You can't say that you really know Milan, if you've never been to Rob de Matt. Because they are places, projects and people that ennoble a city like this, managing to stand out and really make the difference in a city that is always in turmoil, with clubs and restaurants that open or close every day. So today we need more places that remain, moreover, in neighborhoods like this. In short, just like Rob de Matt.
Rob de Matt
Rob de Matt was born in April 2017 from the idea of Francesco Purpura, Edoardo Todeschini is Tommaso Berta, all with different experiences in education. They decide to make them converge in a common project: to create a place for the job reintegration of people with discomforts and fragility of various types, where the border with the "supposedly normal" was not too marked and distinguishable. In fact, it often happens, Francesco tells us, that they are the ones who are mistaken for the "matt"; but in the end we are not all a bit crazy (hence the hashtag) #ipazzisiamovoi)? In general, Rob de Matt wants to be a busy place because he is fine, he eats and drinks quality regardless of the project behind it; but at the same time it also wants people to know and inform themselves about its origin, so that there is a balance between these two aspects. Often here cultural events are organized, such as the Rubber Illustration Festival or many other meetings with writers, musicians, artists; the important thing is that they really understand what Rob de Matt is. The name, designed by Edoardo, could only have a strong Milanese connotation, both as a city where all three grew up; both because it is located in a particular area of Milan. Suffice it to say that Dergano's life revolves around a square without a name: "they had forgotten to give it to him!" Says Mr. Aldo Bartoli, a family doctor, a resident of the neighborhood since birth.
The Dergano district
To understand the history and current situation of Dergano, just look at the houses: they are all low, except the last one they built, a much taller white tower, a sign of a neighborhood that has always been in a way and is becoming other. What is certain is that within just two years Rob de Matt has unquestionably become a point of reference, in fact, the other activities with the same function are few. There is Mamusca, "the parents' bar", as they often make an aperitif while the children can play and have a snack; there is the Latteria Maffucci, a place for lovers of fish and intimate places, once upon a time, where the old landline still rings, the menu is fixed price and the vermentino is always on the table. And then not only food: in the last period there is really a new wind, with the reopening of Cinema Nuovo Armenia or with the Via Dolce Via initiative, in which nothing is bought or sold, but artisans trying to cultivate a sense of belonging, just like it used to be. "As long as there was the factory Carlo Erba Dergano was a working-class neighborhood," Aldo always tells us. " "In fact it was all full of taverns, there were only seven in this street, with carters and lots of wine, which is why women hated taverns. And then there was the pulentat on the corner with Via Jenner; otherwise we ate bread with mortadella and gorgonzola, which were cheap and flavored so much. After the closure of the factory, however, it was the Southerners who animated this area, particularly the square. And then they brought pizza, which before in Milan we only heard about. But today nothing but pizza, there is Filipino, Japanese, Chinese cuisine; and then there's Rob de Matt, which everyone talks about, sooner or later I have to go too!"
A Mediterranean cuisine
Edoardo takes care of the kitchen at Rob de Matt, who started working in the restaurant sector to pay for his university studies in history. Until one day, in the absence of the cook, he passes from the room to the kitchen and from that moment he never stops cooking around the world, accumulating experiences in which he has always tried not to neglect the historical, social, cultural aspects. The kitchen that he set for Rob de Matt is first and foremost a simple kitchen, so that he can best teach the consequential transformation of the raw material; but not least is the attention given to other aspects such as seasonality, the short chain and the selection of products and, as we will see, the reuse of waste (which goes into those alchemies of cocktails that Kenny prepares). But for Edoardo, it is important that his cuisine always knows a little about the Mediterranean, that he carries his smells, his spices, his colors, his perfumes. Thus, whether the menu is summer or winter, there are never any dishes like tzatziki, humus, cous cous or the various pastas as the latest novelty, for example, that is linguine with cream of turnip tops, dripping of anchovies and mussels, although certainly the summer memories were no less, such as the caponata or the paccheri with shrimp, tomato, capers and olives. In keeping with the style that permeates the whole, even the division of the menu is not the one we are used to, that is, it is not divided into appetizers, first courses, second courses and side dishes but is more democratic: there are "always available", vegetarians, fish, meat, desserts (the evergreen cannoli), so that everyone can feel free to unhinge or even reverse the set order and take first a side dish and then a first, or a second and a dessert as an aperitif. And to think that it was from the times of Artusi that no one dared to change the succession of courses.
Kenny's realm
Everybody knows Kenny now. It is the first face associated with Rob de Matt, perhaps because he was familiar right away. And it is he who takes care of all the beverage, choosing beers, wines, drinks, cocktails with meticulousness and with an extraordinary competence. Matteo's passion, aka Kenny, is the beers, which mostly come from Italian breweries, also because it favors the direct supply chain; for this reason, for example, there are never those of Lambrate, including the historic Rob de Matt. But a great job is also taking him forward with the wines, many linked to the producers of La Terra Trema to Leoncavallo, from the Piedmontese of Viranda to some gems of Etna: "for me the important thing is to know what product we are giving". Not to mention the cocktail, which today are increasingly becoming his world, the one in which he and his soul as a mixologist come out, with ever new alchemies, homemade experiments, fusions, fermentations and above all waste from the kitchen, like the cucumber that remains from the preparation of the tzatziki. Some drinks change every week, others are launched at special events (memorable Ricardo Walnut's Il Mozzo), while others are still present, such as the classic namesake of the place with gin, lemon, mint syrup, pink and yellow grapefruit studied and designed to satisfy everyone's tastes. And how could it be otherwise #unpostopertutti?
