Milan and Venice trip report

met at the airport by a train strike, hopefully not a sign of things to come. During the flight I took @Saregama suggestion and read the Milan and Venice chapters of Elizabeth Minchilli’s Eating in Italy, we’ll try to get a reservation at one or two of the places mentioned.

More later.

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Ratana is one of the places on my list. https://www.timeout.com/milan/restaurants/best-restaurants-in-milan Trippa (in this random list) is also one of the classics in the Slowfood guide if you have downloaded that.

Interesting towns for day trips - Bergamo and Pavia/Certosa di Pavia

Hey, @vinouspleasure. I was in Milano a few weeks ago and haven’t had time to write up a report yet. As you are there right now, here are links to places where I had dinner with a group of friends (one of whom lived in Milano and continues to live in Italy).

None of these are trendy or have opulent dining rooms. More like the kind of place you’d go for a nicer dinner out if you lived in the city. Going for speed here, so please forgive the lack of helpful formatting.

First three are traditional Milanese fare. All allowed for comfortable conversation.

https://www.tavernadeigolosi.com

Menu | la cantina di manuela

This last one was the most Slow Food like, with the most rustic atmosphere of the three. Also the one where it helped that my friend is fluent in Italian. The preceding two seemed easier to navigate for us English-only speakers.
Trattoria del Nuovo Macello

This final one had nice seafood dishes, though it was definitely boisterous and bright compared with the others above. Noticed more groups dining here than at the places above. Still, I loved the branzino dish I was served here.

We stayed at one of the hotels near Central Station, and all were within a reasonable taxi ride distance.

Savor your travels!

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We really liked Ratana and Osteria Brunello on our recent trip

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Looking forward to some armchair travel and eating through your reports!

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We anticipated being jet lagged our first night so just wanted simple and fast, I thought we’d head to a bar for appertivo and small bites but managed to choose the wrong place in google maps and ended up at a well reviewed spot that serves cheese, cold cuts and wine. Everything was great but the roasted eggplant was to die for.

We are reminded of the core truth that even the simple food in Italy is great. The plate below and three glasses of wine worked out to about the same price as three glasses of wine in nyc.


Next door to dinner was a great canoli joint. They fill the shell at the point of ordering

Back at the hotel for our complimentary drinks and off to sleep. I make Negronis and find them to be one of the simpler drinks to concoct, these took about 7 minutes and were the best I’ve had.

Gosh, it seems like people don’t love Milan, there’s certainly enough art and food to fill a week. Anyhow, if you’re in Milan, don’t miss Michelangelo’s rondini pieta.

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I find the city as a whole sort of depressing - is it the brick? is it the overhead tram wires? The sense that economic life ended 75-100 years ago (except in fashion and design)? but agree with you about the rest! the ancient churches, the Brera etc etc are great. And the food. Looks delicious! Its wonderful to be in Italy!

My daughter and her husband got stuck there with covid in the summer of 22 but were close to chinatown and enjoyed that too.

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I don’t know Jen, perhaps our impression will change but the days have been sunny and warm, it’s a city of young, stylishly dressed people, we took a break at a small, local cafe and everyone that came in seemed to know the baristas, the people are welcoming and have encouraged my better half to speak her less than perfect Italian (as opposed to Paris where she was discouraged to speak her fluent but Montreal-inflected French)

From a food perspective, we won’t come close to making it through Mancilli’s list or trying all the dishes milan is known for. And for an art lover like my wife, there are pieces she has waited all her life to see.

So anyhow, so far, so good!

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Nice! In my haste yesterday, I didn’t mention we also grabbed lunch at Pasticceria Cova when we desperately needed a break one rainy January day. Yes, it was packed and hardly tourist-free. But I was delighted with the old school atmosphere and this delicious plate of risotto Milanese.

I hope you keep your reports coming. :smile:

P.S. I was surprised by the general kindness of people during my days in Milano, even in light of my terrible, rudimentary Italian.

