Mi Ristorante Cucina Cinese Contemporanea — Restaurant in Rome

Rome is not famous for its multiethnic culinary scene. So it’s not an exaggeration to say this is probably the best Chinese restaurant in town, and among one of the best Asian spots. It’s not in an intuitive location for tourists so this is a highly local “locale”. The cuisine is from the Schezwan region (made famous by their pepper corn of the same name). Yes, they have the standard “Chinese restaurant in Italy” fare like spring rolls and dumplings, but even these pedestrian options are of a sublime quality compared to the run of the mill “ristorante cinese” in town. It’s the other gems unique to their menu that are just insanely delicious. The eggplant prawn dish is essentially a narcotic and elevates the humble aubergine to a divine status. The tender chili chicken is so hot it will blow a hole in your mouth, but it’s so moorish, the infernal heat becomes a meager price to pay for the magic that otherwise transpires in your mouth. And the beef with onions doesn’t just melt in your mouth, it evaporates. All carb sides are perfect too: noodles, fried rice, etc. Even their plain white rice was just slightly less average. Their delicate double-walled tea glassware to sip on fragrant jasmine tea to temper the flavors seals the deal. Service is efficient but not particularly warm, and it makes sense: with food this good, you don’t need to pander to the masses. Prices are fair, slightly on the higher end, but relative to quality, it’s a bargain. We lunched with kids, who naturally were expecting “fortune cookies”. But there were none to be had: yet another subtle statement saying “we may be a Chinese restaurant in Rome, but we are in a league of our own.” Reservations are essential for dinner, whatever the day of the week. Probably not a bad idea to book...

What I was reminded of today is: A good restaurant sells good food, A great restaurant sells a great experience.

Stepping inside this place means forgetting, even if only for an hour, that we still are in Rome. For starters: they have a dedicated Chinese tea menu and they give recommendations on what to drink and what to pair it with. We chose a variety of my favorite tea (pu erh), served inside a tangerine to give it a lovely, fruity after taste.

The food isn’t the same old stuff you can find at regular restaurants in the city, customized to please the Italian palate, but rather authentic dishes, made fresh to order and plated beautifully.

We absolutely recommend the braised pork served with gua bao (chinese bread) and the fried rice.

Last but not least, I want to thank the lovely Yfei for taking...

I used to put 4 stars for this restaurant and I went there several times since the time I went to live nearby BUT now the service and food has gotten WORSE.

TOO saulty dishes and others that have none, super slow to take the order and even slower to bring the dish... they are so disorganized that for several tables I saw people receiving one dish for one person at a time with 10 or more minutes of difference... The involtino I got was also quite COLD in the middle... and in general dishes had a big difference in temperature for some reason

Some dishes are or used to be quite good but now they aren't for the most part I cojld see and the service is...