Eat Like Ushi

In amongst the darting rain on a Sunday, a trip to the bakery was on the cards. Princi was conveniently located between Porta Venezia and Monte Napoleone and marked on my list of to-eats.

It's a nice bakery with a counter for the breads and another for coffee and salads.

The pizza and focacias are thicker crust than your standard Italian. The oils have leached into the crust creating a nice crispy, oil-textured base topped with flavours of choice. It reminded me of the delicious deep-pain of NYC or more recently in Salamanca (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/al-cuadrado-salamanca-03-2017).

A casual wander from central up north to Brera led to a quick Google Maps search for gelato. It would be the first of the trip and luckily Milan seems to be full of decent options. This was run by some lovely elderly Italians who were only too happy to share their creations with us. The colours of the selections were deep and elegant.

Pistachio was a lovely light brown colour full of pistachio flavour with a light sweetness complementing. The fig was full of fig seeds for texture and a light fruity creation from blended figs.

How excellent.

It has been over 5 years since my first (and what I thought would be my last) trip to Milan and Luini (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/panzerotti-luini-milan-07-2012). It was one of those deepfried snack places especially good for a quick stop. Long gone are the days of friendly staff and the ability to look through the bakery. This time I am met with a queuing crowd to outside, a bouncer moderating the line, and one of the female staff shreaking that "photos are not allowed!!!". It's a bakery. Calm down.

The prices have gone up minimally (€2.8 from €2.5) in 5 years which isn't bad at all. The fried versions are still softer, taster and unhealthier than the baked ones. The fried ones remind me of Chinese fried mantou bread or doughnut, and have a lovely soft and delicious dough coating. The fillings are tasty and perhaps could use a little more to balance the fried bread flavour. There's no danger of the filling spilling over.

I can't imagine I'd ever make a third trip to Milan, but despite the change in crowd and service, I'd gladly come past again for a bite.

On a small street opposite a Punto supermarket (which stocks an enormous packet of chips) is Momus. It isn't much to look at but has reputation for pizza, pasta and risotto. For the last meal on this extraordinary Italy trip, taking things back to basics seemed like a fitting farewell.

- Risotto with black squid ink;
- Linguine allo scoglio (with seafood);
- Ravioli ai crostacei in salsa reale (shellfish ravioli with grouper, crab meat & shrimps) - very rich decadent creamy dish topped with crab roe.

After this was a pleasant walk back, a trip to the airport, and Ryanair luxury back to Stansted. Until next time Italy.

Whilst living in London I subscribed to one magazine only - The Lonely Planet. Even though I'm not a big fan of LP guidebooks (as I much prefer Rough Guide to travel with and annotated personally from internet research), the magazine is one of the best in the world for a reason. The stories, photos and travel lust it inspires is better than almost any I've seen, and more budget friendly for typical European travel (as opposed to me other favourite Travel & Leisure which is much more flashpacker or hotel style).

The LP magazine once had a short travel card for Milan where it recommended Temperanza as *the* place for risotto, with dozens of varieties, of which only a certain few will make the menu each day. It's a generalisation that north Italy is more rice based than middle and south which are more pasta based. It didn't take much convincing to trek all the way up far north-east Milan to visit here.

- Risotto ragu di cervo e porcini (deer ragout with cep mushrooms);
- Risotto calamaretti, trevisana e bacon (squids, trevisan red chicory & smoked bacon);
- Umido di cinghiale con uva passa (boar stew with raisins);
- Insalata con verdure saltate (vegetable salad withescarole, baby spinach, soy sprouts, radishes, peppers, marrows, tofu, ginger, sesame).

The risotto was perfectly cooked and the flavour combinations were different. I'm not sure I'd say they are the best risotto flavour combinations I've eaten (probably because I prefer strong seafood flavours) but the creativity is certainly there. The menu reads like a gourmet dream with dishes I didn't see anywhere else in Italy. Definitely worth a visit.

There were only two food destinations within central Milan that made it on my list. One was a relatively expensive but nice looking foodhall called Peck, and the other was a famous bakery called Luini.

This place is perfect for a snack or you can load up and turn it into a meal. It specialised in panzerotti, which are stuffed deepfried folded over pastries filled with assorted meats, vegetables and cheeses.

