The Mandarin shakes Milan

Expo has certainly put Milan under the global spotlight, yet many of the novelties to be seen today were conceived before the city of the Duomo won the World Fair, in March 2008. Mandarin Oriental, for instance, tel. +39.02.87318888, main entrance in Via Andegari 9, plus two more for the restaurants in Via Monte di Pietà, is a 5 star luxury hotel with eight years of works (and pauses) behind its back. All square.

As in the old slogan from Rai, here you can find everything and more since just a few days ago, as it was opened on Thursday 30th July. One hundred and four rooms (there are thirty-one suites) with constant attention to the guests’ wellbeing, given the standards. Plus what not all other super-starred hotels in Milan have: a multi-starred chef, Antonio Guida, with a cuisine that is also made sound by pastry chef Nicola Di Lena, and in the dining room maitre Alberto Tasinato and sommelier Ilario Perrot.

Guida, from Salento, two stars at Pellicano in Porto Ercole, on the Argentario, Grosseto, moved from a fantastic yet seasonal location, where critics came from time to time and you certainly didn’t have the daily stress of the front of the stage, to the trenches of Milan, where everyone writes for all sorts of reasons and culinary critics and bloggers abound, but represent a voice among many. A bulletproof vest would help as soon as the town will get back to its full speed.

There are two offers, one seven days a week, 14 shifts out of 14, that is to say the bistro, and a second gourmet one, restaurant Seta, tel. +39.02.87318897, which will close on Saturdays at lunchtime and the entire day on Sundays, as customary in starred restaurants. I dined in the latter last Saturday, entering from Via Monte di Pietà. Business cards are missing, to give an idea of how everything is still in the trial stage, those smallest details that in fact make the difference. As you enter, you notice the courtyard where in the summer, if it’s not raining, you can sit happily. The kitchen is on the left and the tables are on the two other sides of an intriguing horseshoe-arch with different levels and depths. You see glimpses of things, something captures your attention while something else escapes you. It’s a nice feeling, like when you walk towards the bar and bistro and you’d like to sit in the main courtyard of what use to be part of the old Cariplo building, that is to say the Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde which once dominated Via Verdi.

The offer starts with a 5-course tasting menu for 130 euros (plus 70 more when choosing the paired wines). Antonio called it Dedica a Milano and to be honest perhaps I didn’t grasp the real reason. As it is not a journey somehow inspired by tradition, I think perhaps it is the tribute of a great chef to the city welcoming him, a sort of homage to Milan. Whatever the reason, let the Roasted blue lobster with zabaglione, capers, smoked potatoes and Matcha tea come, which the next time will leave space for the Sweetbreads with chicken entrails, with carrot cream and citrus fruits.

The first course represents Guida’s idea of rice in cagnone. He’s brave as in the memories of everyone from Lombardy this is just boiled rice seasoned with butter, sage and garlic, plus grated grana. The grana turns into Maccagno and the rest is a rainbow including powdered raspberries. Excellent, but we’re in a different galaxy, with colourful planets while rice in cagnone was rather grey.

Mandarin and Guida unsettle the game of super-luxury restaurants. Without reaching the new Gallia next to Stazione Centrale and Piazza della Repubblica for the ancient Principe di Savoia and next to novelty Mu, between Via Manzoni, Montenapoleone and Galleria, we have Armani, Bulgari, Verdi et Milan, Four Seasons, Mandarin of course, Seven Stars and Park Hyatt. Only one, Park Hyatt, has a starred restaurant, with chef Andrea Aprea, while the Four Seasons has Vito Mollica as its consultant, who has two stars at the Four Seasons in Florence. I have a soft spot for the lounges at the Four Seasons and the garden at Bulgari, I admire the work Park Hyatt is doing to get a new image but for sure the Mandarin will give a hard time to everyone. For the clients’ benefit.