Milan, the Culture of flavours

When the Museum of Culture (MUDEC) opened in Via Tortona in 2014, Milan also got an excellent restaurant.

Located on the top floor, the restaurant is the home of the talented Enrico Bartolini, who was awarded his second Michelin star in the 2017 edition of the guide. The chef has been busy channelling his unique culinary philosophy of splitting individual recipes up into separate episodes interconnected by the main ingredient and a host of varied flavours ranging from the fields right through to the sea.

Bartolini’s approach is to break food down into fragments which look and taste completely different, with flavours and colours taken from all around the world, then put them back together through the ritual of the meal. This style of cooking and eating turns the whole thing into a performance, a work of art.

Santa Margherita prawns, tuna steak, suckling pig, spit-roast pigeon: the chef divides the dishes up and edits them together again like a film, complete with opening credits, plot and big finish. Take the prawn, for example. Its head and legs are fried, then served with a shellfish broth, lobster roe, shelled almonds and almonds stuffed with prawn tartare. Risotto Arlecchino is served in two parts: first the pepper sauce, Grana Padano, pine nuts, curry and aromatic herbs, then the rice, made glossy with butter and chive. The diner gets the pleasure of choosing how much they eat of which, trying one and then other on their own before mixing the two together.

This is what Enrico Bartolini does in the kitchen. The fact that he’s doing it in Milan’s Museum of Culture feels like a logical consequence of his food philosophy – this is natural environment. There is a bistrot on the ground floor, with the style and quality very much living up to the standards set by the restaurant. It’s open for breakfast, lunch and aperitif.