I opted for the fried spinach and ricotta cheese version. For the health conscious, they also have oven baked. But why skimp on flavour when on holiday?

A decent walk away down to the quieter streets of Milan's south-east takes you through the city, the trams, past a park and to All'Antica. It seems most of the recommended food places in Milan aren't in the middle of town.

The reputation here was for typical Milanese dishes and also osso buco. On this occasion they didn't have osso available, but there were plenty of other dishes to make up for it. The food is a little more expensive than your typical, and the setting is finer. I wouldn't imagine there aren't many non-Italians that come here (or to this part of town).

- Spaghetti con gamberi di Mazaza e riccio (with prawns from Mazzara & sea urchin) - wet pasta dish with a subtle flavour of sea urchin in the sauce;
- recommended simple salad of greens and fresh cherry tomatoes;
- Galletto alla diavola (cockerel in the oven with herbs) - splayed out roasted chicken;
- Cotoletta alla Milanese (Milanese cutlet breaded & fried) - tender tasty veal cutlet.

Next door is a massage place. It was tempting to go in, but after a huge meal probably not the best idea. That, and the place looks like it may be a dirty massage.

One of the first restaurants you come across walking downhill from the Vernazza train station into the main hub is Trattoria da Sandro. It's always the rule that you don't walk into the first restaurant you come across, especially on the main road. But after wandering around the town, it seemed as safe a place to eat as any and we happily settled on the wooden platform out the front, and watched the world walk by.

- Spaghetti seafood;
- Baked potatoes topped with anchovies & tomato.

Despite the high tourist traffic through Cinque Terre, it was surprisingly difficult to find many places recommended online. It could be because most people (especially tourists who use English websites) stay in the much bigger town of Monterosso. Or perhaps Cinque Terre is still relatively unspoilt enough such that anywhere is fine.

Da Piva had some appeal in being off the central road in Vernazza. I had read mixed reviews online but the seafood risotto had been mentioned a few times as worth getting. I'm glad I tried it.

- Grilled octopus;
- Seafood risotto - this delicious pot held a nice array of seafood in a much wetter than typical risotto. It was much more of a seafood stew with rice, and a great one at that. I wish I could have finished it but it was too large;
- Spaghetti seafood.

One of the quintessential Cinque Terre walks is the via dell'Amore between Manarola and Riomaggiore. This lovers' walk is most pleasant at sunset and it is easily to stroll the short 1km or so whilst enjoying the weather (in summer), ocean scenery, and general beauty. Access to the trails between cities costs, but after 8pm all the check points close meaning they are free. In the midst of summer the sun may not have set at 8pm making this the ideal time to go. However of course you need to buy (maybe not "need") a train ticket to get back to your city of choice (Vernazza for me).

Before the walk there was time for dinner. For no particular reason I chose to from Riomaggiore to Manarola. I'd recommend this way again as you walk towards the sunset (on my evening at least) rather than away from it.

I didn't have any particular food places in Riomaggiore, so after a short look around, there were several good looking options. I opted for somewhere that didn't have the ocean and beach views.

- Tagliolini al nero di seppia al tocco di scorfano, capperi ed olive Liguri Taggiasche - Tagliolini pasta cooked with cuttlefish ink with a dash of scorpion fish sauce, capers & Ligurian "Taggiasche" olives;
- Calamari e seppie fresch alla griglia - grilled fresh squids & cuttlefish;
- Zuppi di frutti di mare in polpa di pomodoro, rosamarino, olio extravergine di oliva - typical local specialty shellfish soup with tomato pulp, red pepper & rosemary sauce;
- Spaghetti al mare di Liguria (con frutti di mare di Giornata, pomodoro fresco, prezzemolo ed olio extravergine di oliva) - Ligurian seafood spaghetti with mixed seafood, fresh tomatoes, parsley and extra virgin olive oil.

The food was as delicious as it looked. I was happy to be able to try some of the local Ligurian specialty dishes.

Looking at the menu again, next time I'd try the local specialty pasta of Acciugata spaghetti with fresh anchovies from Monterosso, capers and oregano. The flavour combination sounds right up my alley.