Sushi, sashimi, couscous, kebab, it’s a triumph. It is estimated that there are around 50,000 ethnic restaurants in Italy, and they are growing rapidly. Ethnic food is increasingly popular: 57.5% of Italians have increased consumption in the last 5 years, 31.7% have remained the same and 10.8% have decreased it. About 1 in 3 eats ethnic food a few times a month (29.5%), the majority a few times a year (45.1%). And, of course, Milan drives the growth.
Here are 10 exotic restaurants to try in Milan:
Raito – Milan, Via San Marco 25 Tel. 0283412087 – https://raitofantasticfusion.plateform.app/welcome
In the central Via San Marco, on the corner of Via Moscova, a young, brilliant, elegant place; a series of rooms and a main room, furnished in a modern but warm and “enveloping” way: large curtains, right light; well-blended colours. The “rose room” is beautiful, a corner covered in roses, from the ceiling to the walls. The cuisine is “fusion”, with a strong “Pacific-Japanese” note, but also a series of dishes with an “Italian” influence. Among the dishes: excellent courgette flowers stuffed with prawns with teriyaki sauce; salmon sashimi on a bed of creamy saffron sauce; and the red prawn and avocado tartare with jalapeno sauce topping; of course there is then the usual selection of sushi, sashimi, uramaki, gunkan, all in small portions, so you can try many. Friendly and smiling service.
All you can eat formula, with prices of €30-40 per person
IZU – Milan, Corso Lodi 27 Tel. 02 59900221 – www.izumilano.com
Beautiful, good and refined; here the “Chinese-Japanese” restaurants we are used to are very far away, both in terms of cuisine and in terms of environment and service. In the lively Corso Lodi, in the southern area of Milan, Izu, a historic restaurant with thirty years of existence, reopened, in its current form, a couple of years ago; a series of rooms, with very tasteful furnishings and lighting, a beautiful bar and a toilet which is “obligatory” to visit.
The cuisine, which Jin Yue Hu, the owner, “chose” is strongly Japanese with strong international influences. Obviously there are dishes such as various ceviche, nigiri, gyoza but also dishes such as the shoe, a tribute to the Italian tradition: three cuts of tuna with karashi sauce and nori seaweed chips in tempura; the silk road, rice paper roll with a triumph of seasonal vegetables. The service was pleasant and very efficient.
Over €70 drinks not included.
Finger’s Garden – Milan, Via G. Kepler corner V.le F. Restelli 2. Tel 02 606544 – https://www.fingersrestaurants.com/
Perhaps the greatest “fusion” chef of recent years has returned to this corner of Milan: Roberto Okabe, who began his Italian journey here in 2004. In the beautiful, elegant and youthfully refined restaurant, with a room surrounded by greenery, one returns to taste Okabe’s magical cuisine, the result of a unique professional and personal journey: he lived in Brazil, his mother’s country, and in Japan, where his father was born, and has long experience in various important cuisines such as that of Zen. All this has “generated” a unique chef, with a very personal cuisine, with strong Japanese-Brazilian-Italian influences. The result is spectacular: light, tasty, fragrant dishes, beautiful to look at, excellent to taste: miso soup; tuna millefeuille; splendid tartare and carpaccio; an excellent and special interpretation of aubergine parmigiana; and then “very special” sashimi and various versions of Wagyu.
About €100 but they’re all worth it.
Little Ronin (Izakaya Osteria Listening bar) – Milan, Via Vittorio Alfieri 17. Tel.: 02 8936 7101 – houseofronin.it
On the ground floor of the beautiful Art Nouveau building of Ronin, there is this restaurant and cocktail bar, on the small Piazza Morselli; with outdoor tables, it is many things: firstly a meeting point for a large young and brilliant audience and then a listening bar, and above all an “easy” restaurant created for sharing and tasting Japanese street food dishes: bao and sando; handrolls; gyoza; okonomiyaki. And then excellent cocktails: Negroni with sake; Moscow Mule with Ginger Vodka; Spritz with jasmine tea.
The Listening bar aspect is noteworthy with listening to vinyl and a vintage hi-fi system from Klipsch.
But it is the atmosphere, perhaps, one of the most pleasant aspects: easy, friendly and lively at the same time.
Reasonable prices: gyoza, for example, €8-9
THE VICE – Milan, Via Ulrico Hoepli 6 Tel. 02.8051231 – https://www.ristoranteilvizio.it/locations/milano/
In the heart of Milan, between the Duomo and La Scala, a chic lounge, with a beautiful window opening onto the lively street. It is Il Vizio: an elegant environment that interprets a mix of cultural contaminations that “generate” a place with a sober, warm and welcoming style. But the uniqueness of Vizio lies in the dual proposal, made to satisfy the tastes of those who love Japanese cuisine and those who do not want to give up classic Italian cuisine. Taro Shimosaka, a Japanese who has been living in Italy for many years, assisted by Marco Gargaglia, offers a sushi that highlights the Italian nature of its raw materials. The Italian menu is proposed with the same attention, with fresh and genuine dishes, offered in an elegant and contemporary way.
Among the dishes we remember splendid oysters, bluefin tuna, a red tuna tartare with Yuzu ponzu; East meets West, a carpaccio of Hokkaido scallops and Mazara red prawns; and then the cod tortelloni or the fassona gnocchi and to return to Asia, the Poke Chirashi: rice, tuna, salmon, sea bass, avocado and mango. Excellent service.
