Bagels… in Rome??? Come to Mammò!
This is wild. This is new for me.
Mammò (Piazza San Giovanni della Malva, 2) is located in Trastevere. It’s in a palazzo currently under construction, but once you tiptoe past the scaffolding, you’ll find yourself in a pleasant, normal-looking Italian bar: there are wine bottles lining the walls, certificates of excellence by the windows, and twinkling string lights hanging from the ceilings. The one difference between this place and other Italian bars? Here, you can order bagels.
Now, let me be clear: I am a bagel FREAK. I have a lot of bagel opinions, which I have been known to express on occasion. My expectations for Mammò’s bagels were not high going into this experience, mostly because this is Italy, but also because there was an enormous graffiti mural on the wall of Superman chowing down on burgers (see below), which didn’t exactly put me at ease that this place understood American culture. Still, I was craving a bagel, so I decided to take a chance despite my misgivings.
When my buzzer went off and my lunchroom tray was handed to me, my first reaction was to be tickled. The Mammò bagel isn’t quite a bagel. It’s much more like a soft pretzel; it’s a little harder on the outside, and has a crunch to it, but there’s absolutely no weight to the thing. The schmear of cream cheese (formaggio di crema, if you can believe it) was far from generous. So no, it doesn’t measure up to a New York bagel.
However, against all odds, I loved this bagel approximation. If you squint, you can almost forget that it’s pretending to be a bagel at all, and just enjoy the texture and the taste. It’s a little more salty than the bagels I’m used to, and the lightness of the dough actually makes it easier to scarf down. All in all, I have to admit it: I ate this bagel with a smile on my face.
And I’m not the only American who feels this way — the shop is bursting with other expatriates, mostly students, intent on a taste of home. (Maybe we actually do feel safer looking at Superman and his Supermeal of Big Macs, on some subconscious level.) Regardless of your nationality, if you tire of eating only cornetti for breakfast on your visit to Rome, try out Mammò for a lovely Roman take on an American classic.
Read more musings at Do Not Disturb, Hannah is Eating, or subscribe to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox here.
