Where to eat in Milan

A Milanese institution on Via della Spiga, in the fashion district, fitted out like an old London club, with dark boiserie, tartan carpet and a double-sided fireplace splitting it into a snug bar room and a larger one facing the greenery. The cooking is classic Milanese: riso al salto, cotoletta, ossobuco, with a wine list running past 350 labels. In good weather, the outside seating is the nicest part of it, a planted dehors built like an English greenhouse with a translucent roof that opens right up. I've been twice now, and both times the food was excellent.

Address: Via della Spiga, 26, 20121 Milano MI, Italy

A small Italian restaurant on Via Ariberto, off Corso Genova, with a counter where they grill meat, fish, and vegetables in front of you. It began on Via Rovello, spent a while on Corso Garibaldi, and landed here at the end of 2024, losing the number off its sign along the way. I've been to Rovello even before they moved locations and I've never had a bad meal there. Really delicious but simple (not overcomplicated) dishes, and the staff are super friendly.

Address: Via Ariberto, 3, 20123 Milano MI, Italy

A modern trattoria on Piazza Santo Stefano, where the name means roughly "to chat", and the cooking is Lombard: busecca, ribollita, handmade pasta, and risotti. This was a really lovely discovery for me. I was in Milan during Design Week, so it was really difficult to find reservations in my usual places, which led me to Ciciarà. It's especially nice for solo dining as they have a counter. They change their menu seasonally, but I'm sure they will always have something delicious to try each time. I had the pasta with lamb, and it was perfect.

Address: Piazza Santo Stefano, 8, 20122 Milano MI, Italy

The courtyard restaurant and bar at the Mandarin Oriental, off Via Andegari. I know it might not seem like an exciting suggestion because it's the all-day restaurant in a hotel, but their food is exceptional. Especially worth trying is the pasta with a simple tomato sauce, the most delicious one I have ever had. They also have an excellent veal Milanese.

Address: Via Andegari, 9, 20121 Milano MI, Italy

A small pasta restaurant in Porta Romana, with a bakery counter at the front. Francesco Costanzo was a photojournalist before he cooked, and the place is named after the sourdough starter he works from. It's his family's, kept alive for about a hundred years, and behind the bread and the pastries as much as the pasta. The cooking is Sicilian at heart, on a short menu of fish, vegetables, and legumes from small producers. Very simple, with excellent pasta that is perfectly cooked.

Address: Via Bernardino Corio, 8, 20135 Milano MI, Italy

A restaurant and delicatessen in the courtyard of Palazzo Bagatti Valsecchi, entered from Via Santo Spirito, a street behind Via Montenapoleone, open since 1957. I was a bit hesitant to add this one as I've been here twice: once I had a fantastic meal, but the second time it was underwhelming and the service was terrible. In the end, I decided to add it as the setting is really lovely, and when you do get good food and service, it's excellent. You might also notice that it made an appearance in The Devil Wears Prada 2.

Address: Via Santo Spirito, 10, 20121 Milano MI, Italy

A pizzeria on Via Statuto, near Moscova, where Denis Lovatel makes what he calls mountain pizza. The base is thin and very crisp, and he uses wild herbs from the Dolomites in place of much of the salt, with toppings to match, like herb cheeses and roasted potatoes. He came down from his family's pizzeria in Belluno, and the same pizza turns up at COMO Alpina Dolomites, up on the Alpe di Siusi. Really delicious pizza in a rustic-style room.

Address: Via Statuto, 16, 20121 Milano MI, Italy

A pizzeria on Via Bernardino Luini, near Sant'Ambrogio, serving Cilento-style pizza. Three friends started it in Vallo della Lucania in 2014 and brought it north. Most of what goes on top comes up from the Cilento, including mozzarella nella mortella, wrapped in myrtle leaves the way herders once carried it down off the mountain. I can't say I've ever had bad pizza in Italy so it's really hard to say one is better than another but Da Zero is definitely one of the best.

Address: Via Bernardino Luini, 9, 20123 Milano MI, Italy

A pizzeria by the Colonne di San Lorenzo on Corso di Porta Ticinese, part of a small chain the Aloe brothers started near Bologna in 2010. The dough is sourdough, left to ferment a full day before it goes in the oven, which is why it comes out so light, and the toppings are organic. Really delicious pizza with a lovely soft base.

Address: Corso di Porta Ticinese, 1, 20123 Milano MI, Italy

A Neapolitan-style pizzeria on Via Plinio, the second of theirs after the original on Via Cadore. The dough rises for forty-eight hours at room temperature, no fridge, on stone-ground Petra flour, and goes into a wood oven, which is why the crust comes out light instead of heavy. They're particular about the rest of it too: Orobianco mozzarella and organic oil, with a vegan pizza that changes every month alongside the classics, and rustic wooden tables set on old majolica tiling. Delicious pizza and a nice, doughy crust, just the way I like it.

Address: Via Plinio, 6, 20129 Milano MI, Italy

A pizzeria on Via Andrea Maffei, in the Porta Romana area, with the dough room facing the street so you can watch it being made on the way in. Paolo De Simone opened it in 2022 and cooks the food of the Cilento, where he's from: goat's cacioricotta, cooked tomato from a single producer down there, nduja, and a fried mini pizza to start. He was one of the partners behind Da Zero before leaving to do this, so the two pizzerias share a starting point. It made the top thirty of 50 Top Pizza Italia in 2025. Not the absolute best pizza I've had in Milan, but definitely top quality, and it's popular with the locals.

