Spazio Roma is a versatile and multifunctional restaurant that bears the signature of award-winning chef Niko Romito.
Located in the heart of the famous Parioli district in Italy’s capital, it represents an experiment that is unique of its kind. Although in line with Spazio, the catering format created in 2013 by the chef, the restaurant stands out from his restaurants in Milan and Rivisondoli in Abruzzo thanks to the exclusive combination of two ambiances – the restaurant Spazio and Pane e Caffè, the area used as bakery, cafeteria and cocktail bar, open all day, from morning to night.
Romito serves authentic Italian cuisine that offers a modern and original interpretation of tradition, focusing on lightness, genuine flavours and sophistication. “I try to offer customers at my restaurant, and Spazio Roma in particular, an authentic culinary experience, made of genuine flavours and tasty dishes, sometimes even very simple ones like bread, all made with the highest quality”, said Niko Romito.

The brief

• Italia Cibum, the company that owns Spazio Romito, needed to restructure the entire area given over to the restaurant. It was a rather atypical place and difficult to develop from an architectural standpoint. It was neither a historical building nor a place with special features. For this reason, it was necessary to rethink it in its entirety, also proposing a style that would give it personality and character.
• The biggest challenge in executing this project was the need to combine in the same space various eatery types, managing to create different atmospheres throughout the day. For this reason, in addition to the furnishings, lighting and materials used, the kitchen and the equipment supplied, which had to guarantee maximum flexibility and constant top performances, were definitely to play a key role.
• The chef had very specific needs and requests for his kitchen. Even in a limited space, it had to be well organised and include everything necessary to achieve fast and structured service for a total of around a hundred covers, divided between up between restaurant and bistro.

The solution

• To supervise the project, Italia Cibum created a work team with Studio Triplan, the architecture company that handled the design of the restaurant, and Grandimpianti Ali, a company specialising in turnkey projects in the world of professional catering.
• The extensive renovation works lasted from September 2017 to January 2018 and, in the final design, two distinct floors were created, namely:
  – the basement level where storage, the meal preparation area, the washing area and the bread and pastry bakery are located;
  – ground floor: for housing the main open kitchen serving the restaurant, a second washing area together with the bistro and the bakery at the entrance.
• “For the kitchen we proposed Ambach because it was absolutely the best choice for meeting all the chef’s needs,” said Alessandro D’Andrade, Grandimpianti’s sales director. A custom cooking island from the System 850 line with minimalist design stainless steel knobs and matte black RAL finishes chosen by the chef was suggested. It is a complete kitchen: the island is fitted with induction hobs, fry top with compound plate, pasta cooker and fryer, all integrated in a single hygienic top with 4 rounded corners.
• The single top has been divided into two parts and then shaped to measure so as to incorporate an existing column in the kitchen. In addition, a grille for resting pots and pans and a support for a salamander were fixed in the central stack.
• To avoid the problem of space, the cooking island was first brought into the room and, subsequently, the kitchen was created around it. The kitchen has been entirely made to measure and is organised with different preparation areas that follow the workflow of the chefs.
• Spazio Roma is certainly an important project because of the intrinsic special feature of the restaurant. Thanks to the excellent teamwork by Studio Triplan, Grandimpianti and Ambach, the end result is there for all to see: a high-performance and good-looking kitchen inside an area with a design carefully crafted in every detail.