Appia
When food writer Jarrett Wrisley and Roman chef Paolo Vitaletti opened this Soi 31 trattoria in 2013, Vitaletti "flew his mom over to teach his staff her recipes," and the porchetta turning on the in-house rotisserie has been the house flag ever since.
Why go
The pairing explains the food: Wrisley wrote about food for The Atlantic before cooking it, Vitaletti grew up Roman, and their menu is the trattoria canon done from scratch. BK Magazine's line covers the ethic: "a real dedication to the ingredients used, very much like the best Italian cooking." The porchetta comes off the rotisserie with fennel, rosemary, and garlic in the roll, and the pastas are all handmade, with the carbonara that Coconuts' opening review called "carbonara, only more so." The pair later put the whole repertoire into The Roads to Rome, a Penguin Random House cookbook, so the kitchen literally wrote the book on its own food. Twelve years on, Koktail still finds it "a buzzy neighbourhood trattoria... still going strong" with Vitaletti frequently on the floor. For the record: closure rumors circulate, and no source substantiates them.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the porchetta first, B400/600 at BK's review,
a heavenly combination of perfectly crisp crackling and juicy herb-infused meat.
Then a handmade pasta; Time Out points at the gnocchi, Coconuts at the ragus and carbonara. - Avoid: ordering it like a pizzeria; there is no pizza flex here, the kitchen's identity is the rotisserie and the pasta bench.
What locals & experts say
- BK Magazine: the porchetta
has the power to wow.
1 - Coconuts Bangkok (2013, Dan Waites): porchetta with
crispy skin, tender flesh, creamy lard, aromatic herbal stuffing.
2 - Time Out Bangkok (2016, Sopida Rodsom):
The all-handmade pasta is a must as well as the gnocchi.
3 - Local rec: "chef rec from dylan" on Jeff's list, read as Dylan Jones of Bo.lan (the same chef behind Jeff's Ruean Panya note).
Good to know
- Timing: dinner is the core service; current hours and any weekend lunch unverified, so check the venue's Instagram or call before going.
- Booking: recommended; the room is small and the neighborhood following is loyal.
- Getting there: Soi Sukhumvit 31 between BTS Phrom Phong and Asok, a few doors into the soi; same pocket as Gaggan.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: chef rec from dylan.
Verdict
should-visit — A Roman trattoria built by a food writer and a Roman chef who flew his mother in to set the recipes, still run with Vitaletti on the floor after a decade, with a rotisserie porchetta three publications praise in the same terms. The repertoire is codified in a Penguin Random House cookbook, which is a paper trail almost no Bangkok kitchen has. It is the city's reference Roman table and a chef's rec on Jeff's list; only its comfort-food register, versus destination cooking, holds it off the top rung.