Ahh, Italy. How I love thee. It's truly one of the world's most fantastic places. While I try to visit a new country every year, I've been to Italy at least 5 times now and it never gets old. One of the best things about it is the food - you would be super hard press to have a bad meal there. Now that Emirates flies direct to Milan and they often have great deals (our tickets only cost $500 RT with tax), it's even easier and cheaper to get there.
To celebrate our birthdays this year, a bunch of us decided to go indulge in a 10 day Northern Italy vacation. We flew to Milan an then went to Florence, Bologna, and Lake Como with a few side trips along the way. I've been to Milan, Florence and Bologna before but most of my friends haven't, but it was more about spending time with good friends than seeing a new city for me.
Since we flew into Milan, we figured we'd stay one night there to get adjusted. As with my previous entries, Milan as a city itself is a bit meh. It's a big city that doesn't have the charm of a typical Italian city. If you're short on time, just spend the night, go see the Duomo and get the heck out of dodge.
The main sight is the Duomo and there is a super high end shopping gallery right next to it with a few restaurants. We were exhausted and picked the first place we saw. If you have time, don't eat in the Galleria because it's full of tourists. We ended at this place since it was really the only place that had room for 5 people at the time. The menu is pretty standard Italian food - we split the caprese for the table and I got the fettuccine ragu as a main. The caprese was meh - it was kind of dry and the tomatoes could have been redder and juicier. As for my pasta, since it was a ragu, I expected it to be a red sauce type dish but instead it had no real sauce to speak of with only bits of pork. The pasta itself was good and I enjoyed the porcini mushrooms on there. Everyone else had a similar mediocre feeling about their food but none the less, it wasn't a terrible meal, it just didn't feel super authentic. Total bill: 185 euros for 5 people with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
Antica Trattoria della Pesca Via Pasubio 10 20154 Milan Italy 4 Forks
After walking around the city for a little bit, we headed back to our Airbnb and collapsed from jet lag. So much so that we missed our 8pm dinner reservation. Opps. So we had to pivot and Aarti found this other place (I think it was recommended by our hosts) where apparently Ho Chi Min once lived? Weird.
Unlike our lunch place, this restaurant seemed much more local and authentic. It's a bit of a walk and in an area that's not in a touristy spot but when we pulled up, so did another group of Americans (although they were with an Italian guide so it didn't feel like a place that was a crazy tourist spot). The inside was very rustic and and cozy - it just felt like a place where you would go with friends and enjoy a long leisurely meal. We were put in this random room in the back that seemed weird but it was totally fine. We all split a plate of prosciutto to start, Nat got the rigatoni, I got the veal cutlet, Aarti got the risotto and Kinney/Will got the cabbage wrapped veal with saffron rice. The prosciutto was amazing - thinly sliced and full of salty goodness. My veal cutlet was lightly breaded and served simply with a squeeze of lemon. It was great - not too oily or fried and despite it looking like a huge serving, it was thin enough that it wasn't too much food. Aarti's risotto was a veggie based and was way to salty which was the big bummer of the night. The shining star was Nat's rigatoni - it was very similar to the crazy delicious version at Carbone but without the spice. We were all super jealous of her order and probably would have all gotten it if that wouldn't have been weird. Another huge star of the show was this amazing reserve wine that we got. None of us are real wine snobs but one of Aarti's co-workers told her that if we ever see wine on the menu that's "reserva" get it. They weren't wrong - this was an fantastic smooth red that we all loved.
Overall, it was a super satisfying way to start our Italian adventures with so much more to come. Total bill: $281 USD for 5 people with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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