Langosteria

At Via Savona 10, in Milan’s design minded southwest, Langosteria has been setting the city’s seafood tempo since 2007, when founder Enrico Buonocore opened what is still the group’s flagship. Today the kitchen is led by executive chef Domenico Magistri, and the whole place still carries Buonocore’s original idea: superb fish, treated with confidence rather than theatre. 

What arrives on the table explains the restaurant’s reputation quickly. The Michelin Guide points straight to the essentials: raw dishes, oysters, seafood and freshly caught fish, backed by an excellent wine selection and a glamorous room. Langosteria itself talks about ingredients sourced from around the world and signature plates such as king crab, red tuna carpaccio and linguine with tuna bottarga, raw scampi and lime. This is the kind of menu that makes Milan feel briefly like a very polished port city. 

The appeal also lies in its Milanese character. Via Savona sits in the orbit of Tortona, a district long associated with fashion, design and creative traffic, which helps explain why Langosteria feels like a place where people come to eat well and to be in circulation. It has glamour, but the smart kind. You sense discipline, pace and good taste rather than dining room drama. For a seafood restaurant in a city with no sea, that is already a neat trick.