The Romance Reviews

Thursday 17 September 2009

Table For Two...?

Tucked away in a rural corner in the tiny Italian province of Rieti is a small restaurant. It’s very special. To reserve your table, you must book at least seven days in advance. You can personalise your menu, choose your background music, and they’ll even bake you a heart-shaped cake. If you arrive at the restaurant after dark, the driveway will be lit with candles.


You’d think a restaurant like this would be bursting at the seams every night, wouldn’t you? That you’d be eating elbow-to-elbow with the occupants of the table next to yours, constantly having to pull in your chair as other customers squeeze past – because, of course, in a special place like this, every inch of floor space is taken up with dining furniture and service trolleys. Every evening will find a party in one corner or another, the loud buzz of jolly conversation, maybe even a burst of song or two.


Not here. For this is Solo Per Due, and the name tells you exactly who you’ll find there. No-one but you and that someone special. For this restaurant is Only For Two.


Imagine! A restaurant where the only customers are you and your loved one. One table, two chairs, and that’s it. No-one else, save for a discreet waiter whom you summon with a silver bell when you’re ready to eat, or when the level of your champagne glasses drops dangerously low. Perhaps you’ll join the lovers from all over the world who have recorded their stories in the restaurant’s libro dei pensieri, the 'book of thoughts.'


How romantic. I’ve never been, but I’d love to. Maybe one day, my travels will take me there, together, of course, with the man I love. We’ve had romantic meals together, but nothing quite like what you'd find at Solo Per Due.


But you know, I don’t think you actually have to travel far to have the most romantic of meals. Sharing a sandwich and coffee in the local park as the autumn leaves fall is romance, for me. Or cooking in the kitchen together, him opening the wine and me at the stove cooking something really simple like an omelette. The salad, of course, we’ll fix together. We won’t bother leaving the kitchen to eat, just pull a couple of tall stools up to the counter and eat and chat, maybe with the radio playing quietly in the background.

Bliss.
No, you don’t have to travel far for a romantic dinner. But if we had to, I think I know where I’d like to go. And no - we won't see you there!

20 comments:

Chelle Cordero said...

Truly great blog! I love how you can see the romance at Solo Per Due or a kitchen stool.

Lindsay Townsend said...

Blissful, Jane! I love the whole idea of Per Due. I'm with Chelle about the romance, too. You allow us to picture it so vividly.... sigh...

Jane Richardson said...

Hi Chelle! Any location can be romantic, can't it? Just depends who you're with and how you perceive it. And if it includes a meal that I haven't had to cook myself, well, even better! ;-0

Jane x

Jane Richardson said...

It's a lovely idea, isn't it, Lindsay? Not cheap, either - but I bet it's unforgettable. :)

Jane x

Mona Risk said...

What a lovely little restaurant for honeymooning or celebrating a special anniversary. How did you discover it Jane? Any interesting details you forgot to mention?

Unknown said...

Ahhh, Jane--you romantic sweetie, you! I've never heard of such a place, and oh, if only I could go there with my darling--and he is, you know--just the best in the world.I've never come close to eating in a place like this.
I love your ideas for your own personaized dinner for two--we do that every night! Most of the time, it's rather mundane, but enjoyable all the same. Once in a while, I do something a little different. thanks for the lovely journey-Celia

Kathye Quick said...

What a great idea for a restaurant. Nothing worse than celebrating something with your own personal hottie and have the two-year old at the next table throw a fry at you!!

Jane Richardson said...

Hi Mona, it's quite well-known. And no, no interesting details I forgot to share, though dh and I did spend our honeymoon in Italy...but you really don't want to know about that!

Jane x

Jane Richardson said...

I hope you get to go one day too, Celia - but if not, you could may lay a few tealights along the garden path and top up your champagne glasses - an extra-special Solo Per Due Texas-style? Wouldn't that be lovely!

Jane x

Jane Richardson said...

Hey Kathye, yes, having fries flung across the room would rather wreck the ambience, wouldn't it? I think I'd chuck 'em back at the two year old when no-one else was looking, har har! ;-)

Jane x

DanielleThorne said...

Beautiful. :)

Cheryl Pierson said...

Oh, Jane, that just sounds lovely. I never knew such a place existed--our dinners for two here consist of eating on tv trays, watching re-runs of NCIS and Criminal Minds and eating hamburgers. LOL This restaurant sounds MUCH better.

Cheryl

Jane Richardson said...

Isn't it just, Danielle! :)

Jane x

Jane Richardson said...

Hey Cheryl, nothing wrong with TV dinners - a fine tradition, as far as I'm concerned! But wouldn't it be so nice to be wined and dined in such a magical place...just once....sigh. :)
We can but dream!

Jane x

LK Hunsaker said...

Jane, that's an interesting concept for a restaurant. Honestly, I'd prefer the picnic table at the park with sandwiches. ;-)

Enjoyed your entry that took me somewhere new!

Savanna Kougar said...

Jane, so romantic... sigh...
I would love to experience both, Solo Per Due, and just the two of us lovers enjoying life and a meal together.
Thanks for sharing this most lovely restaurant and what it means to be together with the man you love.

Mary Ricksen said...

the only way I will get to that restaurant is as a waitress. But the stools and the omelette, that I can do!

Jane Richardson said...

Thanks, LK! Sandwiches are good!

Jane x

Jane Richardson said...

Definitely an experience you'd never forget, Savanna. And only in Italy could such a place exist! They certainly know all about 'amore.' :)

Jane Richardson said...

Mary, I will think of you next time I'm whipping up an omlette, I promise you! ;-)

Jane x