Illustration by Fig & Ginger, drawn from the review. The venue's own photo is on its way.
Historic Milanese and Piedmontese trattoria, since 1921 in Porta Romana, Milan
Trattoria Masuelli San Marco
White Tablecloths Since 1921
Masuelli does not perform its age. It simply has it. The family has been receiving guests on Viale Umbria since 1921, Milan lists it as a historic shop, and the room carries the evidence: white tablecloths, Venini chandeliers from the 1930s designed by Gio Ponti, original Thonet chairs from the 1920s, and panelled walls covered in photographs and dedications from writers and food critics. Max Masuelli, the third generation, runs the kitchen now.
The cooking is Milanese with a Piedmontese accent, which is the family line. The cotoletta comes on the bone, as the house insists it must, light and crisp. The saffron risotto has won prizes. Polenta made from stone-ground eight-row corn shows up beside salt cod, tripe and cassoeula, the pork and cabbage stew the city lives on in winter. The trattoria also serves a piatto del buon ricordo, a dish chosen to stand for the cooking of its territory. None of this is reinvention. It is a kitchen doing the same honest things for a century and getting them right.
Go at lunch. The kitchen serves it Wednesday to Sunday, from 12:30 on weekdays and from noon at the weekend, and the house says booking is welcome; treat that as an instruction. It sits southeast of the centre, a short ride from the Duomo and worth it. Order the cotoletta with the risotto alongside, and save the grappa list for a day with nothing on the calendar afterwards.
- Order this
- Cotoletta alla milanese, on the bone, Risotto allo zafferano, Stone-ground polenta with salt cod, or cassoeula in season
- The damage
- $$
- Go
- Lunch Wednesday to Sunday; book ahead
- Find it
- Viale Umbria 80, 20135 Milano
- Website
- masuellitrattoria.com