Have you heard the news about Rome's hottest new hotel? The Hoxton Rome officially opens on Monday, May 10, sitting pretty in the beautiful Salario neighborhood, a stone's throw from Villa Borghese park. The re-fashioned hotel took over the art deco building where the "Beverly Hills Hotel" previously was, carving out 192 beautiful guest bedrooms, a series of event and private dining spaces, and an entire street-level floor with expansive patio dedicated to exciting and creative food and beverage offerings available all day long.

Orange swirls © Andrea di Lorenzo for Cugino at The Hoxton Rome

The Hox team approached Marigold in 2019 to help them shape and launch their bar and café, designed to serve breakfast, lunch and aperitivo to in-house guests and locals alike. They wanted Marigold to help establish ties with a strong local sensibility, sustainable ethos, market-to-table philosophy throughout the space: from tabletop elements to the menus. So our task entailed showing them the ropes for running a place like that in Rome.

Cugino is a café sprinkled with Marigold magic. You'll find some exclusive pastries and sweets coming straight from Sofie's oven and plates highlighting Domenico's signature attention to detail. But to avoid any confusion, Sofie and Domenico didn't open a second restaurant and won't be actively managing Cugino. It's all in the capable hands of the Hox crew. 

While the pandemic threw in some twists and turns that neither side was really prepared for, we made it through and couldn't be more excited to share it with everyone from May 10th on.

Coffee break at Cugino © Andrea di Lorenzo for Cugino at The Hoxton Rome

Marigold x Cugino at The Hoxton Rome 

Qui c’è roma.

Our kitchen is seasonal and our espresso is strong. We’ve got the inside scoop and the dish on everything. We support sustainable, Italian producers for inspired market-to-table menus, from leisure breakfast to power pranzo. We pour good wine and fun drinks to go with savory snacks for a bella serata.

From sun up to sun down, you’ll find an amico da Cugino.

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While the Marigold gaze is set on international horizons, Cugino is much more settled in Rome, with a California twinkle (it used to be the Beverly Hills Hotel, after all!). We created a guiding philosophy for the place that retains romanity at its core. The experience has been a boundary-expanding exercise for Sofie and Domenico to explore dishes and approaches that might otherwise seem out of place at Marigold but that feel right at home at Cugino.

 Long cakes © Andrea di Lorenzo for Cugino at The Hoxton Rome

What can you expect at Cugino?

Cugino is open for breakfast and lunch during the week and a lively weekend brunch on Saturday and Sunday. Come 5pm, the bar takes over for cocktails and aperitivo spreads. Let's break it down by meal time.

Breakfast at Cugino © Andrea di Lorenzo for Cugino at The Hoxton Rome

Head to Cugino for Breakfast and Weekend Brunch

Opening at 7am each morning, the Cugino breakfast spread is made up of a pastry counter filled with some Roman favorites (like cornetti and Cugino maritozzi - fluffy house-made brioche with lemon curd and whipped cream) as well as Marigold long cakes. Sofie even created a new recipe for orange swirls, a cugino of her now famous cinnamon swirls, exclusively available every morning at Cugino.

For hot breakfast, stop in for your favorite egg dishes - like a seasonal omelette, uovo alla coque, or a Cugino take on a traditional English breakfast: two fried eggs with sausage from our friends at Il Poggio in the Val d'Orcia, and a side of cannellini beans. You'll find Cugino granola - another signature - with organic yogurt and seasonal fruit, classic pancakes with whipped ricotta, and of course, avocado on Marigold rye bread.

Pop in for weekend brunch served from 7am - 3pm, for an extended breakfast menu with savory delights. Think french toast and toasted brioche, two brunch plates highlighting thick slices of house-made brioche and topped with sweet and seasonal prelibatezze. Savory options include a variety of seasonal veggie salads, sandwiches and soup. As well as another Cugino signature: fried eggs and lamb rack, a Roman take on the all-American steak and eggs. 

Debut of Chicchi by Marigold

Cugino is the site of an early debut of Marigold's new specialty coffee line, called Chicchi by Marigold. Chicchi (prounounced kee-kee) means "coffee beans" in Italian, and represents Marigold's latest effort to extend the ethos of celebrating authentic flavors of the highest quality ingredients in its approach. 

The project has taken months to arrive at this point, and the first line of coffees are slated to launch early this summer. In the meantime, our first coffee - a single origin from micro-farms in Papua New Guinea, a small country whose economy is highly dependent on coffee production - can be enjoyed at Cugino.

Daily quiche © Andrea di Lorenzo for Cugino at The Hoxton Rome

Power Lunches at Cugino

Lunch at Cugino is the new, elevated tavola calda hot spot. Not so much for your pomodori con riso or typical tramezzini, instead you'll find the counter packed with sandwiches on sourdough and rye, with seasonally-inspired fillings. You'll also find bagel sandwiches, sourced by our friends Linda and Steve at Beehive Bagels - another positive pandemic pivot story that Marigold is proud to support through their collaboration with Cugino.

The lunch spread includes a daily quiche and daily soup, as well as variety of Cugino salads: recipes that celebrate a few fresh, quality veggies (and meat) left raw, pickled, or roasted. Finally, enter the Cugino pizzette: a fresh approach to take-away pizza in a land swept up in a debate over Roman style vs Neopolitan. The Cugino pizzette is neither of the two, but a personal-size pie topped with seasonal toppings on rotation. Mix and match different dishes to make the perfect lunch-on-the-go, business meeting, or friendly meet up.

Wind Down with Cocktails and Bar Snacks

As the sun lowers, the rush of morning and noontime dissipates leaving the Cugino sala a place for lighthearted cocktail drinking and quality bar snacks. Pair your drinks with Cugino bar nuts - a salty, sweet, and spicy concoction of nuts and seeds - a selection of pickled veggies and classic Italian aperitivo olives. Order a tagliere or two of organic salumi from Tuscany or cheeses from local producers, served lovingly on precious olive wood boards that should look familiar to our Marigold friends - handcrafted by Andrea Brugi of ArtBrugi in Tuscany.

Toasted brioche © Andrea di Lorenzo for Cugino at The Hoxton Rome

Why the name Cugino?

We suggested the name "Cugino" as a reference to the ubiquitous relative that's omnipresent in Italian daily life. It's the cugino who helps you fix your car or gives the best advice, who knows the best deal for pasta in the city or gets you out of a pickle just when you need it. This new space at The Hoxton Rome aims to be just that for the local community, and we wanted to celebrate its entry into the Roman scene.

Cugino at The Hoxton Rome
Largo Benedetto Marcello, 220
Open everyday from 7am - midnight
+39 06 9450 2700 | website

Cover photo: Cugino pizzette © Andrea di Lorenzo for Cugino at The Hoxton Rome