Olmetto

The Olmetto restaurant is just a few steps away from via Torino and piazza Vetra, in via Disciplini, where Palazzo Brivio Sforza is, one of the most interesting examples of noble Milanese architecture. The restaurant is placed inside the Palazzo and the whole project of renovation and setting up of the spaces featured an interplay between elements from the past and contemporary design.

Giovanni Cagnato and Alberto Buongo realized a perfect and exquisite melange of materials, colors, epochs and manufacturing creating contrasts and variation. A ’50s table close to the fireplace against the ’80s’ brass and plexiglass, a great decò mirror against Space Age appliques, a pied-de-poule sofa and a Scandinavian copper lamp. The space is welcoming, has something serene about it and has a staff that exudes professionalism and confidence. But who’s in charge?

They surely aren’t just generic people, Remigio Berton and his wife Umiltà Bonamici, one-hundred and sixty years in two, aren’t exactly new names in the Milanese restaurant scene. During their careers they opened thirteen restaurants (among which we mention the Ami Berton and Piccolo Sogno) and received two Michelin stars. Today, this indestructible couple runs the kitchen but also gives space to younger generations: the culinary proposal mirrors the tradition with some of the greatest classics, never refusing a touch of innovation, and working, from time to time, as a time machine with Pia’s recipes (Pia is a nickname for Umiltà) that bring us back in the years past.

How not to suggest you their wonderful red mullet fillet with citronette sauce, fregola and mussels, completely deboned (if you find a fish bone in your dish, it’s on the house), lightly breaded with a crust that melts in your mouth and served with an excellent buttery sauce? The fish options surely don’t end here, just among the starters we find the creamed codfish with zucchini and pecorino cheese cream, the salmon tartare with avocado cream and stracciatella cheese, and the sauted shrimps with porcini mushrooms and dill.

If you’re looking for the traditional Milanese quality dishes you can opt for ossobuco with Milanese-style risotto, the  crispy rice with parmesan cheese cream or the Milanese cotoletta. A true eulogy to the simplicity of Italian cuisine. Do you prefer first courses to second ones? Them you have spaghetti with yellowtail, sweet pepperoni, tomatoes and oregano, potatoes and spinach ravioli with pork sausage and finferli mushrooms ragout and risotto with porcini mushrooms just to mention a few proposals. Variety is not amiss. And let’s not even start with desserts, opened by that lovely barbajada with cream and cinnamon.

If you’re looking for something sophisticate but not too formal, with a good service and a kitchen that aims to high quality without becoming too demanding, Olmetto is the nice restaurant deserving of a first, second and third visit. Go check it out.