Trattoria Sant Arcangelo

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With more than 20 years of travel and hidden behind the Museo de Prado, we find a classic Italian-style trattoria called Sant Arcangelo, which, with its decorations and its menu, hopes to transport us to the Italian region of Tuscany itself. At Sant Arcangelo we shouldn’t look for anything fancy in its food or decoration, since the trattorias are less formal establishments than the ristorantes. You go looking for a more intimate treatment and modest food and decoration, but at a quality (and quantity!) that makes you feel at ease, wanting to come back. It’s this way that they’ve managed to settle down and become so well-known in the neighborhood.

And there’s nothing better than being in such a pleasant place to try a little of what they can offer us, since not everything in Italian cuisine comes down to pizzas and pastas — there’s much more. Like, for example, the appetizers we start with: a fresh vitello tonnato, a dish we’re seeing more and more often that’s almost like eating meat and fish at the same time. If it’s prepared well, it’s a delicacy. Then we try the involtini of eggplant filled with goat cheese and accompanied by a tomato jam, which are bombs of flavor in your mouth, and to finish, a mozzarella burrata with tomato, a classic adapted a thousand ways that still works in its simplest form, as long as the ingredients are good.

As for main dishes, if we wanted to go for a more traditional route, the porcini mushroom risotto is one of the chef’s preferred dishes — and we could see why, considering the care he puts into every bite of rice that falls apart in your mouth. Another, also among the most-ordered menu items, is the ricotta and pear ravioli covered in gorgonzola sauce and accompanied by walnuts, which add a necessary touch of crunch and go together very well with the pear.

The desserts that accompanied the obligatory espresso were a refreshing and rich lemon cake and a tiramisu, both homemade. The great variety and quality of the dishes and products are the signature that keeps this trattoria open. Don’t expect extravagance in the dishes, but do expect good and enjoyable food!