El Resentin

October 20th, 2008

This restaurant has a story with a happy ending!
El Resentin* used to be a wine-bar, or better a “grappa” bar open ’til late every night, where actors from the nearby theatre could find a quiet place to have a drink after the show. It opened 25 years ago on the ashes of a bistro that had been there since the 1920s. But in the spring of 2007 it closed down.
Then Rome-born Eros Ramazzotti, the famous singer, who lives nearby in the Brera neighbourhood and used to have breakfast in a café on the other side of the street, noticed the closed windows and thought it could be nice to open a restaurant to build even stronger roots in Milan and in the neighbourhood that had always made him feel welcome.
He bought the place and last September the “new” Resentin opened for business. The idea was to have a nice and welcoming place where one could eat like at home, and where families could feel welcome.
The menu is simple with a few starters, about five “primi piatti” of pasta and rice, about five mains (meat and fish), a few nice salads and very good desserts. Complemented by a serious wine list. The selection is modern and traditional at the same time, quite a good mix!
In addition they have hook-on chairs for babies, nice firm cushions for children that can sit at regular chairs, and they will bring crayons and papers and carton books for the babies. They do not have a children’s menu but will happily do half portions of the pasta dishes.
Overall the place is really charming (they just restored the whole bar furniture), the food is lovely, the location is really convenient, children are welcome in a way not very common in Milan, and the only average thing are the prices!

-Michela

*”resentin” is a word in the dialect from Veneto that denotes the action of drinking a shot of grappa in the same cup where one has just had an espresso. The warmth and the coffee really improve the taste and the perfume of the grappa.

Entry Filed under: Restaurants