Mordi e Vai
The Espositos were butchers before they started putting boiled beef and salsa verde inside a roll.
Why go
The Espositos were butchers. Gambero Rosso puts it in one line: former butchers, today dispensers of rustic good things inside ciabattine
(Gambero Rosso). That is why the fillings are the cuts a sandwich counter does not usually bother with. The guide names picchiapò, polpette di bollito and tongue. Roma Capitale's own listing calls the allesso with salsa verde the king of the fillings. Sergio Esposito has died and his son runs the box now.
Katie Parla sends readers here before any other street food in the city and names her own three fillings: brisket and chicory, artichoke and pecorino, kidney and onion (Katie Parla). She sells paid walking tours in Rome. The market closes in the afternoon, so this is a lunch and the queue tells you when you have left it too late.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the allesso with salsa verde. The Infatuation describes the range as
crusty rolls filled with stewed beef, artichokes, or meatballs
.2 - Avoid: planning it as dinner. The market trades in the morning and closes after lunch.
What locals & experts say
- Gambero Rosso, the Testaccio guide (2025):
Mordi e Vai, the Esposito family's, which makes rolls filled with some of the most typical recipes of the tradition: picchiapò, polpette di bollito, tongue.
3 - Katie Parla:
in the Mercato di Testaccio for brisket and chicory, artichoke and pecorino, or kidney and onion sandwiches.
1
Good to know
- Where: box 15, inside the Mercato di Testaccio on via Beniamino Franklin.
- Booking: none. It is a counter in a market.
Verdict
should-visit — The Espositos were butchers before they made sandwiches and it shows in what goes in the roll: boiled beef with salsa verde, picchiapò, tongue, tripe, artichoke with pecorino. Katie Parla sends readers here first among all of Rome's street food, Gambero Rosso stops at the box on its walk through Testaccio, and the Infatuation names it inside the market. It is a stall, so it stays under must-visit, but for a few euros it is the cheapest way into the quinto quarto this city has.