With So Many Restaurants in Milan, Italy, How Do You Choose?

Headed to Milan seemingly just minutes after making all sorts of fastidious New Year’s resolutions, I vow to put denial aside during my adventure and eat in Milan with gusto. Sure, many of us would love to be taller, fitter, thinner, but how often are we patronizing restaurants in Milan?

As with eating anywhere, I select Milanese restaurants according to varying criteria: convenience, my budget for the day, and, most importantly, my mood.

Food in Milan is divine, but sometimes I want to people watch; others times, I want privacy. Sometimes I just want a sweet. On occasion, I’m too tired to go too far for wine and pasta.

If you happen to be looking to dine in restaurants in Milan, Italy, you might like some of these choices:

Eating in Milan Evening 1: At the Hotel

Call me crazy, but I am barely jetlagged after the 24 hours it takes me to get from JFK to Chongqing, China, but am completely wiped on what is barely an overnighter between New York and Milan Malpensa. What this means is that after finding my way to the StarHotels Business Palace and upgrading to a suite (for a ridiculously viable 20 extra euros per day that includes all the juice, soda, and water in the minibar daily), come dinner time, I am not inclined to stray. Fortunately, Il Borromeo by Eataly awaits on what in Italy is referred to as floor zero (and what I think of as the first floor).

My expectations of hotel restaurants tend to be low, but I am drawn to Il Borromeo’s promises, via its menu, of short supply chains and items cooked to order. Although it is usually my habit to order off-menu (because I do not eat meat), I stick to the offerings on this occasion and order the risotto with tomato, olives, stracciatella (cheese), and basilico frullato, which translates to ‘basil smoothie.’

I learn from our server that risotto is quite the popular dish in Milan, although, truthfully, I make my choice upon seeing the phrase ‘basil smoothie.’

The Brawny Sherpa opts for a steak and we pair it with a 2016 Buccia Nera Tenuta di Campriano Chianti. We’ve already achieved bliss and we haven’t even gotten to our shared dessert of tiramisu, which we wash down with some espresso and sparkling water. This is the perfect, easygoing beginning to our Milanese vacation.

Il Borromeo at StarHotels Business Palace, Via Privata Pietro Gaggia, 3, 20139 Milano

Eating in Milan Evening 2: Random Exploration

Wandering a bit aimlessly after visiting the ‘disappearing church’—what’s left of the basilica of San Giovanni in Conca in the Piazza Missori not far from the Duomo—we come upon another square, and another church. While we are discovering that this church is closed, a friendly hawker standing outside Sant’Alessandro invites us to eat at Bar Principe as we peruse the place’s menu. Staff members greet us in Italian as the hawker leads us to the back dining room.

Here, we feel we are getting a little dose of real Milan. Our fellow diners all seem to be actual Italians; we are the only people speaking English. It’s been an exhausting day of sightseeing (the Duomo from rooftop to basement burial ground, the Duomo Museum, and the Museo del Novocento), so we begin with some much-needed caffeine, a frothy cappuccino for me and an espresso for the Brawny Sherpa.

Seeing everyone around us indulge, and liking this friendly little place, we decide pretty soon that we are, indeed, hungry. Craving pasta, I am disappointed to see on the menu each entry seems to be made with meat or fish. No worries, though; the hawker, now our server, offers to have some special pasta made for me and to accompany it with what he refers to repeatedly as ‘salt cake.’ Intrigued by what this could possibly be, I assent—and am delighted to learn that it is an Italian version of quiche. We begin with some tomato, mozzarella, and a bit of prosciutto for the Brawny Sherpa.

We wash our second course (spaghetti alla carbonara for him) down with some house red wine and then finish with a limoncello. It will be hard to replicate the charm and coziness of this place that we happened upon purely by chance—and luck.

Bar Principe, Piazza Sant’Alessandro, 3, 20123 Milano

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Eating in Milan Evening 3: The Best Gnocchi Ever

The very next night, again drawn to the vicinity of the mysterious crypt of San Giovanni in Conca in the Piazza Missori (the church above it was not destroyed in World War II but by a civic planning project that was much protested), we select Ristorante da Bruno due to its proximity to a taxi stand. As criteria go, this one works well because we again are welcomed into the restaurant and once more are impressed that few speak English here.

