La Mucca Biricchina
Where? La Mucca Biricchina (Monti, Rome, Italy) Map Menu
When? Monday June 15, 2026
Who With? Me
Food Style? Italian
My first choice of restaurant was full, so I needed to come up with an alternative. I'm reassured by some wise words from my Italian pastor: “you won’t find bad food in Rome”. Down the street from my original choice is this osteria, near Cavour station, and it’s mostly empty, which may be a bad sign. The walls are decorated with beautiful murals depicting Italian life and famous Roman landmarks. I was interested in their seafood pasta, but upon opening the sticky menu, there's a footnote saying that the seafood is in fact frozen, and my heart drops. At least they’re honest? I choose an appetiser and a mains, neither of them being marked as frozen. If I finish early, I’m going to grab some gelato from Gelateria Dell'Angeletto down the street.
The table near me ordered a starter of prosciutto and melon, and that is literally what has been served in front of them. Slices of melon and prosciutto draped over them, with no thought given to presentation or garnish.
Drink
My drink of choice is a local soda with juice and pulp from Sicilian lemons. It’s refreshing and fizzy, very reminiscent of a Lift, which I miss dearly.
Appetiser
Cozze alla Marinara: Mussels marinara
I really hope I don’t get food poisoning from this but it’s usually easy to tell if mussels are off. It smells nice, fragrant with tomato, parsley and garlic. I dig in - it's good. However, the bread is burnt, but thankfully it's not a big issue because of the free basket of bread that everyone gets with their meal. I’m doing my utmost best to prevent a mess but one, a shell drops on the floor after my shell plate overflows, and two, as I’m opening one of the mussels, it snaps and splashes the tomato broth all over me. Fortunately I'm not wearing white, and I'm also wearing a quick-dry tank top, so no major damage. I’ll clean this up later.
Mains
Lasagna
It doesn’t look like a regular lasagna? But it smells very cheesy and appetising. After a few mouthfuls I can tell this is going to be a stretch to finish, but it’s pretty decent. I’m glad it’s not seasoned any more than this, the saltiness of the cheese provides enough flavour as it is.
Overall, pretty solid. Not particularly interesting or outstanding, but something enjoyable enough for the night. They don’t accept credit card, but I luckily have some cash on hand to pay.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:08am on Wednesday July 8, 2026 :: 0 comments :: 