1. June 2010: Ristorante Cantina della Vetra

The ristorante Cantina della Vetra is located close to aperitivo places like the Yguana Café and the Cheese as well as to nami sushi and the Gelateria Grom situated in a side street of Corso di Porta Ticinese. Therefore, it’s easily reachble by either metro (yellow line, stop “Missori”) or by tram (lines 2, 3, 14).

The Cantina della Vetra looks somehow unjudgeable from the outside as it doesn’t look too nice but as soon as you see through the windows, you realize how appealing the place is. The design of the restaurant is somewhat interesting as it offers tables on two floors (the upper floor hosting a few tables for two people each and the lower floor offering more and also larger tables). The interior design is quite nice and it makes you feel cozy. The only thing which is not optimal is the light as it is too bright especially as some light bulbs are uncovered. As the candles provide already enough light, it would be better to dim the lights a bit or only to switch on half of them.

The service provided in the restaurant is one of a kind: The waitresses are friendly, helpful, fast and extremly quiet. You don’t realize that there are actually waitresses as everything is carried out in a manner so peacefully and nice you’re never feeling disturbed at all.

When we arrived, we’ve been led to our table, welcomed warmly and friendly and immediately been provided with a menu. The ordered water arrived quickly before we placed our orders.

We’ve had a plate of different meats together with “Gnocco Fritto” (“Degustazione di salumi tipici emiliani, servita con gnocco fritto”) and a plate with a special cheese (“Stracciatella di burrata di Andria con pomodorini a grappolo”). The gnocchi were absolutely tasty, the cheese was great together with the fresh cherry tomatoes and the salumi were great too: What was absolutely interesting in taste was the Mortadella with little pieces of black truffle – although I’m usually not a big fan of truffles, it must be said it was a revelation.

For the primo piatto I enjoyed pasta with aspargus which was quite good. I’ve had had pasta which was cooked better al dente but the whole thing was good – especially as the aspargus was fresh and rich.

After a little break we’ve enjoyed beef stripes with rosmarin (“Tagliata di manzo piemontese al ginepro e rosmarino”) which were incredibly tasty: The meat was seared perfectly – almost being raw inside but having a hard “crust” outside which gave it its rich flavour.

The wine menu too choose from is great – offering great wines. Definitely worth trying out more than one bottle.

In the end we asked for a grappa with certain attributes and as the waitress responsible for our table didn’t know which grappa to pick, she waved at her colleague (which was barely realizable) which provided us then with a perfect recommendation – basically just the grappa we’ve asked for.

The prices are not low (primi around 13 EUR / secondi up to max. 20 EUR) but for what you actually get for it, they’re perfectly appropriate: Nice atmosphere, splendid service, really good dishes and all in all good prices. The Cantina della Vetra is definitely a place I can recommend anybody caring about high quality dining experiences!

Rating:

Atmosphere:
Service:
Dishes:
Price-Performance Ratio:
Overall Rating:

Contact Details:

Ristorante Cantina della Vetra

via Pio IV 3

angolo Piazza Vetra

20123 Milano (I)

Tel.: +39 (02) 89 40 38 43

E-Mail: cantinadellavetra@libero.it

Homepage: http://www.cantinadellavetra.it

About the Author: Sven

I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org. Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City.