| |
Heading out towards the Fiera, Aimo e Nadia is an intimate, two-Michelin starred restaurant with excellent food. Seafood is the speciality: stuffed squid, tuna from Liguria, prawns fried in pistachio. There are options for meat lovers too, such as duck in Vin Santo with lasagne, veal with ginger and pork with liquorice root and rosemary.
|
One of the nicest restaurants lining the canal, this bistro-style restaurant makes for a perfect lunch – especially if it is the Sunday of the antique market (although the trick is to turn up just before the 1pm rush). The wood-panelled interior has a mirrored wall, giving the impression of a space twice the size. It serves typical Italian food, such as pasta and gnocchi.
|
Japanese chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa has a restaurant in the Armani flagship store on Via Manzoni – the Milan outpost of the highly-esteemed, global Nobu empire. No surprise that this is where the famous and fashion-conscious crowds head for the highest-quality Japanese cuisine. Most evenings there is a sushi happy hour.
|
Rated for its Tuscan specialities since the 1920s, Bice is a small, very good quality restaurant where business and fashion types gather to eat risotto Milanese and baked veal with roast potatoes. On a side street parallel with the Four Seasons Hotel between Via della Spiga and Via Montenapoleone, Bice is discreetly placed. A business lunch menu is available and definitely book in advance during any Milanese trade event. Branches in New York and London.
|
Located in Palazzo Belgioioso, one of Milan’s most imposing neo-classical buildings with chandeliers and vaulted ceilings, Boeucc (Milanese for “hole in the wall”) is one of the oldest, finest restaurants in Milan (it’s been going since 1696). Set on a pretty, cobbled street heading down to the Duomo, it has a charming, old-school smart atmosphere and fabulous service.
|
Carlo Cracco has been chef since 2000 and has won two Michelin stars for the restaurant. Service is impeccable. In the same area are located Peck Main Store, via Spadari 9 and Peck Italian Bar (see next listing).
|
Lunch on Italian-style sushi (that being carpaccio and a glass of prosecco) at Da Claudio where you stand and dine against the zinc fishmongers’ bar. An actual fish market, with a vast array of shellfish, octopus, oysters and fish, the best deal for lunch is a mixed plate of fish carpaccio, shellfish, salad and vinaigrette with a glass of prosecco for a cool €8 a pop.
|
The fashion-conscious Eda is one of the newer restaurants on the Milanese scene, with a sleek bamboo-lined, black walled restaurant and bar, and tables tiered similar to an theatre auditorium. The food is Italian, with specifically Sicilian recipes dominating the menu, such as aubergine timballo (pasta baked in a mould), and stuffed swordfish involtini.
|
Recommended by all the top hotels, Hong Kong is a high-quality restaurant in an elegant non-Chinese style setting serving Cantonese and Szechuanese cuisine.
|
For lunch-on-the-hop, Il Nuovo Principe could be described as a high-quality self-service place, serving hot meals (such as casseroled veal escalopes with bacon and potato croquettes), which are dished into foil trays for takeaway or a stand-up eat indoors. A self-service bistro place for lunch; choose from a variety of first and second courses, side dishes and desserts at the bar.
|
This is the busiest and best restaurant in the Chinatown area of Milan, where you can choose from a vast menu ranging from sushi to Cantonese to Thai food at fantastic value. Service isn’t always with a smile, but the food is good and authentic.
|
Serving typically rich Milanese food with the emphasis on meat (carpaccio is a speciality), La Briciola has a buzzing atmosphere and is very welcoming with its Liberty-style stained-glass windows on the outside, and pillar and arched interior making for a cosy space. This place is popular with Milanesi, from heads of industry to fashion folk, so book in advance.
|
Open until late, La Cantina di Manuela is an unassuming and lively winebar with a large selection of Italian wines, most of which are available by the glass. It’s a local for the Dolce & Gabbana staff as their swanky headquarters are just around the corner. Perfect for lunch, the menu is based around pasta and salads. There are also tables outside, where you can eat when the weather is warm.
