Italy is home to some of the best cuisine in the world. But where to start? Amy Doherty from Luxe Travel has chosen some of her favorites in Rome, Milan & Venice. What are your favorite restaurants in Italy?
A Favourite Restaurant in Rome
Starting with Rome, the Eternal City is funnily enough, somewhere you could eat to your heart’s content…eternally. The people’s choice, when in Rome, may very well fall on La Tavernaccia for its combination of down-home Roman cuisine, linguistically-talented staff, and convenient walking distance to the Trastevere station.
The menu displayed outside the restaurant is handwritten and in truth, barely legible. It doesn’t matter, whatever you order in this former trattoria will likely have you dreaming and salivating until your next visit. Instagram-worthy plates include their maialino al forno (suckling pig, don’t worry, they don’t give you the whole one!) and carciofi alla giudia which are said to be of Jewish origin and the recent cause of debate in the city’s Roman-Jewish community as to whether they can be considered kosher.
Whatever the final say, they can certainly be considered worth a trip to Rome.
Check out our food tours in Rome for more information:
- Culinary Tour of Rome & Pizza Making Experience
- Rome Cooking Class
- Trastevere Food Tour
- Testaccio Food Market Tour
A Favourite Restaurant in Milan
Milan, Rome’s underrated sister metropolis is in reality, the perfect city for the most discerning foodie in search of international cuisine in an Italian atmosphere.
Some of Milan’s best restaurants are not serving up pasta at all, but rather, the latest trends in gastronomic adventures such as poke bowls, hand-stretched ramen, and millennial brunches complete with twists on avocado toast. In Milan, sushi is a thing of the past. Thanks to a constant influx of influencers in the stock and fashion markets, Milan’s dining scene is comparable to New York or London and so are…the prices. While there are affordable options, to really rub shoulders with the jet-set and the in-crowd, you’ll need deep pockets or at the very least, a dining companion with some.
There’s an excess of Michelin stars in Milan and while I could choose a more classic example, I’m going to go off the Italian grid and mention Tokuyoshi. The restaurant is described perfectly as “cucina italiana contaminata“, a crossroads between Italian and Japanese cuisine thanks to the origins of head chef Yoji Tokuyoshi and his prior experience working with Massimo Bottura, a collaboration that took the duo to the world stage when Bottura’s Osteria Francescana was named the third best restaurant on the planet by the San Pellegrino Guide.
At Tokuyoshi, the dishes are like watercolor paintings- they are stunning works of art on a visual level and the creativity of Yoji meshes traditional Japanese with a uniquely Italian mentality to give you a dining experience like no other and one not to be missed should you find yourself in Milan.
A Favourite Restaurant in Venice
The last city on this short gastronomic tour is Venice and probably the most difficult one of the three to pinpoint a local favorite. At any given moment, there are tons of tourists in the winding calli, to escape the bustle, try Covino. It’s teeny-tiny and so is the menu and the wine list but there’s an Italian expression which is “pochi ma buoni“, quality over quantity is the best equivalent in English and it’s certainly the case for this bistrot. There’s space for about sixteen bodies, give or take a few depending on the night, and run by an oste-sommelier, which is why you can be confident with the wine pairings on offer. Described in the Italian press as “molto veneto“, very Venetian, it’s everything one could ask for when visiting the sinking city. The best part, after the food, of course, is the atmosphere. You’re almost guaranteed to make some new friends every time you dine here, if not with owner Andrea or chef Dimitri, then surely with the couple sitting inches away from you!
Rome, Milan, Venice…three classic Italian cities and three very different “favorite” restaurants are a testament to the beauty (and magic) of eating your way through il bel paese.
Buon appetito!
