Dal Vinattiere — where wine and everything good converge in one place

After identifying my soon-to-be apartment some years ago — yes, really — I found myself wandering back towards my current home when I noticed a beautifully designed sign above a small shopfront:

Dal Vinattiere — Osteria di Quartiere.

The font alone was enough for me to notice it and make a note to come back.

Some weeks later, eventually prompted into action by an Instagram post, we decided to try this beautifully formed little wine bar and osteria for ourselves.

Since then, it has become one of the central pillars of our life in Milan.

After a long working day, it sits just far enough from our home office chairs to provide a sense of escape, while somehow retaining the feeling of home from the very first evening we walked through the door.

Over time it has become many things at once: the venue for birthdays, the answer to evenings when no one feels like cooking, a late afternoon stop for a quick glass when time unexpectedly allows it.

As the name suggests, there is naturally plenty of wine. A handwritten board outside lists the day’s plates.

The place itself is modest: a single shop window, elegant lettering, a handful of tables spilling onto the street and perhaps seven more inside. Just enough to catch the eye of a passer-by.

Yet the more I return, the more I love it.

La Paola — waitress, stage manager and quiet conductor of the room — Emidio, the proprietor, endlessly passionate about food and wine, and Cash, who remains in the kitchen until the orders finally stop sometime after eleven, form a trio who complement one another perfectly, even if there is occasionally a friendly clash of personalities.

The food stands up comfortably against anything nearby.

Small plates of tartare, beautiful servings of bresaola — no, you almost certainly have not had it prepared like this before — and the quietly legendary Toast di Cossiga and Croque Monsieur, perhaps the finest things one can place between two slices of bread.

Japanese shokupan with a distinctly French sensibility.

There are plates for vegetarians, generous boards of cheese and combinations suited to almost any kind of day you happen to be having.

There are larger and certainly more fashionable places in Milan.

But if there is one shop window in the city that should never be walked past without entering, it is probably Dal Vinattiere.

No clothes for sale, admittedly.