Supplì

I stopped by Supplì in Trastevere more out of curiosity than hunger. They've been there for nearly 50 years, and the name says it all: this place lives and breathes supplì.

I grabbed just one, 2 euros. Pure old school. The moment you bite into it, you get it right away: the filling is stellar, the sauce is there, absolutely savory. The mozzarella stretches the way it should and the rice holds together nicely. In short, the heart of the supplì works beautifully—it's got everything the grandparents used to make.

But here's the thing. The breading is meh, nothing special. And the frying isn't crispy like you'd expect in 2023. You know that feeling when you bite into the supplì and the surface is all mushy? I'm not talking about those modern excesses where it feels like you're biting into armor, but a minimum amount of crispiness wouldn't hurt. These days in Rome, if you want to be among the best, you need both the filling and the frying, and that second part is simply missing here.

So is it a good supplì? Yes. Is it among Rome's best like so many say? It depends. If all you care about is the taste of the filling and the sauce that fills your mouth, probably yes. But if you also want that crispy-outside, soft-inside contrast, then no.

At 2 euros though, it's fair. It's got the history, it's got quality filling. It's just that it stopped somewhere back in time.