Illustration by Fig & Ginger, drawn from the review. The venue's own photo is on its way.
Milanese osteria, since 1989 in Porta Venezia, Milan
Osteria del Treno
Meatballs by the Railway
Via San Gregorio is not a postcard street. It is a working stretch near the central station, and that suits Osteria del Treno, which has been feeding this part of Milan since 1989. The Bissolotti family opened it to bring an old building back to life, and it still has two personalities: the osteria at the front and a Liberty dining room kept for events and long evenings.
Weekday lunch is why it is on this list. Monday to Friday the kitchen runs a quick menu of Piatti d'Osteria, the classics that never leave, plus dishes of the day posted on Instagram. Ten euros buys four mondeghili, the Milanese meatballs born from leftover meat and now better than anything they replaced. Another ten gets you anchovies in green sauce, tongue in salsa verde, or lonza tonnata made the old way. Risotto alla milanese is 14, or 16 with beef marrow, and the ossobuco with risotto in gremolada is 30. The osteria belongs to Slow Food's alliance of cooks and farmers and buys from small producers, which you can taste in the cheese plate with honey.
The site takes bookings for dinner and Sunday lunch, not weekday lunch, so turn up close to 12:30. Bring a colleague, split the misto milanese with its robiola, smoked goose breast and nervetti, and do not leave without the marrow risotto. The wine list puts real effort into glasses and value, which at lunch is the only sensible way to drink. I trust a kitchen that prices its meatballs like it wants you back tomorrow.
- Order this
- Mondeghili, four to a plate, Risotto alla milanese with beef marrow, Lonza tonnata alla vecchia maniera, The misto milanese, to share
- The damage
- $$
- Go
- Weekday lunch, 12:30 to 3; Saturday is dinner only
- Find it
- Via San Gregorio 46, 20124 Milano
- Website
- osteriadeltreno.it