Trippa Osteria: A Roman Restaurant That Specializes in Tripe

Posted by Rowena Dumlao Rowena Dumlao - Giardina 5/04/2019

Trippa Osteria: A Roman Restaurant That Specializes in Tripe

"Throughout my childhood I didn't eat tripe." That's something that you wouldn't expect to hear from the owner of a restaurant that specializes in tripe. It's an antithetical stance considering that Alessandra Ruggeri has chosen this iconic ingredient as a base for the traditional dishes at her restaurant Trippa Osteria. But things make sudden reversals as time and experiences change the taste buds and point of view. In fact, as she arrived to adulthood, she developed a passion for this fifth quarter, one of the Roman cuisine's protagonists in the plates. It is for a fact, one of the leanest and poorest beef cut.

Roman by birth, Alessandra grew up in the kitchen of her Nonna Chiara who has a strong passion for food. Already at a young age of nine, she cultivated a great love for the fruits of labor in the kitchen and what are laid out on the table. Throughout adulthood, this interest never wavered until at the age of fifty, she decided to make a drastic and courageous maneuver with her life. From a corporate employee, she took the road to gastronomy by officially following a professional culinary course and graduating as a chef from Tu Chef Culinary School in Rome. Soon after, Trippa Osteria was born.

Trippa Osteria exudes warmth and coziness where you feel immediately at home, thanks to the amiability of Alessandra who not only oversees the kitchen but also the dining area. The place is a reinterpretation of a Roman tavern, more modernized and refined of course.

The menu is not limited to just tripe. It prevalently proposes typical Roman cuisine with variations of the fifth quarter cuts as the main ingredients but there are dishes with more common meat cuts for the ones who are not into offal. The restaurant offers six variants of tripe dishes like the Roman-style Tripe with Pecorino Cheese (€10), Eggs in Tripe (€7), Fried Tripe (€8), Tripe with Beans (€8), Ravioli with Tripe (€10), and Tripe Meatballs (€6).

For appetizers (€6 to €10), there are cutting boards of Selection of Regional Cheese and Selection of Typical Regional Cured Meat (€10), as well as Crostini with Chicken Liver (€7) and Picchiapò (€8), among others. Classic Roman pasta dishes like Cacio e Pepe, Carbonara and Amatriciana are between €8 to €9, while main meat courses range from €12 to €16, and desserts at around €6. Traditional main courses like Coda alla Vaccinara (€13), Rabbit Stew with Tomatoes and Herbs (€13) and Scottadito (€14) are delicious delicious to familiarize yourself with more with the Roman kitchen. Apart from the regular menu, Alessandra gives new proposals every week that are off the menu.