On our second day in Milan, we ended up around the Duomo area again during lunch. Since Milan is quite well-known for its tasty “fast food” options, we decided to go to one of the several cafeterias in the area. When we say fast food, we don’t mean burgers and fries though. Fast food in Milan is very tasty and can be found in its numerous bars, delis, and cafeterias. Milan is very much the financial and business capital of Italy and there are several options for its business crowd to eat quickly or grab food on the go.

This time, we decided to go to Ristorante Rita. It is located about a block away from the Duomo itself and is located upstairs from its take-out only counterpart. Since we were there on a weekday, the restaurant was packed with business people on their lunch hour but the line moved quickly through the food areas.

Jenkins and I wandered through the different food options and tried to see what seemed to be most popular amongst the locals. As usual, we decided to share a few items to get the most variety. We realized we hadn’t been eating as many vegetables as we could while we were on vacation so we assembled a small bowl of salad from the salad bar. The cherry tomatoes were marinated with balsamic vinegar and basil and were fresh and sweet. I also enjoyed the grated carrots which were tossed lightly with lemon juice.  We also tried some of the raw julienne zucchini, which turned out to be quite flavourful and had an interesting texture from the cooked version of zucchini.

For pasta, I picked the rigatoni-like pasta with a minced beef and a light tomato sauce. It had just come out from the cafeteria kitchen so I knew it was fresh and it also seemed to be one of the more popular choices with the customers. As usual, the pasta was al dente and went great with the light coating of sauce. There wasn’t a lot of meat in the sauce but it went very well with the mix of spices used. Even though it was an oil-based sauce, the pasta did not taste too greasy and was not too heavy.

Jenkins and I also shared some Mediterranean-style chicken with potatoes and fresh olives. I felt that the pasta was a better choice because the chicken was a bit on the dry side and the taste of olives was a bit on the strong side for me. However, if you are crazy about olives, this probably would have been a hit for you.

For a side dish, Jenkins and I shared the saffron risotto with a light smattering of seafood. The risotto was very creamy and had a nice taste of saffron, which went very well with the seafood. As risotto often is, this dish was quite filling and was just the thing to give us enough energy to do all of our touristy things for the rest of our afternoon in Milan.

Restaurants can get quite expensive in Milan, so for the most part, Jenkins and I stuck to the cheaper places, such as the cafeterias and also bought custom-made sandwiches from local delis. Not only was the food always fresh and very tasty, it also seemed to be popular with the local crowd so we were pretty sure we had made a good choice.

Details:
Via Marconi between Piazza del Duomo and Piazza Diaz, Milano, Italy

Summary:
Food: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Service: n/a (self-serve)
Price: $$

After our thoroughly enjoyable stay in the Lake Como region, Jenkins and I boarded the train and headed for Milan. Milan was a relatively short hour or so train ride away and we only planned to stay for two days and one night while en route to Cinque Terre.

Our morning in Milan was mostly spent around the Duomo area. We snapped a few pictures of the Duomo and explored around the square before realizing it was time for lunch.

We decided to go to Pastarito Pizzarito, which is a popular pasta and pizza chain a couple of blocks away from the Duomo square. The restaurant was quite large so even though it was packed with people, we did not have to wait for a seat. It seemed to be quite popular with the working crowd and even though there were tourists at the restaurant, there were also quite a few locals.

As usual, we started with some fizzy water:

Jenkins and I looked around us and saw that the portion sizes were quite large. We were quite hungry after all the travelling and wandering we had done so far that day. We decided we were entitled to stuff our faces a bit.

Obviously, the specialties at Pastarito Pizzarito were the pastas and pizzas but we noticed that more people were eating pasta rather than pizza. Since we had eaten a fair share of pizza while in Lake Como, we decided to choose two pastas to share. The menu at Pastarito is such that you get to choose the type of pasta and the type of sauce and the pricing depends on the combination you choose.

Our first pick was the spaghetti carbonara. I find the North American variety of this dish way too creamy and fatty but figured this would be the best time to try an authentic Italian version. This was hands down, the best spaghetti carbonara I have ever tasted. The eggs were not too overpowering, the sauce was not creamy, and the panchetta was thickly cut and had a slight crunch. Even though I was full at the end of the meal, I could not resist picking at this pasta until the whole dish was finished. The spaghetti itself was perfectly al dente and the dry and garlicky egg sauce was just enough to coat the pasta slightly but did not leave a puddle of sauce after I finished my dish.

Jenkins’ choice was more conventional tomato with basil sauce with spaghetti. Even though it was a non-cream-based sauce, the tomatoes did not have too much acidity and the whole dish had a “freshly-made” taste to it. There were also small pieces of panchetta in this dish too but I felt that the flavour of the tomatoes overpowered it somewhat.

Of the two pastas, you can probably guess that the carbonara was my favourite. It was just so well-made that I probably could have eaten the entire dish myself and just left the tomato pasta to Jenkins even though the tomato pasta was still quite tasty. Just looking at these pictures while writing this post is making my mouth start to water! We enjoyed Pastarito so much that we tried to go again the day before we left but unfortunately, they do not open for dinner until 7:30 and we had to be at the train station to go to Cinque Terre at 7PM.

Details:
Via Verdi 6, Milano, Italy (1 block from La Scala opera house)

Summary:
Food: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 3 out of 5 stars
Price: $$