Milan’s best restaurants are always fully booked, let alone during Salone del Mobile.
To enjoy their food, you need to book them in advance. That’s why we have prepared this restaurant guide, divided per district, well in time for you to reserve a table at your favourite ones.
The first district in this journey around Milan’s top restaurants during Design Week 2017 is the classic Tortona. In Via Tortona 33, on the ground floor of a glass building in front of Mudec, you will find The Botanical Club, the first gin micro-distillery with a cocktail bar and bistrot. A bright and fascinating space where the dominant colour is smoke green with furniture covered with plants and tables and chairs made of wrought iron. Cocktails worshippers will be able to taste scented gin-based and whisky-based drinks. The menu comprises creative and refined dishes. The ingredients are of top notch quality and create a connection with the drinks to experience marvellous flavours and scents.
Not too far away from Tortona, in Via Corsico 1, there’s Ristorante 28 Posti, an intimate and bright venue dominated by wooden interiors. If you aim at an exclusive experience, chef Marco Ambrosio, known for his culinary research, will prepare a special dinner together with Matteo Cibic, Studio Irvine, Cristina Celestino, Eligo Studio and Diego Grandi. The perfect occasion to encounter Design Week main players.
In the historic district of 5 VIE, in Via San Maurilio 20, Bcafè is the ideal vintage space, with scraped walls and an old-fashioned counter. Its relaxed, young and cosy atmosphere will seduce you. Perfect for delicious cocktails and live music. Not too far away, there is also B Restaurant – Piazza Borromeo, 5 – offering classic Italian and Milanese dishes.
In Porta Venezia, Eppol is waiting for you. Both bar and restaurant, it is a mix of classic and contemporary, still young and informal, with exposed bricks, antiques, modern pieces and a vertical backyard. The restaurant has both simple and elaborated dishes. It is definitely a must-go on weekends, to listen to live jazz music.
In Lambrate Ventura, the international design district, you have to stop at Santeria – Via Palladini, 8. Informal and hipster, is the place where creative minds gather to work. Great tapas, hamburgers and home-made cocktails.
Let’s move onto the brand-new Ventura Centrale design district. Soul Green – Piazza Clotilde – will make you feel like you are in NYC. An elegant space, with plants hanging from the ceiling. The cuisine is entirely plant-based, healthy and innovative, without forgetting the aesthetic and sensorial side.
This year, the new Isola Design District joined the list. In this lively area, you cannot miss Les Pommes Bistrot – Via Pastrengo 7. French-inspired and with vintage interiors, it sprinkles with art and design objects. From breakfast to dinner, it is the ideal place to relax. On weekends, make sure you try their brunch, with refined dishes made of fresh and seasonal ingredients.
Finally, another space blending food with design is Rigolo, in Brera. This is an historic restaurant, the beating heart of international creativity, which relies on the creative platform We R Food for its menu and table design. Four Italian designers (namely, Vito Nesta, Martinelli Venezia, Elena Salmistraro and Zanellato Bortotto) are in charge of displaying the food on the various dishes proposed by the chef. Studio MiLo, instead, deals with the graphic concepts behind the tables, the menu and the windows.
