Guide of Milan, Italy

Milan Eating And Drinking, Italy

Traditional Milanese cooking is made up of simple, meager dishes and perhaps for this reason it was banished during the ambitious 1980s. It has only recently returned to popularity.

Milan is a city that lives off fashion and trends: there was Chinese cooking, then Indian, then African, followed by Japanese and Middle Eastern cooking. The Milanese people have now returned to their origins, enjoying the tastes with the pleasure that one feels when one returns home after a long trip. Now there are trattorias, inns and restaurants (including the top ones) everywhere that offer traditional Milanese dishes to eat.

We offer you a typically Milanese menu in our guide to Milan, from antipasto to dessert. Actually, from the aperitif, because an evening in Milan cannot go without this ritual.

One of the many aperitifs that you can try out during happy hour is the classical Negroni, which is a little “aggressive” but is especially loved by the Milanese, made with Bitter Campari, Gin, red Martini and ice, that must be tried with a few snacks.

After your aperitif you can choose one of the several restaurants in Milan that specializes in traditional cooking. We advise you to start with a traditional antipasto, made of nervetti (boiled calf shank and knee cartilage cut into strips) and mixed with thinly sliced onions. As a first course you cannot miss out on the classical Risotto alla Milanese, made with a full-bodied beef broth (the original recipe includes bone marrow) and flavored with saffron. As a second course we suggest a classic Milanese dish: "cassoeula", an extremely filling dish made with various poor parts of pork meat (tail, ribs, rind, feet and ears) cooked with green cabbage and other vegetables. If you are not feeling so courageous, go for a more traditional dish, a tasty Milanese cutlet that is probably nothing like you've ever tasted in other places: Milan restaurants actually serve a very tasty, crunchy cutlet, made with a veal chop, including the bone. Another alternative is veal tonné, that is a light, tasty veal slice covered in tuna, mayonnaise, anchovy and caper sauce. We recommend an excellent Barbera from the Oltrepò Pavese as your wine.

If you should decide to spend time in Milan that coincides with the Christmas festivities, you could end your lunch with a huge slice of Panettone, the typical local Christmas cake, that is even tastier if you eat it with traditional Mascarpone cream.

Typical products from Milan

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These include Salame di Milano, made from finely minced pork and beef meat, and many types of cheese too.

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