Stazione di Posta: Where Rome’s Old and New Meld into One

Have you ever eaten in an old slaughterhouse? Well I did recently!

And not just any old slaughterhouse. The ex-mattatoio in Testaccio site now houses the MACRO museum, the Citta dell’altra Economia and a Michelin star restaurant and is a place which played a most significant role in the birth of roman cuisine (read more about this in my post about cucina romana).   Stazione di Posta, the brainchild of young roman chef, Marco Martini opened in 2013 and brings old and new together in a deliciously spectacular way.

Martini hails from the Castelli Romani, the roman countryside, and worked as executive chef at Rome’s award winning Open Colonna and then in London with (3 Michelin starred) Heinz Beck of La Pergola fame. All this and by 30 years of age awarded his first Michelin star; a high achiever to say the least.

The menu has a bit of cheeky spunk in that it challenges fine dining tradition with an option to have cocktails matched to your food instead of wine (not that wine matching isn’t available; on the contrary the extensive wine list boasts numerous local and international labels).  It’s molecular dining in quite a relaxed setting and while I’ve been fortunate enough to dine at many of Rome’s Michelin star establishments, this one really blew my mind.

From the chefs’ starters which combined a series of deconstructed versions of the roman pasta classics (carbonara, amatriciana, cacio e pepe and aglio, olio e peperoncino) through to the pre-dessert sugar creations (including a mini Japanese bonsai tree with hanging meringues and mini ice creams), Martini’s creations surprised and surprised me again. And they made my jaw drop on more than one occasion.

Here’s what I ate:

Pre dinner snack was an Aperol, rum and ginger cocktail plus a deconstructed baked tomato stuffed with rice

 

The chefs’ amuse bouche blew my mind: deconstructed versions of the Roman pasta classics

 

Carbonara sauce in an eggshell

 

Inspired by Asian-style pork buns these ones are Roman with porchetta instead

 

Red prawn carpaccio with parmigiano reggiano sauce, rocket and lemon jellies

 

Tortelli filled with mortadella mousse and served with pistacchio and a pizza bianca (foccaccia) broth. Inspired by the very Roman pizza bianca & mortadella (pizza e mortazza)

 

Pizza bianca broth being poured overbthe pan fried tortelli

 

I’ll take a pre-dessert like this any day: berry yoghurt delights, chocolate ice-cream sticks, cake pops with popcorn crust, homemade marshmallows and a bonsai tree with hanging meringues!

 

Smoked chocolate delight

 

Signing off from Trastevere

Baci, Maria

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