had noticed, if they had tested him.

Marco Amato laughs because at Imago there’s a rule that men dine wearing a jacket and if you don’t have one, they will supply one for you

No matter how it went, the goal at Hassler and at Imago was that of getting rid of any fear, of not looking too much around, of not making too many comparisons in a capital that is becoming more and more brilliant in terms of restaurants and hotels, which must be taken as an input to do better and better, without transforming this into a worry.

And even though at the beginning it was clear that Antonini was full of talent, it is only with menu number 8 that he completed the training, dishes and spaces. The dining room, at first sight, seems the usual, no detail has changed. False: they have removed three tables. Now there’s a table for each large window overlooking Rome, while in the past it could happen that guests would have a column in between, giving a partial view of the uniquely beautiful city.

The welcome platter in menu number eight at Imago inside hotel Hassler in Rome

This anticipates the next goal: the second star. At Imago they are speeding up and this is no trivial, simple thing. We should consider that hotel Hassler is so charming that it tends, unintentionally, to overshadow the jewel it holds inside, forcing those who work there to work extra hours. It’s as if everything was subject to a stress test. Even the chef’s table and the cheese cart from which they have removed foreign products and is now half Italian and half from Lazio.

Andrea Antonini and Calamaro alla milanese, November 2022

If Rome must belong to its visitors, then it must be so even in its less clear details. As for the table overlooking the stoves, it’s not in the kitchen. Too big the table, too small the kitchen. So it’s in the dining room, at the entrance, round and tall. It was the table of patron Roberto Wirth, who passed away on the 5^th of June last year. Antonini wanted it here, to welcome the people he respects, those who could advise him, those who pay attention to how the place is growing. And from his place he can look there.

Andrea Antonini and Ravioli with rabbit liver, spugnole mushrooms and cocoa broth

The dominating thought is of Wirth senior, printed on the second page of the menu: «Let’s never look at the past because it distracts us from the present, and our goal is the future». And the future he left to his twins, his son Roberto jr. and his daughter Veruschka, has as its goal the growth of the restaurant. In this sense, I liked how Andrea rationalised the dishes and the presentation without ever losing a very pleasant touch of irony.

The new cheese cart at Imago: left only Italy, right only Rome and Lazio

While in the past you would be submerged with tastings and bites, now you are served basically the same amount of tastings, but gradually, like a small wood board on which they place three small pieces of salami and as many of cheese, lardo and mortadella, donkey salami, pecorino toscano, parmigiano reggiano vacche rosse matured 40 months and sheep’s milk caciotta. And the spherifcation with of an olive, a “tribute to Adrià”, foie gras and raspberry, before starting the important dishes.

The Misto mare Imago 8 is worth framing, a triumph not only of seafood but also of flowers and vegetables; Artichoke and sweetbreads; Calamaro alla milanese, cut thinly to remind you of saffron risotto; succulent Ravioli with rabbit liver, spugnole mushrooms and cocoa broth; Faraona alla diavola, after two menus marked by chicken; Apple cake in a spiral. Before that, there’s the cheese cart, and after that, the fruit one, to make a tasting menu for 200 euros, not including drinks. I agree with the Wirth family: your goal must be the future.

Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso