La Cucina de' Mibabbo – Tuscany's fire behind Porta Romana

At the corner of Corso Lodi and Via Lazzaro Papi, a few paces from the old Roman arch that gives Porta Romana its name, La Cucina de' Mibabbo keeps a kitchen that answers only to Tuscany. The ingredient list reads like a map of Slow Food presidia: the onion of Certaldo, Bazzone ham, the red bean of Lucca, Prato's mortadella, Garfagnana's Biroldo. It all builds towards what the house calls the queen of the secondi, a Fiorentina steak cooked in a special oven over vegetable charcoal. Owner Davide Balduini, who grew up in a family of Tuscan restaurateurs before years spent in catering and events, runs the room; chef Roberta Magnani leads the kitchen, pairing tradition with contemporary technique. The result has earned the trattoria a place as Selected in the MICHELIN Guide, the distinction reserved for addresses worth seeking out.

01The room and the setting

The decor is deliberately plain: exposed brick walls, a wooden mezzanine, soft lighting and touches of glass and metal, built for an unhurried atmosphere rather than spectacle. The restaurant's own site describes the ingredients of the space in the same spirit as its food – wood and terracotta, stone and metal – kept simple so the room stays welcoming and intimate.

The ground floor and mezzanine together seat up to sixty guests, with a further twenty places in a small summer garden that opens when the weather allows, a quiet corner for lunch or dinner outdoors away from the traffic of Corso Lodi.

02The chef and the owner

Davide Balduini comes from a family of Tuscan restaurateurs, and the recipes and habits he learned there still run the place. He began at the family restaurant before spending years organising catering and events, and eventually opened La Cucina de' Mibabbo in Milan on his own account.

Insider tip

Closed Sundays and Saturday lunch; nearby parking at Golden Parking, Via Pier Lombardo 26.

In the kitchen, chef Roberta Magnani works alongside him, building a traditional Tuscan repertoire that draws on different corners of the region and sets classic preparations against contemporary technique – the bridge between a rustic trattoria idea and a kitchen precise enough to catch the MICHELIN Guide's attention.

03The cooking

The menu changes with the seasons, built around Tuscan Slow Food producers and fresh ingredients bought daily. Expect home-made pasta, traditional soups and the region's cured meats alongside meat cooked in a dedicated charcoal oven that gives everything from steaks to grilled chicken its particular smoked edge.

Pizza and focaccia come from a wood oven too – the dough left to rise and mature for twenty-four hours before baking, which is why the crust stays light rather than heavy. It is a detail that matters as much here as the grill itself.

04What to order

Start with hand-cut Bazzone ham from the Garfagnana, a Slow Food presidio served simply with warm bread, or a board of aged cheeses with the kitchen's own jams. The pasta course favours pici in a Tuscan pecorino cream with fresh pepper over a fava bean purée, or pappardelle with a wild boar ragù scented with Bolgheri red.

The grill is the main event: a Fiorentina of scottona or a sixty-day-aged Fiorentina of Italian beef, both brought to the table with a tasting of different salts, a whole 500-gram fillet wrapped in Tuscan pork cheek, or the bone-in tomahawk rib for two. For something slower, the veal cheek braised in Bolgheri red with potato purée, or L'infornata del Mibabbo – thin slices of sirloin finished in the wood oven under shavings of Pienza pecorino – show the kitchen's gentler side.

05The neighbourhood and booking

Porta Romana still carries its Roman gate at the head of the street, and the trattoria sits close enough that a meal here fits naturally after a look at the arch itself. It is a historic, residential corner of Milan, busier with Milanese regulars than with passing tourists.

The restaurant's own site lists it as closed on Sundays and on Saturday lunchtimes; parking is available nearby at Golden Parking on Via Pier Lombardo, which closes at one in the morning. Booking ahead is advisable, particularly for the mezzanine or the summer garden.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.