Beth Din of Rome? Kashrus info appreciated

Odelyah

Sun, Aug 24 2014, 8:58 pm

Our son will be traveling to learn in Israel with a long stopover in Rome tomorrow, and we've had a hard time so far trying to find information about the level of kashrus of the restaurants there. Does anyone have any information about the Beth Din of Rome, and specifically the restaurant called BaGhetto? (It looks like there are 3 locations.) I know that friendly and helpful anonymous Jewish women on the internet are not the arbiters of my kashrus decisions Smile

but nonetheless any info you can provide would at least be a great place to start. Does anyone know anything about the level of kashrus? Do you know if it's considered on the level of OU supervision in the states or say, Rabbanut Yerushalayim Mehadrin in Israel? Do you know anything about the Rav HaMachshir? Thank you so much in advance for any info you can provide!

Mrs Bissli

Mon, Aug 25 2014, 5:26 am

BD Rome is definitely on the par with OU or similar Western European communal hashgacha.
Exactly what do you need to know--CY or not? (They have separate meaty and milky restos).
Like many European restos under supervision,
I assume they may not be under mashgiach tamid, but in that case they should have constant
and complete CCTV coverage of the kitchen (which my DH who does kashrut work sometimes
thinks is superior to having a sole mashgiach tamid).

5mom

Mon, Aug 25 2014, 5:38 am

As I understand it is totally reliable but the baseline standard for meat isn't glatt. Meaning that in the case of red meat only, people who are used to that standard may choose not to have meat. Some restaurants offer glatt on request, at a higher cost.

Tekky

Mon, Aug 25 2014, 5:54 am

Before stopping over in Rome, I got in touch with R' Paysach Krohn who has done tours there. He gave me the phone number of his tour guide who got me in touch with his close friend in Rome who let me know to keep away from the meat places, but that the dairy places are fine - this includes BaGhetto where we actually went.

NOTE: There are no hechsherim on basic foods in Rome, including soda, chips etc. We were told by OU that any product that is always kosher with zero exceptions, like Coke, is OK to eat, while something like Pringles we should stay away from.

He should bring as much food as he can and thinks he will be eating.

anonimouse

Mon, Aug 25 2014, 11:12 am

I was there recently on a long stopover. We were looking for the level of badatz in Israel, so probably a little more machmir than what you're looking for.

We were told that Yotvata was okay it's a milchig restaurant not far from where baghetto is- about a 2 minute walk from the Great Synagogue. We ate there twice, because we were less sure about other places and it was delicious!

There's a gelato place in the ghetto area that is not chalav Yisroel, but the pareve gelato is okay hechsher wise and absolutely delicious. It was creamier than any milchig ice cream we've ever had.

Drinks- there's coke everywhere. Once you have a bottle of water, it can be refilled from any of the city's water fountains- the water is delicious and cold. There is a list of kosher drinks and snacks, but we never found anything in the kiosks besides coke/sprite type drinks that we could buy.

Your son should also take the opportunity to daven in the shul there, if it works out with his flights. The Italian community is not Sefardi or Ashkenazi- they have their own nusach and it's completely different.

you can pm me if you have any questions- we did this just a few weeks ago and it was an amazing experience!

Odelyah

Mon, Aug 25 2014, 12:00 pm

Thank you so much! This is so helpful! Yotvata sounds ideal (personally if I was going for authentic Italian food I'd much rather go milchig than fleishig anyway). Do you happen to know the name/ address of the gelato place? Wow this all sounds so delicious I wish I was traveling with my son! Smile

anonimouse

Mon, Aug 25 2014, 2:01 pm

I don't remember the address of the gelato place - I'll try to look it up for you, but it's a few shops down from Baghetto, on the same side of the street.

Our favorite dishes at Yotvata were the four cheese gnocchi, the spiach ravioli and the fried mix we ordered (fish, cheese, and a few other battered and fried things) Our favorite dessert there was the sdrufolone ( a chocolate filled dough thing with chocolate sauce on top) but everything there was great.

Also- if he goes for minyan, he should make sure to show up a little early. Security is very heavy there.

If he won't be there for davening, he can still go in if he takes the Jewish Museum tour- it was 12 euros for entrance and included the tour and is really, really worthwhile.

If he wants to go to the Colosseum, (also amazing) you should buy him the ticket online and print it out beforehand- you bypass the long line and go in right away.

Also- depending on where he's starting from and how much time he has, he should plan out a circular route of the ancient sites- you'd be surprised how much you can see in a few hours. You have to have an idea of where you're going, though. For the most part, the amazing things are plopped in the middle of a busy city, so they can be hard to find without a map and a touch of Italian. (scusi, scusi- fontana di trevi? grazie, grazie)

Odelyah

Mon, Aug 25 2014, 11:24 pm

Wow! Thank you so much anonimouse for taking the time to give me so much useful detailed information! I forwarded it to him and we got a brief email thanking me (meaning all of you Smile

and the nice Chabad rabbi who responded to my email) for all the info and saying that he and his friend had a great time, saw all the sights and davened in the Great Synagogue. (Not sure what they ended up eating-- will have to get details about that later Smile

) They should be on the plane on the way to Yerushalayim now-- the best city in the world. Thumbs Up