Overview
Scroll down

Appetite

The Little Black Book of Milan

We asked natives and lovers of this grand city, colleagues and acquaintances, for their favourite places.

Let them show you around their Milan.

The breadth of choice is mouth-wateringly wide, from fine dining to artisan bakeries and gourmet pizza, from buzzy cocktail bars to traditional osterie and contemporary stylish bistros, it’s difficult to know where to start.

For a few years now, many talented young chefs have been returning to the city, like Lorenzo Lunghi, head chef at the restaurant Torre, inside the Prada Foundation. I adore his style, go early, and enjoy a cocktail on the beautiful terrace with its unique perspective on Milan.

As an alternative, if you are ready to make a detour to north Milan, visit the Greco neighbourhood and try Altatto; a tiny, charming restaurant that offers both a vegetarian and vegan fine dining experience. Housed in the home of a former bakery it is the creation of two young chefs, Sara and Cinzia, whose message is clear: to switch to vegetarian cuisine doesn’t mean renunciation but a celebration of fresh seasonal ingredients, served at their best in a welcoming atmosphere that makes you feel right at home.

Anna Morelli
Founder & Editor in Chief
Cook_inc

01 Altatto

Via Comune Antico, 15
20125 Milano

Adventures in eating

Altatto does some things brilliantly and simply doesn’t do other things. Founders Cinzia and Sara don’t do meat. Or traditional courses. Or a house special, as the menu is driven by the seasons. These are big things not to do in Italy. What they do, is exceptional vegetarian cuisine in an intimate setting. Sara even designed the lights: floating, counter-weighted orbs that you move up or down, and had them made by ubiquitous ‘cousins’ nearby.

Full of textures, colours, contrasts and ‘harmonies’ this is a glorious experiment that has to be experienced.

Anna Morelli

“Altatto is a lab, creating a different gastronomic path in vegetarian cuisine. If you visit Milano, it is not to be missed.”

Anna Morelli

02 Carlo al Naviglio

Via Lodovico Il Moro, 117
20143 Milano

A focus on art and culture

Within a 17th century Villa, on the banks of the Naviglio Grande, Carlo Cracco’s second Milanese restaurant is a relaxed alternative to the ornate rapture of his central location.

Comfortable Jasper Morrison chairs and complementary, but not identical, plates are illuminated by chandeliers. And then the food comes and you can’t help but smile. Of course it’s delicious, but there’s also gold leaf in the spaghetti and over six creations upon the plate that was simply billed as ‘Chocolate and raspberry’. It feels like Luca Pedata and his team are having fun. It is infectious.

Christian Jürgens
Chef
Restaurant Überfahrt

“I had a spontaneous evening at Carlo Cracco´s restaurant; I just came for the cake and ultimately ended up eating through the complete menu.”

Christian Jürgens

03 La Sala del Vino

Via S. Faustino, 1
20134, Milano

Where taste is everything

Describing itself as a ‘Wine shop with kitchen’ is almost arrogantly underselling itself. However, hyperbole is unnecessary when you are faced with the onslaught of meats and cheeses that is the aperitif board.

A biased suggestion would also be the game changing Quiet Pig cutting board, with your choice from over 600 wine options. And to finish, the creamy pistachio with salted cocoa crumble tastes as life-affirming as it sounds. As the name suggests, wine is their focus, this is one of the finest, most extensive wine lists it has ever been my pleasure to be intimidated by.

Stefano Bettella
Azienda Agricola Bettella

“The owner is simply a great seeker of good things.”

Stefano Bettella

04 Bar Basso

Via Plinio, 39
20020 Milano

Great design usually begins on a Bar Basso napkin

Birthplace of the accidental Negroni Sbagliato (it literally means “mistaken” Negroni) and start of many terrifying nights out, this is the designer’s hangout during Milan Design Week. It is a glorious gaudy, colourful, celebration of booze. Every decade is represented on the walls, furnishings, decor, menus or toilets, but the cacophony of styles has somehow made the perfect bar.

Pioneering the aperitif for the regular Giuseppe since 1947, that was also the last time they redecorated. To stop you ever leaving, Fabio will even cook for you which, this being Milan, is utterly delicious.

Sven Baacke
Head of Design
Gaggenau

“Bar Basso is the unofficial headquarters of Milan Design Week. This is where the design community comes together over a drink or ten, to discuss, collaborate and celebrate.”

Sven Baacke

05 Rigolo

Via Solferino, 11
20121 Milano

A Milanese institution

A landmark of Milanese cuisine since 1958, this is a genuine experience. The second generation of Simoncini are producing Tuscan classics for a fiercely loyal group of regulars. There are four rooms, each themed around books, art, photography or satirical illustrations, and many patrons have a permanent table reserved. You get the sense that these customers just don’t eat during the restaurant’s August holidays. Plenty of family get-togethers and business is still done here over a long lunch that stretches into an even longer evening.

Rigolo is Milan, its roots go deep, sample it while you still can.

Gabriele Salvatori
CEO
Salvatori

“This was a typically Milanese restaurant, but while others have faded away, Rigolo has become something more: a cultural institution that feeds the soul.”

Gabriele Salvatori

06 Risoelatte

Via Manfredo Camperio, 6
20123 Milano

Hang out with your (young) grandparents

I was cruelly denied the chance to live in the beautiful 60s, but Risoelatte allows me to visit. It doesn’t just look the part, it also tastes it and feels it, proudly.

Firstly, the cuisine is excellent; this isn’t a themed café, this is a restaurant, in a 60s apartment. Which means that alongside the delicious dishes, such as Cotoletta “orecchio d’elefante”, there is the guilty, processed, pleasure of what was to come, and be overdone, in the 70s: Sweet rice and milk with Nutella and hazelnuts.

A tiny restaurant, but like the 60s, it leaves a big, lasting impression.

Martina Panarello
Brand Communications Specialist
Gaggenau

“This time machine is the perfect place to take a dip in the past, plunge into the atmosphere that I guess I would have found in my grandparents’ house of their youth.”

Martina Panarello

The Little Black Book continues