In Milan you never have to go hungry

This is part two about our trip to Milan. You will find part one here.

No, it's probably difficult, but at least we tried to catch up with as many as possible. As soon as we arrived, we were dying for ice cream, but instead of taking the first best place, we of course had to walk across half the city to find number one on Tripadvisor. It was quite a walk and when we got there it turned out that they had closed. As you can see in the pictures, we weren't miserable for very long when number 20 on the list, Gelateria La Romana, was around the corner. All work stress was blown away and now the holiday could begin in earnest!

Although even if number twenty was insanely good, I still have to mention number four on the list, Fatto Con Amore, which was by far our best ice cream experience on the trip. It was more or less just a hole in the wall with a couple of benches outside but what heavenly ice cream. The consistency was a perfect balance between slightly elastic and creamy. The flavors were a bit of an explosion in the mouth cavity especially when it came to those that contained fruit. Despite the intense taste experience, the ice cream was light and airy and not at all as heavy as Swedish cream ice cream.

If you can't bear to look, you can Venchi be an option. It is a chain that can be found in most major cities. They may not compete for the top twenty, but still good and fresh. As an extra bonus, they often have a small shop next to the cafe where you can buy colorful gift boxes for the poor people who cannot come along on the trip. To our great delight we discovered that they even have a small ice cream cafe at the airport which allowed us to have one last ice cream at the airport.

Although now it might sound like we're always following a list so as not to go overboard. The beauty of Italy is that it almost equals where you go because you always find something good. Below is e.g. a place we found by chance just because we needed a break from all the hustle and bustle.

The only thing that should be avoided is the tourist route. In these areas, everything costs much more, there is often poor service and rarely a focus on taste experiences. It is usually enough to just walk 50 meters into a side street to get something much nicer.

Something I was looking forward to even before the trip was to visit Lavazza Flagship Store. As the coffee nerd you are, Italy is a bit of a dream country, as the tiniest little pod has incredible espresso. Once there, we tried a few different kinds of espresso but also some designer pastries, created by famous Italian creators. Maybe it was me who had unreasonable expectations, but I still felt that the place had passed its peak. It felt very 90s in style and the service was a bit so-so. Just as we were about to leave, however, we saw what we should have ordered. They had something they called the Lavazza Experience which was a bit of a tasting menu for coffee addicts. It would have been something that…

I often feel that the absolute best experiences happen when something happens that you really didn't expect. We hadn't even considered going to Starbucks as it almost feels like sacrilege in a country like Italy. However, it turned out that Milan has one of the world's six Starbucks Reserve, vilket är något helt annat än deras vanliga caféer. Den vi besökte ligger i en byggnad som tidigare var postkontor vilket kanske inte låter så spännande men om ni försöker tränga undan bilden av ett svensk myndighet och istället föreställer er en schweizisk bank från 1800-talet så är det närmare sanningen. De hade även en riktig ”biff” till dörrvakt som med sin designerkostym och headset redan i kön gav stället ett exklusivt intryck.

Once inside, you were met by so many different impressions that it was difficult to take it all in. It's an absolutely huge room that contains a variety of things. In the middle are two guys cutting open sacks of green beans. They are poured into a trough which, with the help of small carts, transports the beans along the roof and away to a large machine where beans are roasted on a conveyor belt. On the road behind the roasting, there is a board that shows the different varieties that are being roasted at the moment and which raw beans are available. A fun detail is also that the board is not digital but the kind of mechanical board that was at airports in the past.

Once the beans have been roasted, they are transported via pipes and carts to different silos. It seems that it is transported from there to the cafe itself for preparation, but considering that freshly roasted beans are not particularly good, I suspect that they actually go to the warehouse and that the ones we drank have been stored for a few days. Regardless, it will be a really cool show when you get to follow the entire flow from raw bean to cup.

There was a long queue at the cafe so you had plenty of time to think about your order. It was probably lucky as they offered a variety of cooking methods and types of coffee. Pour-Over, Siphon, Coffee Press, Cold Brew, Stovetop, Espresso and many other variations. On the cake front, it wasn't poor either, and the biggest challenge was probably being able to explain what you wanted among all the goodies.

Det fanns mängder med kaffesorter att välja på men vi fastnade för en kategori som kallades dagens kaffe, vilket var ett litet exklusivt sortiment av kaffe som bara fanns tillfälligt. Mitt absoluta favoritkaffe är Jamaica Blue Mountain men då det är svårt att få tag i och dessutom galet dyrt (ca. 3000kr/kg) så har jag bara provat det ett fåtal gånger. Det fanns i och för sig en ännu häftigare variant, Kopi Luwak, men efter att det kom fram hur de behandlade djuren som var del av ”processen”, så slutades det säljas i västvärlden.

Anyway, the coffee was absolutely magical. We tried two variants the first time but we were so impressed that we came back the next day and tried two more. Another fun detail with this more exclusive coffee was that you received a small collector's card as a souvenir of the experience. In the shop, of course, they also sold a small log book, Coffee Passport, which you could collect all your cards in. As the blue-eyed tourist that I am, of course I couldn't resist buying it and suddenly they had profited from their included cards.

Ice cream and coffee in all their glory, but most people probably still associate Italy with food rather than coffee. Both me and my wife are fond of the Italian simplicity, you don't mess with it but focus on the ingredients rather than cooking and presentation. A French might perhaps call it simple and without finesse, but we really like it. Another advantage of this kitchen is that you don't have to be a three-star Michelin restaurant to prepare the food, which means that there is fantastic food in even the smallest neighborhood restaurant.

Here are some examples of excellent dining experiences at slightly simpler but still excellent restaurants.

Even in Italian cuisine, there are differences. One of the evenings we visited Locale, a very nice restaurant with excellent service and very good food. The restaurant was unusually hipster for Italy, but at the same time it was obvious how passionate the owner was about her small restaurant.

Another restaurant that stood out was La Cantina Del Giannone. It was in an area that we had not previously visited and as the buildings became more and more shabby we became somewhat skeptical, would we be robbed or have food poisoning?

Once there, however, it turned out to be a top-class restaurant and not at all on a par with the area. We didn't dare ask, but it would still have been interesting to know why they chose to establish themselves at this particular address.

Another thing that may be worth knowing is that many restaurants offer aperitivo, which is not always obvious on the menu or signage. This basically means that when you order a drink, you also get a small snack. In some places it's just a piece of food, but in others it can be a whole tray of cold cuts. So don't worry, you never have to go hungry in Milan.