The recent bank holiday weekend entailed a visit to Milan, Italyand basicaly just covers the various things to do if you’re ever in the city. This was my second visit to Italy,the first being Rome a few years ago. The Rome trip was quite fascinating as I spent quite a while visiting the various historical sites, with Vatican City being the major highlight of that trip.
The recent Milan trip mostly consisted of relaxation and good food. Luckily we kicked off and ended the trip by booking business class tickets courtesy of British Airways. The food in the lounge and on the flight tasted quite good.The fish dish on the Heathrow to Milan flight was quite tasty. Keep it up.
On arrival at Milan, we headed straight to our hotel ( Star Hotel Echo Milan), just opposite the Centrale Station.The proximity of the hotel to Centrale station made it easier to travel into town whenever required. Part of the plan when we landed was to visit the Milan Expo on the 1st of May, however riots prevented this from happening. It definitely would have been nice to see the food exhibitions.
During the stay we visited a few bars and restaurants.Our first night involved quite a few hours at a nice bar called The Monkey Bar. They served great cocktails and the customer service really stood out.
We had our first aperitivo experience in this bar as well and totally loved it. Think of it as a form of happy hour with a selection of free food. We already booked a restaurant called Antica Osteria Cavallini via the hotel for the night and luckily it was a stone throw from the Bar, so we dashed across for quick meal.
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| Sliced veal shank with mashed potatoes and black truffle |
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| Chocolate Fondant |
The food was decent, however the star of the evening was definitely the chocolate fondant. Very gooey chocolatey centre and cream always hits the foodie spot. After dining we went back to cocktail bar and continued the night with more lovely cocktails. We continued the rest of our trip in this manner. See the pictures below for a snap shot of some of the dishes on our walks across the city
Day 2
My sister recommended this restaurant, Pizzeria Maruzzella Milano . The sphagetti frutti di mare was simply delicious. The Mussels, squid, langoustines swimming in a pool of sauce was very moorish indeed.
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| Mozzarella, Salt Ricota and Fried Eggplant. |
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| Spaghetti frutti di Mare |
Day 2 almost over, we went back to the hotel to drop our shopping bags after walking through Buenos aires. Next stop was a bar I read about on a few sites based in the Corso Como area, or 10 Coso como to be exact. It has a nice relaxing courtyard with lush plants and flowers. Make sure you have a nice sip of cocktails in the garden.
Day 3 entailed a visit to the Four seasons hotel for lunch, more specifically La Veranda . The seared chicken was tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. Quite tasty i have to say. Good food, a nice bar area and tons of Prosecco.
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| Seared Chicken with Bay leaf, Potato flan and Chanterelle mushrooms |
Leonard da Vincis exhibition also took place in the Duomo area. To say he was a genius is not an understatement. Try to visit when you can, you would like it. His works were simply extraordinary.
Finally, the highlight one of the major eating highlights of the trip involved dining at a family owned restaurant called Ristorante Parentesi. I absolutely loved the customer service. The owner was quite friendly and the food tasted sublime. I really wished I could try out a few more dishes on the menu, but alas I couldn’t manage it. Their parma ham with gnocci fritto tasted divine, while the confit duck main and mango chutney was an accomplised dish. The duck was crisp and tender. It definitely went well with the mango chutney. The chocolate fondant dessert was rich and flavourful, especially when bursts of strawberries light up your taste buds while savouring the dark chocolate.
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| Parma Ham with Gnocci Fritto. |
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| Confit duck with Potato and Mango Chutney |
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| Lemon Tart |
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| 70% Dark Chocolate fondant with strawberry jelly filling |
Lovely restaurant indeed
4th day
Time to fly back home and a little debate about who gets the window seats took place ” you’ve seen many take off’s in your lifetime Michael ….just let me get the window seat”. Being the gentleman I am, I left my beloved seat and sat in the aisle after a few minutes.
There goes our trip to Milan. Good food, nice cocktail bars, friendly people and a nice time away all in all.