P.P.S. If wandering around Galleria Vittorio Emanuele—say, after visiting the Duomo and its rooftop—may I suggest picking up a cup of gelato at the little stand at Savini? The crowd that now gathers at Amorino gelato at the Galleria entrance nearest the Duomo is missing something by not going a few steps further inside. Then you can stand inside the Galleria space with your treat and soak in the atmosphere. I recommend a cup with two flavors, like this.

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I dont think we are ready for how good the basic food can be in italy and how pleasant the lifestyle. So glad you are having a great time and good weather, keep the reports coming!

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7 minutes to make or to finish?? :wink:

(I make my negronis in 30 seconds flat!)

And, if you can manage to get a table I’d highly recommend below restaurant.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/dyjoTC9SkixuzsNB9?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

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This was my question exactly! :wink:

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that is a LOT of saffron in the risotto! as well as parmigiano…

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When I hear Parisians dissing my (admittedly not great) accent in French I usually reply: “this is France and it’s not as bad as your accent speaking English”.

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I use a fairly strong Quebec pronunciation when I speak French in France, because it comes more naturally to me, and that’s how I speak in Quebec.

When I was at a cousin’s wedding in France, none of the French people I met mocked my accent or laughed at me as far as I know. The only person who mocked me was the mother of the bride, an expat English woman living in France. My Canadian French was more fluent than her awful French. LOL.

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I’ll add that I’ve never encountered negative attitudes toward my French anywhere outside of Paris. Neither have some of my friends from Quebec; it’s always just Paris.

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Yes! Parisians have some sort of allergy to foreigners speaking French. My sister and I both encountered stony faces in Paris when trying to speak in French or in English. We discovered our best bet was to start off in Bengali. It usually led to the Parisian asking if we spoke English and being less annoyed in general. This was like 20 years ago, so maybe they’re as irritated with Bengali-speakers nowadays.

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thats a great move! my husband usually tries this with persian. But he has a definitely allergy to going to France because of attitudes encountered there.

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In the midst of struggling to choose from the great recommendations/reviews on HO, the Minchilli book, and Katie Parla’s site, I heard from a wine friend who grew up in Milan. Turns out he visits dogana buongusto every trip home for their Milanese specialties, deep wine list and somm classes.

so it was after a 20-minute walk from out hotel, we found ourselves at the graffiti-laden entrance to the restaurant. We considered the set menu with wine pairings chosen by their somm, but it seemed like more food and drink than we could handle. Instead, we opted to share an appetizer, a primi, and a secondi, letting our waiter choose local wines by the glass.

We started with an appetizer special: burrata with artichokes. Back in our days of wine and fine dining, we attended a wine dinner at Union Square Cafe where Danny Meyer told the story of how he and his chef, Michael Romano, flew to Italy two days before the dinner to secure, among other things, fresh fior di latte. Our fior that night was good, but this? So much better. Creamy, a little salty, and just bursting with flavor in a way you don’t expect from a mild cheese. The artichokes were equally wonderful, pan-fried in olive oil, still al dente, with just a touch of salt.

yesterday I happened upon @linguafood thread about Anthony Lane’s wonderful new yorker article, the secret history of risotto so we were predisposed to choose Risotto Milanese for our primi. The kitchen was good enough to split the order between us. It’s easy to see how Lane became addicted; I can already feel myself being pulled down that deep and fattening rabbit hole.

We’ve probably eaten veal twice in the last 40 years but decided to split the restaurant’s La Cotoletta Traditionale, a thick, bone-in veal-chop, breaded and pan-fried in butter to a temp somewhere between rare and medium rare. omigod, the chop was a little fatty in all the right ways, I could probably eat this once a week and die happy knowing that I’d cut about ten years off my life expectancy.





Full to the brim, we skipped dessert. Dinner was about $120, including three glasses of exceptional wine. By the time we left at 10 p.m., there wasn’t an empty seat in the house. fwiw, we didn’t hear English at any of the other tables.

Best,

Ps give a shout if anyone has a theory on why, every time we come across a rendering of Judith and Holofernes, my wife feels compelled to take a photo and send it to me :joy:

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That risotto looks luscious, and the veal chop heavenly! I could eat in Italy for the rest of my life and never tire of it.

Thank you for sharing your fabulous meals with us :pray:t2:

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