Address: Via Andrea Maffei, 12, 20135 Milano MI, Italy

A seafood restaurant on Via Savona, in the Tortona district, and the one that started everything. Enrico Buonocore opened it in 2007 and named it for a langoustine crossed with an osteria. Quality of sourcing is the whole point: crudi, catalana, and the king crab that has been on the menu every single day since it opened. One of the absolute best restaurants in Milan and definitely in my top three favourites, with some of the most delicious seafood pasta you'll have in the city.

Address: Via Savona, 10, 20144 Milano MI, Italy

The group's bistrot opened in 2012 a few streets from the original on Via Savona. The same fish-led cooking on a shorter menu, with daily specials depending on what's come in, big windows by day and lower light at night, and tables outside in good weather. All the Langosteria restaurants are absolutely perfect, but this one is more casual, so I wanted to include it to give you options. The food is just as delicious, and the atmosphere is slightly more chill.

Address: Via Privata Bobbio, 2, 20144 Milano MI, Italy

A long-standing Milanese seafood restaurant on Via Pasquale Sottocorno, near Piazza Risorgimento. Giacomo Bulleri started out in 1958 with a Tuscan trattoria over on Via Donizetti and only turned to fish when he took this place, an old pizzeria, in 1989. The room is Renzo Mongiardino's (the decorator who did half the grand houses in Italy, and a friend who offered to do it for free), got up as an old Milanese trattoria in stucco, wood panelling and patterned granite. It's the one restaurant I never skip when I'm in Milan, and I've been going for years now. They give you this little complimentary welcome pizza slice, which is so delicious it's probably one of the reasons we go. Seafood mainly, but they do have other options.

Address: Via Pasquale Sottocorno, 6, 20129 Milano MI, Italy

A Japanese deli and dining room on Via Amedei, run on the model of an osouzai-ya. The food sits out in a glass case at the front, and you either build a bento from it or sit down in the small room behind. No sushi: it's home cooking, grilled salted salmon, karaage, Japanese potato salad, donburi like unadon and gyudon, with the menu shifting through the year. I know it might seem odd to go for Japanese food in Milan, so do prioritise Italian while you're there, but this is a great break. The onigiri are the draw for us, fittingly, since the family who run it are the ones who brought onigiri to Milan in the first place.

Address: Via Amedei, 5, 20123 Milano MI, Italy

A takeaway counter behind the Duomo selling panzerotti, which are fried, filled dough. One of the most important things for me to do while visiting Milan is to have panzerotti. It's also one of the few times I'm willing to queue for food. It's one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. My favourite is the ham and cheese, but they also have vegetarian options. They close for the whole of August, though, so you have to make sure to get there in time.

Address: Via Santa Radegonda, 16, 20121 Milano MI, Italy

A classic Milanese pasticceria and bar on Corso Genova, opened by Luigi and Vittorina Cucchi in 1936, flattened by the bombing in 1943 and rebuilt. What you sit among now is the 1950s redo. The local trick is the zinc counter: an espresso and a cannoncino standing up costs about a third of the same thing at a table. I went and had a drink there, but they also have tons of pastries and cakes, so it depends on what you're in the mood for. Really great service as well, and it's close to Rovello if you want a pre-dinner drink.

Address: Corso Genova, 1, 20123 Milano MI, Italy

A caffè and pasticceria on Via Montenapoleone, in among the fashion shops. The panettone is what they're known for, made to a recipe they keep to themselves. It started life in 1817 beside La Scala, where Verdi and Puccini were regulars, and only moved up here in 1950. Great for a quick bite, a pastry, coffee or a hot chocolate.

Address: Via Monte Napoleone, 8, 20121 Milano MI, Italy

A historic pasticceria and coffee bar on Via Montenapoleone, right in the middle of the shopping district. It's all pistachio green inside (marble counter, floral silk on the walls, velvet seats, a ceiling of lit beams) and built to copy the original 1824 shop over near Corso Magenta, which is still going. Prada bought the business in 2014 and opened this one a year later, a few doors down from Cova, which LVMH had just bought, so the street now has duelling fashion-house pasticcerie. It turned two hundred in 2024, and what to order is what it has always made: chocolate, coffee, vanilla and marrons glacés. Great for a shopping break or breakfast.

Address: Via Monte Napoleone, 9, 20121 Milano MI, Italy

A little gelateria on Via Galvano Fiamma, near Porta Vittoria. A counter and not much more, with everyone eating out on the pavement. There's no Luca: six friends opened it in 2024 and chose the name together, to put a face on the idea of gelato as company, something you share. It's served a touch warmer than most places, so you can actually taste it; the pistachio comes out pale the way real nut paste should, and the fruit sorbets are often made from produce rescued by RECUP. Hands down, the best gelato I've had in Milan.

Address: Via Galvano Fiamma, 11, 20129 Milano MI, Italy

A tiny gelateria on Via Vigevano, barely one shop window wide, down by the Navigli. Carlo Lanzoni opened it in 2014 after training at Artico, and he's fussy about where things come from: pistachio from Bronte, IGP hazelnuts from Piedmont, liquorice from Calabria, and several of the chocolates made with no milk in them at all. They finish cones and cups with their own whipped cream, free, which is the bit everyone remembers. One of the best gelatos I've had in Milan, and I'm particularly excited when I can find my favourite flavours, chocolate and caramel.

Address: Via Vigevano, 27, 20144 Milano MI, Italy

A small, pale-coloured gelateria on Via Spadari, off the Duomo and next door to Peck. Stefano Guizzetti came to gelato from agronomy (his university thesis on the chemistry of it ended up in a dairy science journal) and he makes it with no additives, emulsifiers or thickeners at all, not even the natural ones most places use. Good gelato, though not worth waiting in a queue for.

Address: Via Spadari, 13, 20123 Milano MI, Italy