Procaccini: Where to Eat in Milan

A star, a chef and a piano

Most Milan dining rooms run to a soundtrack of cutlery. At Procaccini, the evening comes with a piano.

This is one of the city’s newest restaurants, and it earned a Michelin star soon after opening. Chef Emin Haziri runs the kitchen, and his cooking is contemporary and personal. That means dishes built around one chef’s ideas, not a list of regional classics. Live music plays each evening, so dinner here is meant to last the whole night.

What “personal cuisine” means on the plate

At this level in Milan, the format often matters as much as the food. Many starred kitchens in the city build the meal around a sequence of courses, and some also offer à la carte choices. Procaccini hasn’t published a fixed format that we could confirm, so ask when you book.

A few questions are worth putting to the restaurant ahead of time:

• Format: is it a tasting menu, à la carte, or both?
• Dietary needs: allergies and vegetarian requests are much easier to handle with notice.
• Wine: is there a pairing option, or should you order by the bottle or glass?
• Duration: how long does a full evening usually run?

Nothing here is a dish you’ve already seen on a hundred trattoria menus, and that’s the point. When a chef calls his cooking personal, the menu changes with him. Treat whatever you read online as a snapshot.

Booking the table

A new Michelin star is the quickest way for a Milan restaurant to fill up. Expect evening tables to go first, and weekends before weekdays. If your dates are fixed, book before you fly. Don’t plan on walking in.

The restaurant’s opening days and hours weren’t available to us, so confirm them when you reserve. Check the street address on your confirmation too. The name echoes Via Procaccini, a long street in the city, but go by the address the restaurant gives you, not the name.

Milan’s metro, trams and taxi apps all reach most dining neighbourhoods easily in the evening. Once you have the address, work out your route and leave some spare time. Arriving flustered is a poor start to a meal built around slow listening.

Dinner at the pace of the room

Milanese dinners start later than many visitors expect. A booking around eight or later fits the city’s rhythm. The piano gives you another reason to pick an evening slot over a rushed early one.

Dress the way you would for any starred room in a fashion capital: smart and put-together, though not necessarily formal. If the restaurant has a dress code, it will tell you when you book.

Paying and tipping, Milan style

The bill at a Milan restaurant works a little differently from London or New York. Here’s what to know before it arrives.

• Coperto: many Italian restaurants add a per-person cover charge. It’s normal and shown on the menu or the bill. It isn’t a mistake.
• Tipping: a tip isn’t expected the way it is in North America. Service is sometimes included, so check the bill. Rounding up or leaving a little extra for excellent service is a kind gesture, never an obligation.
• Cards: upscale Milan restaurants routinely take cards. Ask for the bill (il conto, per favore) when you’re ready. Staff won’t bring it unasked, because hurrying a table is considered rude.
• Prices: this is a Michelin-starred dinner, so expect the top end of the city’s dining scale. Check current prices on the restaurant’s own channels when you book.

A few words of Italian go a long way. Buonasera when you arrive and grazie, era tutto buonissimo at the end both land well. That’s true even in a room where the staff switch easily to English.

Building an evening around it

A long dinner with live music works best as the main event, not something squeezed between sightseeing stops. Many diners start with an aperitivo, Milan’s early-evening ritual of a drink with small snacks. Bars across the city serve it in the hour or two before dinner.

Keep the rest of the day light. Spend the morning at the Duomo or the Pinacoteca di Brera, take a slow afternoon, then arrive hungry. If dinner runs late, which tasting-style meals often do, keep a taxi app on your phone for the ride back.