I went to try the new fresh pasta fast food in Milan.
As I already mentioned a couple of times, Milan is following the trend of fast casuals. Those places where you have to order & pay at the counter, take your own dish and bring back your tray to reduce your expenses. Exact same principle as a fast food. The difference stands in the interior design, studied to give a warm welcoming feeling, and the selection of the ingredients that points towards quality.
The last one just opened a month ago and is called “MI SCUSI”. Pure irony: it means “excuse me”, the expression you use when you desire to call a waiter, but here the waiter it’s you...
I like those places, because they make the process of ordering and eating like a game. The first time you experiment it, you have to follow instructions, you don’t know what you have to do exactly, it has a part of fun.
When you enter MI SCUSI, you feel immediately home, a mix of industrial design and the furniture your grandma used to have in her kitchen.
You direct towards the counter, a giant menu board is hanging in front of you. You can select the typology of pasta you want (shape, whole wheat, stuffed…). You can decide the sauce and toppings. The pasta is fresh, they have incorporated a pasta maker machine in the show cooking area (I know this is so trendy ultimately).
Once you have paid, they give you a buzzer with a number. If you order wine, you have to pick your glass and pour yourself wine.
The process is entertaining because you're doing something that is usually not allowed: take your own glass from the shelves, pour wine, you feel almost like asking for the authorization.
You then go to your table and wait for your buzzer to ring (same principle as in Mariù in Porta Romana). When it rings, the lights it does can’t prevent you from making a smile. You go to the kitchen counter, they advise you to take a tray. This latter has been designed to incorporate perfectly your dish and glass of wine without risk of sliding. They give you your plate. You can add cheese and take bread.
Wanna my summary of the experience?
PLACE:
+ love the design and the overall experience
- once again a place where the architects don’t think “acoustic”, the problem with the trendy materials...
SERVICE :
+ staff nice
- long process at the cashdesk (but at least you queue only once)
FOOD :
+ my spaghetti with pomodorini, burrata e pesto basilico were excellent
- they don’t mix the sauce, so when you do it, your pasta results not so warm
- my friend had the wholewheat spaghetti, they cooked them without whisking them ,they ended as a conglomerate…
PRICE:
- once you add the extra and a drink, it’s the price of a pasta in a regular trattoria except that you have to do everything on your own. So you go there more for the concept than the food.
+ still a nice place when you don’t want to pay more than 15€ for an easy diner between friends.
MI SCUSI
Via Pompeo Litta 6,
Milano