Caffè Fernanda 
Égalité 
In the heart of the city, but away from the hustle and bustle of the center, just behind the chaotic Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Corso Venezia, there’s a warm, familiar place, that, at the same time, is a treasure casket of elegance. In Largo Augusto, a stone’s throw from the Duomo, L’Arabesque is a destination and a refuge for those who want to stop the time, enjoying it, reliving everything that Milan represents: culture, fashion, cuisine, history.
Born a few years ago from the creative and deeply Milanese mind of Chichi Meroni, L’Arabesque is not just a concept store but a cult store, where the original boutique is joined by the recent café with a lounge filled with bookcases: a real meeting point and a discovery for all lovers of beauty, with vintage as a common thread in tribute to the Milan of the ’50s and’ 60s.
But let’s start from the beginning, when the eclectic Chichi Meroni decides to open her boutique of the forgotten elegance, filling it not only of contemporary vintage clothes, bijoux, haute parfumerie fragrances and couture services, but also and above all a sophisticated design that helps to tell and define the spaces and the spirit of this small and surprising reality. Next to the boutique, a café and restaurant was born, just to recreate the idea of home and family typical of those years, a space where to meet and be together.
What is striking about L’Arabesque Café is the perfect meeting between the kitchen and the spaces, always inspired by ’50s, with a menu that recalls the recipes of those wonderful years that have made history but absolutely refreshed, with classy reinventions. At the same time, the environment is studied ad hoc, with the enveloping lights of George Nelson’s Bubble lamps that color coffee tables and small armchairs designed by Chichi herself and the Villeroy & Boch porcelains that contribute to giving each dish that “old times” aesthetic.
However, it’s not just the furniture and the refined design that amaze, but also the disposition of the spaces: adjacent to the restaurant area there’s a small lounge with bookcases, where to sit for a breakfast or an aperitif reading (and buying) magazines and books on lifestyle, fashion, photography and cooking, recalling that sense of homey warmth.
Quiet, curious, but also surprising, L’Arabesque is one of those very few places in our city that always stays in the heart of those who visit, offering a sensory experience that awakens distant, never forgotten memories and will always be loved by Milanese and not.