|
On the way to the funky bars of Navigli, Livet dishes out a good and varied menu with a modern, European bent. The atmosphere is not as intimate as a typical trattoria, but the food and service is high quality and suitable for a business dinner.
|
Obikà (“Here you are” in the Neapolitan dialect) opened in September 2005 and it’s already one of the hottest venues in the Brera district. If you haven’t booked you may have to line up outside. The main specialty here is mouth-watering mozzarella di bufala served with special salads or grilled vegetables, but the menu also offers a wide range of alternative dishes. The ambience is nice and friendly with slick black interiors, teak-topped tables and aluminium chairs. Dinner is served from 8pm till midnight, but if you want to eat early they will not turn you down: the kitchen opens at 6pm. They also have a sister restaurant inside Selfridges in London.
|
Panino Giusto is a chain of panini (toasted sandwich) cafes. The reason to choose this particular venue is its location: a Liberty-style building with beautiful iron wrought balconies and ceramic tile decorations. There’s a great variety of panini on offer, and the mini choc-ices served with the coffee are a nice touch.
|
Another good lunch option and always packed, Paper Moon is a restaurant-cumpizzeria, which serves fantastic salads and Milanese staples. There are tables over two floors with black and white signed photographs of famous visitors hung on the walls. The same management runs Paper Moon Fish for seafood, just across the street.
|
A little further up the road from Nobu (see below), Parco is a compact, upmarket sushi joint with reasonable prices. It’s popular with the workers at cocktail hour.
|
Caters to a younger, fashionable crowd who pop in for a quick bite before a lively night on the town.
|
For dinner, Piccola Cucina is one of Milan’s most closely guarded secrets – a friendly restaurant in the Porta Venezia area where the Neapolitan food is the best you will find in the whole of Milan. You need to book ahead as there are only 12 tables.
|
In the Porta Venezia zone of Milan, Polpetta is a low-key and relaxed corner restaurant (with a seating area outside) for salami, cheeses and a vast choice of red wines. Its unpolished, wooden floorboards and zinc counter lend a French feel to the place. Favoured with students and locals, Polpetta is good for lunch or dinner.
|
A former 15th-century guesthouse of the Convent of Castellazzo, Quattrocento serves some lighter Mediterranean alongside Italian dishes such as risotti, gnocchi with creamed leeks and wild boar ravioli with white truffle. There are a variety of dining rooms with brick-walled, oriental-inspired interiors, and a garden for dining outdoors in the summer.
|
Sarla serves good Indian food prepared following traditional recipes. As you head through the discreet entrance, you have the impression you’re entering an exclusive place, but once inside, the atmosphere is warm and friendly. Sarla is simply decorated, with white walls and carved wooden furniture; other features include transparent walls where you can watch the chef at work and there is live sitar music.
|
A new concept by the designer Italian kitchen company, Strato Cucine, Spazio Strato is a space where interior accessories can be bought alongside the Strato-designed kitchens, and then you can go to the restaurant up the stairs and taste some food too. Of course, you don’t have to buy a kitchen and you can merely opt for a drink on the giant roof terrace bar or book yourself a table at their Altro restaurant, where Fabrizio Ferrari is the chef. Unusual is to watch your food being prepared in a glass-walled kitchen while you are comfortably seated in private dining room for 16 to 20 guests. The kitchen and dining room can also be hired for private events.
|
Across the road from La Briciola is Time, a very good second choice if La Briciola is full. Its striking red walls and big crystal chandeliers make for impressive surroundings, and given the quality of the food, it is very well priced.
|
The upmarket, art deco brasserie Trattoria Aurora specialises in hearty, homemade Piemontese food – recommendations include the slow-cooked, caramelised onion soup. The restaurant has large windows and an attractive garden, which is open to diners in the summer months.
|
| |