Cinque Terre and Milan Day 7 Visited 5/4/2016 4 Forks

Lunch Box Via Roma 34, Vernazza, Italy

Batti Friggitoria  Via Visconti 3, Vernazza, Italy

With only 1/2 a day in Vernazza, there isn't really much to do except wander around, get some snacks and sit by the water.  When we were in Manarola, we had seen a guy with a cone of fried calamari and had wanted it but didn't know where he got it.  Luckily, as we were walking around Vernazza we saw Batti Friggitoria which is basically a fast food fried seafood stall.  We got a large cone full of fried calamari and anchovies for 8 euro and 2 small fried crab balls.  With a squeeze of lemon, they are the perfect snack bites for walking around town.  The batter is very light and even though everything was fried I didn't feel really icky afterwards.  There's also this great bruschetta bar right next door to the fried seafood place (I can't seem to find the name online) but they have a fantastic line-up of all sorts of bruschetta - I got a ham and mozzarella and a shrimp/pesto/arugula one.  The bread was fairly soft in the middle so it didn't cut the roof of my mouth like most hard crusty breads but it was strong enough to hold all the toppings.   Another great snack and even better to split a bunch of different kinds when you're with someone else.  

Lastly, we made a pit stop at The Lunch Box to get a sandwich to go for our 4 hour train journey to Milan.  While we weren't hungry then, we were sure that we would want something to eat on the train.  The sandwich here was a delicious roast beef on a circular wheat bread - the sandwich lasted pretty long that even when we finally broke it out 4 hours later, it was still good.  The Lunch Box has a great selection of juices and sandwiches that's perfect for take out, picnics or snacking.  Given the limited good food options in town, I'd recommend piecing together a snack crawl like this for lunch vs. sitting down and having another mediocre pizza or pasta at one of the sit down places. 

Photo Credit:  Yelp  

Obica 

Via Santa Radegonda 1, 

20121 Milan, 

Italy

Last and final stop on this Italian tour was Milan.  Everyone had told me that compared to the other cities in Italy, it's not really worth spending a lot of time in Milan.  I can't say I disagree as it's a huge cosmopolitan city that doesn't have the same old world charm as its peers.  But If you can stay more than 24 hours, it's probably a fun place to explore.  I didn't have that luxury, so basically I hit up the most photographed place in Milan (Duomo) and called it a day.  

At this point in the trip, I was so tired of planning and picking places to eat that we just decided to wing it.  Next to the Duomo there is a large shopping mall that had a sign that said restaurants and food court with a rooftop view, so we decided to check it out.   It's on the top floor and when you walk out, you get a phenomenal view of the Duomo - that's worth the trek in itself.  There are several restaurants to choose from and I settled on Obica simply because it was called a mozzarella bar (only when I got back to NYC did I realize that this is a chain and there's on in NYC too).  We started split the meat and cheese plate (22.50 euro), cacio e pepe (14 euros) and a mixed salad (8.50 euro).  As you can see from the prices, we are definitely in large city.  The meat and cheese plate was a nice spread - main difference between the one here from the ones in Bologna was that this one had fresh mozzarella instead of parm.  As for the cacio e peppe, it was quite tasty.  I'm usually on the fence about this kind of pasta but this was a nice dish of thick, chewy pasta with the right amount of olive oil and cheese on it.  Again, it was a nice change from the other seafood based pastas I had earlier in the trip. The portion was huge and more than enough for 2 people to share - a very hearty and filling dish.  

The mixed salad was a surprise hit.  I think since I hadn't been eating a lot of veggies on this trip, it was really nice to eat raw, fresh vegetables.  Again, having the local olive oil and balsamic vinegar made a huge difference and wold probably make any salad yummy.   Despite this place being a chain and being in a pretty touristy location, I really enjoyed my one meal in Milan.  If anything, the view of the Dumo more than makes it worth your visit.  I am curious to see how the one in NYC compares to this one.  Total bill:  $55.50 euros for 2 people with wine