Shortly we embark on the best meal of our stay in Milan. The Brawny Sherpa orders for risotto with seafood followed by a steak, while I begin healthfully with vegetable soup before opting for some decadently pillow-like puffs of gnocchi swimming in a pool of melted cheese. We drink a bottle of 2016 Peppoli Chianti Classico and then enjoy espressos and limoncellos following dessert of tiramisu and panna cotta.

Ristorante da Bruno, Via M. Gonzaga, 6, 20123 Milano

Eating in Milan Evening 4: At the Galleria

On our last evening in Milan before departing for Venezia, we opt for a bit of a touristy location in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the open-air upscale shopping mall next to the Duomo. I feel vastly underdressed as women in fashionably cut fur coats, dresses, and heels parade outside the windows of Biffi, in business since 1867.

Servers in the galleria, it is said, show a good bit of attitude (and not in the positive sense) to tourists, but our dinner here is as pleasant as all of our other meals.

Biffi offers a perfect place for people-watching, although some may feel horrendously underdressed as a parade of fashionables glides by.

Hemingway purportedly ate, or drank, here.

Tonight, I again start healthfully with vegetable soup before moving on to more gnocchi swimming in gorgonzola cheese sauce. The Brawny Sherpa selects tagliatelle al ragu and a veal chop with risotto. Our wine tonight is a 2016 San Felice Chianti Classico.

Still indulging (although, truth be told, we only have one main meal per day on this trip), he goes for tiramisu and I opt for coconut cake. We again conclude with limoncello. Bliss.

Biffi at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milano

Eating in Milan Evening 5: Room Service, Kind Of

Back in Milan before our return flight to New York, we’ve managed to catch colds. Our efforts to order room service at the Four Points Sheraton are a big fail because, yes, we cannot figure out how to use the landline in our room. Heading down to Bzero Bar (on ground floor ‘zero’), I order a veggie panini, some fries, and a house red. I bring back a burger and fries for the Brawny Sherpa. We are easing our way back to American food already.

Bzero Bar, Four Points Sheraton, Via Gerolamo Cardano, 1, Milano 20124

Time for Gelato in Milan

As well-balanced as we are being, we do have the need for some sweets to sustain us. I dash for a cone at Amorino in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II after I see some young women indulging in a particularly large one; waiting for the server to craft each petal of my gelato flower just heightens my anticipation. Gelato can be something of a commodity in Italy, so brava to whomever decided to distinguish Amorino’s product by crafting gelato into a flower filled with a macaron in the center.

Amorino at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milano

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Coffee and Sweets in Milan

We can rationalize cappuccino at any hour, particularly given our grueling work of seeing as much as we possibly can of Milan in the short time that we have there. That the foamy drink tends to be served here not in paper cups but in china ones delights us. The pastry at Caffe Motta quickly tempts us, abetted by the friendly and patient attitude of the cafe’s servers, who explain to us we need to pay first before standing and drinking at the coffee bar and who accommodate our efforts to identify the dolci that we crave.

One surprise about our treats: they taste more breadlike than cakelike. It’s an interesting distinction between U.S. desserts and the ones we find here. Try one for yourself!

Caffe Motta is also in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

For Bashful Adventurers

• We had positive food experiences at each of the establishments and restaurants in Milan listed here even though we do not speak Italian.
• Many menus have been translated, but we sometimes used our iphones to help us navigate the language.
• Servers we encountered all had chipper attitudes. There was no dourness or unhelpfulness. The service was as pleasant as the food!

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Planning a trip to Italy? You might like these posts:

• Upstairs at San Marco
• Appreciating the Riace Warriors
• On My Knees at the Scala Santa
• Venetian Calm and Venetian Crowds
• Rome on a Budget
• The Takeaway from Firenze
• Savor Milan: Things to Do in Milan, Italy
• Before the Restoration of The Last Supper Painting

Where is your favorite place to eat in Milan?