La Stazione Alimentari

Next stop: La Stazione! Where, if you miss the train whistle, you can stain the paper tablecloth before filling your shopping basket to the brim. Fine foods store, deli counter and ristorante : this transalpine spot from Joseph Giammorcaro (owner of Marcella pizzeria) and Lakhdar Hamina-Lakhdar (the man behind Fight Club, Gazzosa, Verigoud and Malmö) is tripling down with this subtly modernist corner spot on the Chaussée d’Alsemberg, complete with waxed concrete floors, stripped-back columns, navy blue tiling and exposed pipes. On the menu? Classico vitello tonnato, scamorza alla pizzaiola (doused in tomatoey goodness and finished off in the pan) and the pasta del giorno – which for us was spaghetti languorously twirled in scrumptious anchovy butter, with a crispy breadcrumb topping, all served on a plate emblazoned with the restaurant’s name. Followed up with a secondo piatto of saltimbocca alla romana, or veal fillet wrapped in prosciutto and sage; before rounding things off with panna cotta topped with a summer berry coulis, all cute in its glass yogurt pot, every last bit scraped out with a tiny teaspoon! · Jeanne Jaco