Illustration by Fig & Ginger, drawn from the review. The venue's own photo is on its way.
Southern Italian pastry shop and brunch in Porta Venezia, Milan
Gelsomina
The Maritozzo Has a Northern Address
The maritozzo is a Roman bun split open and filled with an indecent quantity of whipped cream. It has no business being this good in Milan. Gelsomina, on a side street between Repubblica and Porta Venezia, makes it the house signature, and the cream is the kind that leaves a moustache and no regrets.
Order it plain, or with pistachio cream, or with pastry cream, or caramel. Then order the savoury one, which stuffs the same soft bun with bacon and scrambled egg and makes a very persuasive case for brunch as a philosophy. The rest of the board is southern Italian in spirit. Fresh pasta at lunch, spaghetti alla chitarra with San Marzano tomatoes, ricotta and spinach ravioli, a lasagna that changes weekly. There are eggs Royale on savoury brioche with marinated salmon for the international crowd, and a croissant counter that runs from plain to pistachio. Espresso is one euro thirty, which in this postcode is a kindness.
A second Gelsomina on Via Galvano Fiamma, near Porta Vittoria, adds aperitivo and dinner. Via Tenca is the daytime room. Go hungry, order the bun first, and do not share it.
- Order this
- Maritozzo with whipped cream and pistachio, Bacon and Eggs Maritozzo, Eggs Royale, Spaghetti alla chitarra with San Marzano tomatoes
- The damage
- $$
- Go
- Weekday mornings; brunch runs daily from nine to four
- Find it
- Via Carlo Tenca 5, 20124 Milano MI, Italy
- Website
- pasticceriagelsomina.it