Wilden.herbals meets / Interview with Gastromario

Sometimes finding yourself, in life as in love, is a bit of choosing yourself. Gastromario is a restaurant in Rome born, like us at Wilden, out of a series of choices: to welcome and understand the customer, to offer excellently chosen raw materials, to tell a story but even more, to surprise.

We like to think that, for this series of reasons, our paths have become intertwined: in their establishment you can find our herbal teas and herbal drinks, but even more so an ever-evolving gastronomic proposal that starts from breakfast and ends at dinner.

We had a chat with one of the 3 founders, Simone Romano (hall and cellar) and got their story.

How did the Gastromario project come about?

Gastromario is a culinary project that originated during Covid. Coming out of a series of haute dining experiences marked by the “food=experience” vision, Valentina De Caro (desserts and breads), Francesco D’agostino (kitchen) and I, decided to open a multifunctional restaurant inspired by Parisian bistros.

The pandemic changed our vision a lot, so we began to think of a place that would work in any situation, even one so particularly delicate and unsafe. From here we moved toward a French bistro idea with an in-house bakery and pasta workshop, both basic necessities, encapsulated in a venue with a definite know-how but with a democratic and affordable price, similar to that of mid-range venues.

Our desire was to create an intimate and cozy place to ensure quality products throughout the day.

What is your philosophy?

We put welcoming and listening to what the customer wants first. We don’t try to educate people: we think it might seem presumptuous at times. We prefer to tune in to the customer’s needs and meet them.

With us you find yes coffee for 1 euro but also more important offerings such as a meat, fish and vegetarian dish or dessert in the classical and French style. It is an ever-evolving philosophy based on demand.

What kind of work do you do on raw materials?

We do very careful and judicious research: we only want products whose story we can tell. They may be of excellence or traceable even to large retailers, they still have a character and identity with something to say and to transfer to the customer.

What is your menu like: does it often undergo changes, do you have set dishes always or an iconic dish that identifies you?

The menu changes approximately every three weeks and consists of 3 choices per course type plus daily off-menu items. Of each type, we have one vegetarian, one meat, and one fish proposal that change on a rotating basis.

There are some dishes that are becoming staples and are in high demand, but we try not to get too attached. We prefer to run them both as a matter of seasonality and novelty effect for the customer.

What is the point of connection with Wilden?

No doubt I think we want to tell a story. We both have a philosophy marked by craftsmanship and the concept of beauty-we firmly believe in it, the world would not go on without some beauty and character!

Wilden in this very much mirrors us and was able to fill a gap we had before we met you.

What does it mean to be healthy and wild?

In my opinion, it means having the awareness to choose products with a certain philosophy and not having mental limitations and preconceptions in trying things you are not familiar with. One must be totally free to rewrite the rules, for example, to dine with an accompanying herbal tea or, why not!!, to have an aperitif with a kombucha and not the usual Spritz.