Where to eat in Milan during Fuorisalone 2025: restaurants and cocktails
Dhole, Osteria Afrodite and Polpo, three places, each with a different personality, where you can find excellent cuisine and cocktails during Design Week.
Tropical wallpapers, plants on the walls and an atmosphere with soft lighting transport Dhole 's customers to a distant elsewhere. Just like the flavours of the new menu, entrusted to chef Archie Wilches who offers a Nikkei cuisine, which blends Japanese and South American elements , with the use of local products. This is the new look of the restaurant, part of the Eppol group, which from Porta Romana - where it is located - takes its guests on a journey through exotic scents and flavours.
We start from the menu, where we choose the Carta - kinoko appetizer, consisting of rice paper rolls stuffed with mixed oriental mushrooms, grilled vegetables and served with linseed oil and daikon, we continue with a Veggie rice , with mixed vegetables and oriental mushrooms sautéed in the wok with sweet chili sauce and conclude with the excellent Salmone violet, a fillet of wild salmon marinated with red cabbage and beetroot, baked in the oven and served with purple potato cream, beetroot mayonnaise, red basil, lumpfish roe and purple carrot powder.
Accompanying it, in addition to the expertise of the staff, which is one of the strong points of the place, the Kyomei to Tonomi cocktail list , with alcoholic and non-alcoholic proposals, even off the list, which intertwines Latin American and Asian traditions pairing them with the dishes. Among all the Taco Mas, with a mix of Montelobos mezcal, smoked chipotle chili liqueur and Timut pepper, or the Mi Nube with aromas of vetiver and myrrh, while Ara Macao , has vermouth de Bonarda, fernet and kaffir lime, and captures the attention with its bright colors and a persistent flavor. For late-night chats.
In a central but quiet area, not far from Città Studi, under two terraces surrounded by climbing plants, there is the new Osteria Afrodite . Upon entering, the sly smile of the bartender José encourages you to stop for a cocktail, which can also accompany dinner, before sitting on the veranda or in the large room overlooking the open kitchen, from which it is difficult to look away. The atmosphere is that of an elegant trattoria, the waiting staff attentive and on the table traditional Italian cuisine, albeit interpreted in a modern key.
We start with some appetizers, to share, such as the artichoke salad with bottarga , the Mondeghili with cren (typical Milanese meatballs) or the fried frog legs , and also the Cuttlefish with cheese and pepper . If it is your first visit, you cannot miss the Tagliolini Afrodite with grilled mullet and Alpine butter , delicious, and in generous portions or the Milanese cuttlefish . To finish, the homemade cream ice cream, an expression of a cuisine made with attention and passion.
They are flavours that “ evoke memories and gestures that tell a story . Each dish must be able to convey the deep bond with tradition, without being obvious. We do not believe in passing fads but in a restaurant that excites, because it is authentic,” explains Redi Shijaku, an entrepreneur of Albanian origin and Italian by adoption , who with these openings - Osteria Afrodite is part of La Gioia Collection, which also includes La Gioia, Osteria Serafina and Al Baretto San Marco - has chosen to “focus on the concept of “new Italian classic”: a cuisine that honors tradition without replicating it, but making it current through technique, research and attention to detail”.
We then move to the streets of Porta Venezia, where chefs Viviana Varese and Ritu Dalmia bring a breath of sea with Polpo - Semplicemente Pesce And if (for now) there is no sea in Milan, there is instead this contemporary trattoria dedicated to oysters, molluscs and fish. A place that remains informal, pleasantly retro - it is inspired by 80s venues - where you can choose between the bar formula , with tapas and tastings at the counter, or the trattoria .
The interiors are blue, and recreate a maritime atmosphere, the style is décontracté, lively, with an offer of high-quality raw materials, from which to choose dishes that are also fun to share with other diners. " It's an "octopus" of the head ", Viviana Varese jokes, "it's a desire to return to the beginning of my career with the cuisine I made with my family, mixed with the experience of my last 20 years".
Among the tapas you can try, for example, the Cod Croquettes , the Bread, butter and anchovies of Cetara Armatore , the Raw Scampi with hazelnut butter, yuzu and sour chili pepper , or the Amberjack Ceviche, guacamole, tomato, onion and crunchy corn chips . If you sit at the table, you can add many other options, such as the Warm seafood and vegetable salad and the Steamed Galician octopus with potatoes and sweet paprika. And then the pasta dishes, among the most requested are certainly the Cavatelli with beans, octopus and mussels or the grilled second courses. All accompanied by a pairing with wine or, even better, with cocktails. In a super POP guise.
