Dishes like pasta carbonara, tofu fennel or rucola chilli are served in elegant minimalist surrounds in the 2nd-floor dining rooms.

It dishes up real Roman food for real Roman prices, such as pasta carbonara for €8.

Creamy pasta carbonara is made with bacon, eggs, and cheese.

And the pasta carbonara was gummy.

Deirdre Rockmaker, head of public relations for the store, said in her letter that the store's pasta carbonara was not a salad at all, but a hot dish.

"If the menu outside says it is seven euros for a plate of pasta carbonara - then it's seven euros for everyone," he said.

Wooden safety matches no longer seem so benign when served up as matchstick potatoes, while a bowl of pasta carbonara comes lightly tossed with charcoal briquets.

It looked terrific and I wished it were mine when I tasted my pasta carbonara.

A hearty earthy pasta carbonara ($8.95) entree was too much to eat, but too good to leave.

She got down a third of a plate of pasta carbonara and half a glass of iced tea.