The Kingdom of Tiramisu'

I had been hearing about it for years. I frequent the area, yet I don’t know why I had never been there. Every resident of Rome knows about it, but only few seem to have ever really been there. Then one day, after a grueling day of shopping with Federica on via Appia Nuova, I remembered that I was near it. I didn’t know the name, I only knew it by Quelli del tiramisu’ vicino a piazza Re di Roma, or, “the tiramisu’ place near piazza Re di Roma”. I decided to turn to the person who is usually the most current of all neighborhood gossip, the newsstand guy. The answer rolled off his tongue, literally, before I finished the question. Pompi, it was called, the self-proclaimed regno del tiramusu', or, “Kingdom of Tiramisu”. Bar Pompi looks like every other bar-slash-pastry shop in Rome except for that it is roughly the size of a supermarket. The espresso machine looks like something that would be used against your enemy in time of war. About 40 people donning immaculate aprons with cute little hats man the counter in an assembly line fashion. “Ok, here’s your coffee” they tell you as they rip the little receipt exactly one centimeter down the middle. “Please move down 2 meters to collect your croissant”. The coffee was delicious, but we hadn’t gone there for that. We sought out the tiramisu’. Wasn’t this place supposed to be a shrine dedicated to the god of tiramisu’? Where was it? I expected to see someone in a tiramisu’ costume greeting people at the door. I walked the length of the showcase and saw an usually high quantity of small servings of tiramisu’, we were close. One offs, if you will. I almost forgot, for those of you unfamiliar with tiramisu’, it is a very popular Italian dessert made with mascarpone cream, fresh egg yolks, sugar, and lady fingers doused in coffee. The best thing about it is that you don’t even need to cook it. The worst thing about it is that it must settle in the fridge for several hours after you make it so it doesn’t fall apart when served. It is made by taking the egg yolks, mascarpone, and sugar and whipping them into a delicate cream. Then, you dip lady finger cookies in coffee and make a layer on the bottom of the pan. Top that with cream and then you add another layer of coffee-dipped cookies. The last layer should be cream. Stick it in the fridge for 12 hours and there you have it, tiramisu’. The literal translation of “tiramisu’” is “pick me up”. And that’s what it is, a little pick me up of coffee and large amounts of sugar. And there it was, off to the side, a cargo train-length shrine dedicated to the most delightful Italian dessert, tiramisu’. There was tiramisu’ of all sizes. You can get one for yourself, or your family, your squadron, whatever, from an ashtray-sized pan to a bathtub-sized one, they were prepared for anything. I opted for one that could feed approximately 10 people, and it ran me about 15 euros. The photo you are about to see was taken about 0.0005 seconds after the box was opened. That is all that needs to be said.

Bar Pompi
Via Albalonga, 7b (50 meters from piazza Re di Roma)
00183 Roma
tel. 067000418
Closed Mondays