Pane e Acqua

Super-stylist Rossana Orlandi has transformed a former corner tabacchi (corner shop) into Milan’s most original and intriguing restaurant. Stark oversized clocks and raw concrete walls are softened by terrazzo floors and an ever-changing explosion of seasonal colour and texture. (For spring, shocking pink blowsy roses decorate the bar, and farmhouse chairs are painted to match.) The food is complex but never modish: a basil-scented cereal and seafood soup is served in steep-sided beaten pewter bowls, hand-cut spaghetti with baccalà (dried cod) and Taggiasche olives is laced with a rich, briny stock. Desserts are equally simple and spot-on: a rich splodge of buffalo ricotta is daubed with dark caramel and strewn with bitter chocolate nibs. Service is both kindly and unusually knowledgeable.