Eat vegetarian dishes in Milan, prepared with organic products. We are at Uscio & Bottega and the lunch break here is really healthy.
I have a necessary premise to make before introducing an uncovered place, by chance, during a Milanese lunch break: I am not a vegetarian. Having said that, my voice speaks obviously staying out of the chorus, but positively surprised by the taste experience.
I was in the Milan area, Lambrate-Udine, along the green M2 and I happened upon it by chance, while walking in search of a nice little place to eat a bite and tell me a bit, a place that was not a fast food or even a serious restaurant, which allowed you to stay light offered a balanced meal.
After unwrapping pastry bars with eye-catching windows, quality-certified ice cream shops outside and street food, my eyes were literally drawn to a couple of shop windows set up in shades of brown, from the wooden chairs placed near the entrance and from the blackboards on which the menu was written with chalk. I focused on the main showcase: raw wood shelves honey color they presented in a very neat and clean way vases each containing a different cereal or legume, rigorously labeled. Mile, barley, basmati rice, oats, lentils, chickpeas followed and repeated themselves, alternating with countless types of coffee. By now he had captured me, I had to enter, without even reading the menu displayed!
A long glass counter presents the ready-made delicacies, from quiches to rice with vegetables to salads, they are all strictly organic and vegetarian.
We ask for a table for two which is set for us with placemats woven bamboo that stand out for the chromatic contrast on the black-stained wooden top, cutlery wrapped in recycled paper napkins, as well as the one used for the menu cover. The coherence of colors, style and definition of the place is tangible and the distance between an omnivore and a vegetarian (or vegan - because here even those who are more radical are careful) becomes much more subtle.
The list of dishes is minimal and, at first glance, one is surprised and undecided: all too different from a "normal" restaurant. After the initial skepticism, however, I chose a pie of potatoes, ribs and brie that arrived in five minutes, just enough time to acclimate and start the chat. The neat appearance of the dish surprised me again, the pie developed on several distinct levels that started with potatoes, passed to the green of the ribs and then to a micro slice of brie centered on top.
The friend who was with me, on the other hand, had opted for some millet meatballs with sautéed zucchini which were eaten with the eyes and, according to him, also on the palate were excellent.
The place intrigued me and so I looked around and gathered information: it is not only an organic bar-restaurant, but also offers takeaways and home delivery; it is also a shop of organic foods and raw materials which, aware that it cannot be low cost, gives customers the opportunity to have discounts thanks to a loyalty card, presented on their site.
I realize I haven't told you the name yet, but even I only discovered it at the end of my vegetarian experience: Uscio & Bottega.
Given the perfectly managed times, the quality of food and presentation, I must say that my gut feeling, in front of that window, was right.
