Milano Special

Eat like an Italiano...

In Milano!

Milan... at first I did not like this city for one bit! But the more I go and the further I stay away from the tourist spots, the more I start to like this northern Italian city.

This week I went with my girlfriend to Milan for 3 days. Everytime we go to Milan we try to find new spots hidden to the big tourist public. In the area between the castle and the Duomo you'll find most tourists and loads of expensive restaurants where you can eat food which tastes like cardboard, so this is what you want to dodge on your visit. If you want less tourists and more local restaurants, stroll through the Corso Garibaldi towards the Garibaldi station. The station has been recently renewed and is a nice place to chill.

Where to eat?

Cena (Dinner)

If you like dining out, you should go to "Brunello Osteria" in Corso Garibaldi.

It is a small wine-restaurant with a cozy interior and a few tables outside. In a temperature of 25°C it is a perfect spot to sit outside and enjoy watching the, sometimes extravagant, Milanese inhabitants walking by.

We arrived at the restaurant and immediately a waitress showed us our seats and brought a menu card. Just a few minutes later we got a bottle of water, which we asked for, and an amuse geule: a fresh cherry tomato with tabouleh and creamy goat cheese, perfectly dosed with olive oil. A good starter for the evening.

Steak tartar

On the menu you can find a mix of traditional and modern Italian dishes. The wine card offers a wide range of italian wines, most of them from the brunello grape. 

As starter we ordered a gazpacho with raw shrimp and melon and a steak tartar. The food tasted fresh, the gazpacho was perfectly balanced and the tartar was hand cut, always a plus for me!

For the main course we ordered a risotto with scallops and lemon and roasted piglet with apple and ginger cream.
The risotto was like it should be; moist and creamy. The piglet was perfectly roasted and went surprisingly well with the apple and ginger puree.
As we ate fish and meat the wine wasn't an easy pick. We were sugested a Girlan, Fass n• 9 vernatsch 2011, from Südtirol - Alto Adige, a light Italian table wine and a perfect match with both dishes.

As desert I took a espresso corretto with sambuca, I got almond biscuits on the side. My girlfriend took shortbread with lemon and vanilla cream and red berries.
Good value for your money here!
The owner of this restaurant is the same as the Sushi/Fusion restaurant across the street. Haven't tried it, but it is on my TO DO list!

Risotto with scallops

Another restaurant in this neighborhood is "Pizzeria La Fabbrica, con cucina", Situated at the Porta Garibaldi. I told you about this restaurant in one of my previous articles, the one about pizza. Also the Mozzarella Burrata mentioned in my article about insalata caprese is a delicacy you can taste at this restaurant. You can eat pizza's, pasta's and different kinds of meat and fish at reasonable prices and if you are lucky you can spot a designer having lunch or dinner. Last time we saw the big boss from Emporio Armani.
Definitely a recommendation!

Another really nice place to go are the canals from Milan. Say what? Canals? No it is nothing like Venice, but Milan has a few narrow canals, which start at Viale Gorizia, with bars and restaurants along the waterfront. You'll find mostly locals hanging in the bars sipping wine, cocktails or beer in a lively and friendly atmosphere.
If you are looking for a quick and relatively cheap dinner, this is definitely the place to look. Loads of pizzeria's and trattorie to choose from, also for a more sophisticated dinner you can find something here.
We decided to try a pizza in "Locandina dei Navili". We sat outside and ordered a pizza each. It wasn't the best pizza Italy has to offer, but for €16 per person we had dinner with 0,5l red wine, 0,75l bottle of sparkling water and a coffee, and not to forget... the nice surrounding.

Canals of Milan at night

Pranzo (Lunch)

Also lunch is something you don't want to skip! And if you want to make it cheap and quick, Italy is the country you have to be.

For a quick lunch head to "Osteria del corso". You'll find easy food such as pastas and roasted chicken or vitello tonnato served with a contorno of your choice (=side dish, in Italy you only get meat or fish if you order so, if you want veggies or potatoes you can take a contorno). We tried a pasta with tomatosauce and mozzarella and a roasted chicken drumstick with zucchini as contorno.
Cheap, fast, tasty and 100% Italian.

Duomo of Milan

If you would get hungry and you are shopping in the Corso Vittorio Emanuale II nearby the Duomo, just turn into a side street called Via Cesare Becceria. There you'll find, at piazza beccaria, a hotspot for the local working man... or woman. A corner restaurant, with a view on the top of the Duomo. It seems the place where the local people lunch during working hours. I must admit it is quite noisy, but it is local and there are plenty of seats, both inside and outside. We took two panini. One with panino "Praga", with cooked ham, and one panino "centro",with chicken breast and smoked scamorza cheese. The service was impeccable, the food was tasty and don't forget... it's cheap for its location.


I hope you have an idea where to go for lunch or dinner the next time you go to Milan.
Ci vediamo a Milano!

June 27, 2013