Milan Travel Guide

Milan, Italy — Food and Dining

Restaurants in Milan, Italy

Restaurants
Expensive

Armani/Nobu
Another winner in the exclusive chain of worldwide Nobu restaurants is housed in the giant, white-stone Armani World on Via Manzoni. Waif-like models and fashionistas concerned with their waistlines can enjoy the stylish, softly lit design, while nibbling famous dishes like black cod in miso sauce as well as sushi and sashimi - or sipping sake with added gold leaf. Reservations essential.

Armani World, Via Pisoni 1
Tel: 02 6231 2645.
Website: www.armaninobu.it

Cracco
Modern interiors and the inspired talents of masterchef Carlo Cracco make this Milan restaurant a perfect fine-dining choice. Close to the Duomo, the restaurant, one of Milan's best, is linked to the wonderful Peck food store on an adjacent street. Cracco's creations include innovations such as pasta with sea urchins and coffee, married with an exceptional wine list; he has earned two Michelin stars. Closed Sunday.

Via Victor Hugo 4 (off Via Orefici)
Tel: 02 876 774.
Website: www.ristorantecracco.it

DonCarlos
Don Carlos is up there with Cracco. In a restaurant that makes the most of Italian produce, it is hard to resist the six-course tasting menu. The traditional dining room, with its little shaded lamps illuminating original prints and sketches from early opera productions at La Scala, completes the scene and creates an ambience evoking the late 19th century when Verdi lived at the hotel.

Grand Hotel et de Milan, Via Manzoni 29
Tel: 02 7231 4604.
Website: www.ristorantedoncarlos.it

IlLuogodiAimoeNadia
Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia has been serving up flavorful Italian ingredients, prepared with an artful simplicity, for decades. The pasta dishes put most of the competition to shame illustrating what real Italian cooking is about. The dining room has terracotta floors and clean white walls hung with dramatic, abstract contemporary paintings. It's well worth the long taxi ride out to the north suburbs. Closed Sunday.

Via Montecuccoli 6
Tel: 02 416 886.
Website: www.aimoenadia.com

Moderate

Chandelier
Bold prints, brightly colored sofas, gilt-edged tables, ornate busts, opulent drapes and chandeliers set the scene at this glamorous Milan restaurant. The menu is refreshingly innovative, merging tradition with creativity and featuring ingredients such as lobster and swordfish.

Via Giuseppe Broggi 17
Tel: 02 2024 0458.
Website: www.chandelier.it

El Brellin
With a candlelit courtyard set around an 18th-century laundry, El Brellin serves up classical Milanese cooking, with fresh pasta and delicious home-cooked desserts. Take a table upstairs and you'll have views over the canal. There's a sumptuous buffet on Sundays.

Alzaia Naviglio Grande 14.
Tel: 02 5810 1351.
Website: www.brellin.it

Il Ristorante Trussardi alla Scala
This first-floor restaurant above the designer ground-floor shop and café is situated in a Trussardi-owned palazzo, just to the left of the famous La Scala opera house, and has been recently completely revamped. Diners can sink into the comfy sofas and armchairs and enjoy the view of the Piazza della Scala. Fish and vegetable dishes predominate, and the restaurant received two Michelin stars in 2009. Closed Sunday.

Piazza della Scala 5
Tel: 02 8068 8201.
Website: www.trussardi.com

Osteria Le Vigne
This low-key restaurant, with plain white, picture- and bottle-lined walls and wood beams, serves up delicious dishes, exquisitely cooked, such as risotto ai frutti di bosco e zola dolce (risotto with wild berries and sweet gorgonzola) and daube di manzo al vino in civet con polenta (beef daube in red wine with polenta).

Ripa di Porta Ticinese 61
Tel: 02 837 5617.

Cheap

Anema e Cozze
One of four Milan branches of this successful pizza chain, the emphasis at Anema e Cozze is on tasty Neapolitan pizzas topped with fresh seafood. Fishy toppings include the likes of clams, sardines, mackerel as well as the eponymous mussels. Fish-infused pasta dishes and seafood antipasti are also on the menu. It's a simple place where tasty food and reasonable prices ensure a steady flow of customers.

Via Palermo 15
Tel: 02 8646 1646.
Website: www.anemaecozze.com

Brek
If you're looking for tasty and affordable food in Milan, then you won't go far wrong at this self-service restaurant located close to Piazza Cavour. Hearty pastas, fresh pizza, salads and gargantuan desserts are just some of the things on offer at Brek. Healthy fruit juices, hot drinks and alcohol are also on sale in this Italian fast-food outlet.

Via dei Missaglia 97 and Via Cino Del Duca 5
Tel: 02 8931 5193‎ and 02 7602 3379‎.
Website: www.brek.com

Nightlife

Young, cosmopolitan Milan has a vibrant, lively nightlife. Most bars and restaurants serve aperitivo (a buffet of antipasti, free with drinks) between 1800 and 2100, which is a Milanese institution. They stay open until late (0100), after which the energetic move on to the nightclubs (discoteca), which stay open till 0400 (most shut Mondays).

Entertainment listings are available online at www.corriere.it and www.hellomilano.it. The newspapers Corriere della Sera (on Wednesday) and La Repubblica (on Thursday) also supply listings.

Bars

10 Corso Como Café
10 Corso Como Café, with its slightly oriental slant to decorations, is one of the hottest bars in Milan.

Corso Como 10
Tel: 02 2901 3581.
Website: www.10corsocomo.com

Bhangra Bar
Milan's Bhangra Bar mixes it up with African and international music and a décor and buffet to match.

Corso Sempione 1
Tel: 02 3493 4469.
Website: www.bhangrabarmilano.com

Le Biciclette
In the Navigali district, Le Biciclette, with its monthly changing display of artwork, attracts an extremely varied crowd and has legendary aperitivo.

Via Conca del Naviglio 10
Tel: 02 839 4177.
Website: www.lebiciclette.com

Clubs

Il Gattopardo Café
Il Gattopardo Café, in a deconsecrated church in the upwardly mobile northwest of Milan, is a beautiful people haunt - dress to impress to get in.

Via Piero della Francesca 47
Tel: 02 3453 7699.
Website: www.ilgattopardocafe.it

Plastic
Plastic is one of the most popular nightclubs in Milan and plays Italian house and techno music. Free admission on Sunday nights.

Viale Umbria 120
Tel: 02 733 996.
Website: www.thisisplastic.com

Shocking Club
The Shocking Club has minimalist décor and lives up to its name with outrageous theme nights.

Bastioni di Porta Nuova 12
Tel: 02 6269 0045.
Website: www.shockingclub.net