Cost around €80
View live Restaurant – Milan, Via San Gerolamo Emiliani 2 Tel. 02 4547 1143 – www.viewrestaurant.it
A new star is born in Milanese catering; but it has “ancient” origins. It is View live Reastaurant, the brand new restaurant by Roberto Okabe, located in an elegant building, in the Corso Lodi area. The venue is beautiful, elegant and original, with pleasant and “engaging” lighting and the choice of extremely fine materials for the furnishings, such as brass or Canaletto walnut wood, deliberately worked in a simple way to obtain an effect of perfect imperfection. The cuisine is original, excellent, appetizing and curious: a mix of different suggestions and cultures, which is expressed, for example, in the meeting between elements such as Patanegra and wasabi, yuzu and bechamel, but also with innovative reinterpretations of some must-haves of oriental cuisine such as sashimi and gyoza, rolls, urumaki and gunkan.
Among the dishes: “Magnolia”, a carpaccio of flamed salmon with mojito sauce of pineapple, mint and shiso, grated daikon, ponzu sauce and sesame, and again with “Leo, Gratin & Vinci”, uramaki composed of a salmon tartare, asparagus tempura and crab gratin with flying fish roe, and finishing with the Black Cod creamed with potatoes, chives and parsley, served on land of Taggiasca olives and caramelized onions. Don’t miss the Chef’s Table “overlooking” the open kitchen, where the chefs interact with the diners in the live preparation of the dishes and dishes, in an engaging dinner show. Excellent and smiling service.
Around €100
Robata – Milan, Via Vittorio Alfieri 17. Tel.: 02 8936 7101
Here there are no terraces overlooking the sea, with views of Royal villas, but there is a great atmosphere, a great “warmth”, the result of a decor that aims precisely at the search for warmth and atmosphere.
We are in the heart of Milan, a stone’s throw from Chinatown, in an art nouveau building expertly restored and renovated, under the supervision of architects Jacopo Signani and Simone Colombo, Robata is a fascinating restaurant, also in the cuisine, as well as in the environment; an imaginative and tasty cuisine with a strong Japanese influence. We start with the multifaceted appetizers: sea bass and tuna tartare, various sashimi, nigiri, uramati and then the second courses, among which the fabulous Wagyo meats stand out to be grilled at the table with yakiniku, a grill for each table. The tuna belly and the sea bass with fennel and lemon dashi are also excellent.
For so much beauty and goodness about €80 excluding drinks.
Kanton – Capriate San Gervasio (BG), Via Antonio Gramsci 17. Tel.: 02 9096 2671 – http://www.kantonrestaurant.it/
Hidden in a corner of Capriate (30 minutes from Milan), a very pleasant Chinese haute cuisine restaurant; where the Chinese, with a Bergamo accent, welcome you in a nice and friendly manner. The restaurant, modern and essential, is furnished with great taste: well-laid tables, wooden decorations reminiscent of a Buddhist temple, crystal globes on the ceiling. The cuisine is of traditional Chinese inspiration, with typical flavours, modernizing classic recipes and with the aim of maintaining the original flavor of the ingredients. Among the dishes to try: the Disco di prawns, two very thin layers of pasta with prawns, ginger and spring onion; rice, egg and crab meat noodles; fried lotus flowers in sweet and sour sauce; Angus entrecote with a mix of powdered spices; and, on special evenings, the fantastic Peking duck cannot be missed. Many of the ingredients, difficult to find in Italy, come directly from China. The presentation of the dishes is admirable. Welcoming service. Excellent wine list.
Around €65
Mu dim sum – Milan, Via Aminto Caretto, 3. Tel. 338 358 2658 https://mudimsum.it/it/
In via Fabio Filzi, far from China Town in spirit and service, in an area of Milan that is experiencing strong growth, there is this Chinese restaurant that stands out from the average for the quality of its environment, service and cuisine.
In a large, well-ventilated room, with large windows, well-spaced and well-set tables, you can enjoy traditional Cantonese dishes such as dim sum, distant relatives, more in appearance than in substance, of our ravioli: among the steam-cooked ones, there are the Har Gao, filled with prawns, the Shao Mai, with egg pasta, chicken, mushrooms and prawns or the Mezzaluna nel bosco, filled with mushrooms and truffles. And then excellent beef tripe, pork ribs, beef with truffle-flavoured pepper or smoked lobster with pink pepper, on a chopped crab, dried prawns and carrots. The choice of teas is vast and the wine list is good.
About €55
Mitu – Milan, Via Panfilo Castaldi 28. Tel.: 02 4940 4925 https://mitu-restaurant.com/
From the Far East we move “to the Far West”, we go to Colombia; upon entering the venue you immediately feel like you are in another world; the furniture with the vertical garden of plants and the straw lamps, the Colombian artisan furnishings, the carnival masks, give the sensation of being in another world, on the edge of the jungle.
Among the dishes, which favor exotic ingredients and fruit and vegetables, there are ceviche, tapas, grenodilla, tiger leche and cashews.
The tone is that of a refined and well-kept place; after all, the team at the “base” of the place is highly respectable: Ivan Cordoba, the owner, is a “great” of the Colombian national football team; the menu consultant is Olivero Clavijo, of the famous Chato in Bogota, the chef is the excellent José Narbona Rodriguez. Here you can breathe the air of a “hot”, luminous and “tasty” land.
Around €60
