Il Pagliaccio

The name means 'the clown,' and there is a playfulness to Anthony Genovese's cooking that belies the two Michelin stars and the decades of technique that underpin it. Genovese — born Italian, trained in France, deeply influenced by years cooking in Southeast Asia and Japan — produces tasting menus that move between Italian tradition and Asian precision with a fluidity that feels natural rather than forced. A dish might begin with Roman artichoke and end with yuzu and shiso; a broth might reference both dashi and brodo. The dining room on Via dei Banchi Vecchi is intimate — six or seven tables — and the service operates with the attentive discretion of a house that knows its audience. This is Rome's most intellectually ambitious restaurant, and the ambition is matched by execution.