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Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeTravel GuideFood & DrinkFood in Milan: Tourist Places But Great Nonetheless

Food in Milan: Tourist Places But Great Nonetheless

Food, food, food. Forget the museums, forget the cathedrals, travel is about eating and drinking. Milan is the perfect place to do this.

a large white building with many people in front with Milan Cathedral in the background
Beautiful, but I’m hungry.

I’ll go meal by meal, but this happened over the course of two days.

Breakfast

Breakfast at the park Hyatt Milan is nothing special. The nice part of breakfast is sitting in the atrium relaxing. The lobster caviar omelette was good, but the rest was typical.a bush in front of a sign

a plate of food with greens on it a couple of glasses of orange juice a glass ceiling with a chandelier from it

Snack

If you’re looking for a quick bite, head to Spontini for a slice of pizza and a beer. It’s the best deal in town. And, unlike the rest of the pizza spots, this one actually cuts the pizza slice for you.

a sign with a price list a slice of pizza on a paper plate

Bottle of wine

I wouldn’t call the trattorias in La Galleria a tourist trap, but the restaurants aren’t cheap. The pasta and pizza were good but nothing special. Tomato and wheat can only be prepared in so many ways. ‎The reason you should pay the premium is to people watch. It’s fascinating to see people from all over the world carrying bags from purchases at these designer boutiques. Who can afford lavish shoes for $600 and even if they could, who would buy them?

a glass roof of a building

two glasses of wine on a table a plate of spaghetti with cheese and basil a pizza on a plate

Dinner

I’m wary of asking fancy hotels where to go eat. First, they usually recommend a place that’s too upscale. It seems they feel that the price of the meal must commensurate with the price of the night. Next, nice hotels have the same ‘go-to’ place where they send guests. As such, when you arrive at the restaurant, all you will find are other tourists. This makes you call into question the authenticity of the cuisine and whether this is another tourist trap.

We were told to go to Solferino. Because we made a reservation through the hotel, we received a complimentary chauffeur from the hotel. That’s a nice touch but also a warning sign that this restaurant is not for locals. When we arrived, I scanned the restaurant patrons. My ears quickly caught the accent of Americans. That’s another bad sign. ‎My ears also heard the sweet voice of Bocelli. Uh oh, if I know the music in Italy then this can’t be good.

Before bolting for the exit, we were seated. I perused the wine list and the prices ranged from 25 euros to extortionate. The food was not so expensive, but it was not the bargain of Naples. We followed the recommendation of our waiter and started with the eggplant as an appetizer and the spaghetti seafood carbonara and rigatoni for dinner. Next, I selected the wine. The first bottle was 50 euros which quickly led to a second bottle that was the same price. After dinner came tiramisu and espresso followed by the moment of truth: the bill.

For 188 euros, we enjoyed great food, a fun atmosphere (discounting the presence of tourists), and superb service. Having said that, if you’re looking for a place with authentic food, my friend from Milan recommended Latteria di San Marco. I foolishly asked him where to go after I had eaten.

a black car parked in front of a buildinga person driving a car at night a group of people sitting at tables in a restaurant a glass of red wine next to a bottle of wine a plate of food with a spoon a plate of spaghetti on a white plate a plate of pasta with sauce a bottle of wine on a table a plate of food on a plate a paper with writing on it

Late night

If you are still hungry and want simple but divinely prepared Italian food, head to Le Capannelle which is located on Viale Papiniano, a great name for a street. They have a full menu of pizza, pasta, and wine that won’t break the bank. We ordered the four-cheese pizza with ham, pasta with tomato sauce, and a bottle of white.

a sign with white text on it a black leather book with silver text on it a glass of wine next to a bottle a bowl of mussels with a lemon wedge a pizza on a plate a man eating pizza at a restaurant a plate of spaghetti and cheese on a table a plate of spaghetti with grated cheese

Still hungry?

Go to the gym, fatty.

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12 COMMENTS

  1. Ok, let me see of I got this correct. You went to Milan, had breakfast at an American chain hotel, ate at Spontino which is similar to eat at Sbarro in the US, then at at the Galleria which is the most tourist place in Milan, got ripped of at Solferino and you call this the Definitive Guide to Food in Milan? You’ve got to be kidding me, right?

    • ok changed it, i came up with the title before I started writing the post. Since you read the post, you can see that i slammed the breakfast, was suspicious of solferino, and didn’t follow my friend’s rec. I never said Spontino was fine dining but who wants fine dining all the time. It’s better than shit Sbarro. Also, I said galleria is a quasi tourist trap but it was worth it. I think the new title reflects this.

  2. Use the previous title you had on your post for the list below. 🙂

    Ristorante Il Delfino (Sardinian food)
    Valentino Legend (Tuscan food)
    Trattoria Mirta (Northern Italy food)
    L’Uccellina (Italian)
    Pasticceria Confetteria Cova
    Pasticceria Marchesi
    Mandara (sandwiches)
    La Locanda del Gatto Rosso (Italian)
    Trattoria Arlati (Trattoria)
    Restaurant Pizzeria Maruzzella
    Pizza Am
    Al Paradiso della Pizza
    Ristorante Glauco
    Ristorante Parentesi
    Da Vic – Ristorante Guerrini
    Boccondivino
    L’Immagine Ristorante Bistrot
    Ristorante Sa Mesa (Sardinian food)

  3. The beauty of Italy is that you don’t need fine dining to have the most amazing meal you can get for almost nothing. Your problem is that you focused on places around the most touristic and expensive area of Milan. That means you will almost certainly get tourist traps or rip offs. You have to get away from that area and see where locals eat. The best meal I ever had in Rome was in a place almost 30 min from the main area. It was full of locals, English was almost non existent, menu was handwritten on a board and had no prices. It was the most amazing meal and when they presented the bill I felt almost embarrassed on how cheap it was. That is real Italy.

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