After a week spent in Zürich doing bureaucratic stuff we felt like we needed an escape and at 3:30 hours away by train Milan proved to be a handy destination. Milan is not my favourite city in Italy but beggars can’t be choosers, can they? At least we ate well!

Trattoria Milanese, via Santa Marta 11, 20123 Milan

We had visited Milan exactly one year ago when we were on our Europe-Singapore leg of the trip. We had a few days to explore and eat around but we did not have time to try either costoletta Milanese or risotto e ossobuco, so I jumped on the chance to eat them this time round.

One important note is that I booked most of the restaurants prior via either email or text message (both methods worked well and restaurants were super responsive to both) as I did not feel like calling; first, because I do not speak Italian, second, because, excuse me, hello, it’s 2023, why on earth are we still calling people, get on with the times! I used Google Translate to write a simple reservation request and it worked wonders and boy how glad am I that I did that because there were places where we would have gotten turned away if we showed up without a reservation.

We arrived at the train station, took the metro to our hotel and marched right into Trattoria Milanese to have lunch and what a good lunch it was. The restaurant was full of locals which is always a good sign. There was complimentary grissini, the wine was served by the carafe, one of the waiters spoke English, and we finally breathed a sigh of relief.

OK, so the food was not cheap but the portions were generous and it was super delicious. Costoletta Milanese cost €30 but could have easily fed a family of four. Risotto e ossobuco cost €32 and everything on the plate was rich and creamy, MAYBE a tad too salty but that’s a point of preference in the end. A carafe of decent house wine cost us €12 and a bottle of 750 ml legit mineral water was €3.

This was my first meal outside of Switzerland and I left so full and so happy and so satisfied that Trattoria Milanese gets Ieva’s seal of approval without any doubt.

Nowhere, via Caminadella 15, 20123 Milan

We wanted to find a craft coffee shop that had a selection of different roasts and we stumbled upon this little coffee-community place that we found on Google Maps (4.8, by the way!). I am very glad we did and we ended up visiting twice over the weekend!

Matas always gets his coffee in Americano form and there is nothing much to say about it. I, on the other hand, usually opt for a flat white and, in my opinion, it is definitely easier to screw up. My first cup of coffee was amazing. It was single origin from Ethiopia and I went to my little coffee heaven after I had the first sip. It is so hard for me to find a perfectly balanced cup of coffee that when I do… angels sing in unison. And this flat white was one of the best ones I have ever had.

Since we liked Nowhere that much the first time, we came in for the secondsies and this is where it turns for the worse. This time I was offered a blend of Ethiopia and Brazil and it did not live up to the expectations. Not a BAD cup of coffee but definitely less balanced which really threw me off.

That’s why it is so hard to judge a place be it praise or disappointment after only one visit because you need to have eaten/drunk/experienced it a few times for a well rounded review and that rarely happens with us. We are always on the lookout to try something new.

Nowhere still gets Ieva’s seal of approval. If I am ever back in Milan, I am getting a cup of coffee there, although I will make sure to ask for a single origin and not a blend.

e/n enoteca naturale, via Santa Croce 19/a, 20122 Milan

One of our main goals of visiting Milan was to stock up on Italian / natural wines and e/n is a superb one stop shop for a glass of natural wine and a bottle or two to take away. They only serve / sell natural wines and we ended up visiting twice over the weekend as well.

We had such a good time over our first visit: everyone spoke English, they had a very nice selection of bubbly / pétnat / white / orange / red that we might have had a few glasses to many but who counts, really.

We ended up having wines from Spain, Italy and France and all of these were fantastic. Need I say more? Go explore the world of natty wines, y’all, it’s funky and it’s marvelous!

On our second visit we ended up having cava and pétnat which we followed up with white / orange / skin contact wines. We had loads of fun one funky glass of wine after another.

We ended up having quite a few wines overall but that white Raphaël wine was SO GOOD. Rich on the nose with apricot and stone fruits, slightly effervescent in the mouth. A tad acidic but you can hardly avoid that with natural wines. The label is a work of art as well.

Overall, it’s not the most romantic interior but they have seating outside in an enclosed garden and it looked marvelous for summer. Cannot tell you anything foodwise because we only got some snacks that were OK.

We ended up getting four bottles to take away. One of them was Lambrusco (nice but acidic), another one a Slovenian white (waiting for our aerator to arrive to try this), and two others that I cannot recall now (we got 12 bottles in total over this trip, so please excuse my memory).

Anyway, a fantastic natural wine place. Ieva’s seal of approval fully granted. I would love to come back late spring /early summer for a cold glass of orange wine under the shades of the trees in the garden.

Osteria del Gnocco Fritto, via Pasquale Paoli 2, 20143 Milan

Joyyyyy to the world for he has come in a form of gnocco friiiitto sing I happily devouring a second helping of complimentary pastry that is the perfect vehicle for anything cold cut and cheese. This was the only place I did not book because I knew we will get there around 7PM and no one eats at 7PM except for tourists, so we were going to be safe and taken care off!

If I see Lambrusco on the menu, I ALWAYS order it. My general rule: if in doubt – Lambrusco. I had no idea such a concept as a sparkling red wine even existed before our visit in 2021 and now I am a convert. Sparkling red wine is amazing. Emilia-Romagna, thank you for your worthwhile contribution to my drinking repertoire.

Food wise, we had no choice but to order cold cuts and gnocco fritto. It’s a specialty of the region and also a specialty of the house, no complaints there because… what a marvel those flaky, light, divine dough fritters ARE. They are also an absolutely perfect vehicle for any type of cold cut and this platter for mixed prosciutto was so good.

Yes, Osteria del Gnocco Fritto IS in the heart of the touristy Navigli area and yes, it does cater to the tourist crowd but do not disregard it for this reason. These gnocco fritto (€‎4.5 for an unlimited serving) are divine and you will thank me for having sent you there. Ieva’s seal of approval is clapping its hands and jauntily dancing around.

Bonus: sights of Milan

You did not think I will leave you with nothing else but food for this? We are actually cultured people, you know! (we actually did not do much cultural sightseeing but that’s besides the point)

No trip to Milan would be complete without a few (or a lot of) pictures of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. It is a stunning building, no doubts about it.

And of course no trip is complete without a lot of pictures of Duomo di Milano. It is definitely one of the most stunning cathedrals I have ever seen. We have visited the rooftops last time round. Totally worth it.