Italian bottega MangiaSempre: so much more than just a shop!

A sandwich with stracciatella cheese and mortadella, with a snacking plate of Taleggio, speck, pancetta, and grilled vegetables

At first glance, MangiaSempre is a shop, or more specifically, an Italian ‘bottega’. The shelves and fridge counter are stacked with high quality products, everything you need to cook up an Italian meal at home, and yes, even some beers.

But then you’ll notice the beer taps and the menu with the daily specials and sandwiches, and you’ll quickly realise MangiaSempre is so much more than just a shop! Although the terrace with Brasserie de la Mule parasols probably was a bit of a giveaway already…

A glass of Brasserie de la Mule's Lager, and Cantillon's organic Gueuze

MangiaSempre is the passion project of Giulia. She has worked in the craft beer industry for years, but as long as we can remember, she has been passionate about food as well. Photos of her cooking experiments made our mouths water more than once, and it was probably inevitable she would one day open a place where she could combine her passions.

As mentioned, there are even some beers available on draught. Always local—during our visit we had Brasserie de la Mule‘s Lager, and Cantillon‘s organic Gueuze—and even served in the correct glass. On previous visits we also enjoyed some different beers from Brasserie de la Senne. It’s absolutely fine if you drop by for just a beer—keep in mind they close at 19:00 already—and while the weather is still pleasant, their elevated terrace in the fairly quiet Rue des Alliés is a very pleasant place to do so. But it would be a shame to not try any of the food…

Shelves stacked with high quality products, everything you need to cook up an Italian meal at home.

Real local Italian food

So how Italian is it really? Well, loads of ingredients are imported straight from Italy, as you would expect. However, we were surprised and happy to learn, that some cheeses for instance, are made locally, by an Italian cheesemaker just a couple of kilometers away! He can’t make cheeses with a protected designation of origin of course, but for other cheeses, why not?

The recipes on the other hand, are definitely in large part from Perugia, where Giulia is from, and she gets a lot of tips and inspiration from her nonna still living there.

Of course we couldn’t leave without eating something, so we had a sandwich with stracciatella—the cheese, not the ice cream or soup—and mortadella, with a snacking plate of Taleggio, speck, pancetta, and grilled vegetables. It was every bit as tasty as it looks!