Milan 2012: Day 3

Yi got into full swing at the institutions and I spent most mornings on campus on the computer. Sometimes I walked around but I didn't wander far. I thought there'd be plenty of time to shop and sight see after Yi's teaching was done. I prefer to sight see and explore new places with company. Now I wish I took the bus or train to Turin, just 1/2 hour away.


Early morning at the NABA/Domus Academy campus. Domus Academy has just last week been ranked among the top 30 design institutes in the world by Frame, a big gun magazine in the design world.


There's a rooftop garden above the cafe but it was too cold for us to sit out.








Fall in Milan is quite ordinary, just yellow and green leaves. 

For dinner, we ate at a little restaurant with an unusual name, Lost In Food Experience.


The plate of complimentary starter came with bread, soft cheese and what I suspected was lardo. We ate it all up within seconds. Bread and cheese and lardo and white wine--so yummy!


I had this strong craving for Italian soups but this beans soup was so salty neither of us cold eat a third spoonful. We sent it back.


Cotoletta di vitello alla Milanese ("What is vitello?" "Son of a goat," said the waiter, and he hurried to the kitchen for confirmation when he saw Yi and I trying hard to suppress our laughter) is one of Milan's specialities and this was the best cotoletta we ate. One order was 20 euros, for two persons, and it came with the biggest slice of breaded veal, a zucchini, peppers and eggplant caponata and fried potatoes. 


The flavor! The taste! The crunch of the superfine breadcrumbs, especially at the edges, and the tender, moist and butter-flavored veal! I much prefer Milanese cotoletta to Viennese schnitzel. Although they are both flat thin pieces of meat breaded and deep-fried, the Milanese version is more flavorful (I was told that the best Milanese cotoletta is fried in lard but I've also read that frying in butter is authentic) and the meat is usually veal whereas the Viennese version is made of pork and tasted drier, but that could be due to a bad chef. The telling sign of an authentic Milanese cotoletta is the bone that's attached and wrapped in foil, and the taste of butter/lard.


We had another plate of lardo--soft, tender and smooth slices of pork fat with very little meat.


We ended with tiramisu, my first tiramisu in Italy and I was shocked that it was so different from my version. There was no liqueur in it and hardly any sponge fingers. It was 70% mascarpone cheese. Very yummy but it was just cheese with nothing much in it. Eye opener for me.


Complimentary peanut brittle. The meal, with one glass of white wine, came to 32 euros only, and was one of the best we had even though it was simple. I highly recommend this place. It's small and the menu is limited but the food's better than many places we ate at and Yi had been there on another occasion and she said the food was very good too.



We walked home and this gelateria was still open. If I was Italian and living outside of Italy, I think I'll miss these traditional gelaterias most. I've tasted excellent pizzas outside of Italy but the best gelati anywhere just can't beat those in Italy.