Dish finder in Rome

Tonnarelli tossed with pecorino romano and black pepper into a creamy sauce with no cream. Three ingredients and nowhere to hide.

Guanciale, egg yolk, pecorino and pepper. No cream, no garlic, and Romans will tell you so.

Guanciale and tomato with pecorino, often on bucatini, the hollow spaghetti. A pinch of chilli in most kitchens.

Carbonara without the egg, amatriciana without the tomato: guanciale, pecorino and pepper. The oldest of the four.

Rice in tomato sauce around a piece of mozzarella, breaded and fried. Pull it apart and the cheese strings like a telephone cord.

Rectangular pizza cut with scissors and sold by weight. Point, say how big, and eat it standing up.

A triangle of pizza bianca filled with Roman stews such as chicken cacciatora or oxtail. A recent invention that has spread across the city.

Alla romana braised with mint and garlic; alla giudia deep-fried whole until crisp, the speciality of the old Jewish quarter. Best from February to April.

Courgette flowers stuffed with mozzarella and anchovy, battered and fried. A pizzeria starter, in spring and summer.

Battered strips of salt cod, fried and eaten with your fingers, ideally with a glass of cold white wine.

Milk-fed lamb chops grilled fast and eaten hot enough to burn your fingers, which is what the name means. Traditional at Easter.

Thin veal escalopes topped with prosciutto and sage, pan-fried in butter and white wine.

Oxtail braised for hours with tomato, celery and a hint of cocoa. The butchers' dish of Testaccio, where the slaughterhouse used to be.

Crisp chicory shoots in an anchovy, garlic and lemon dressing. A winter salad found only in Rome; ask for it without anchovy if you need it meat-free.

A soft sweet bun split and filled with a startling amount of whipped cream. Breakfast at the bar with a cappuccino.

Hand-shaved ice with fruit syrups and fresh fruit, sold from kiosks along the Tiber on summer nights.