Il Cormorano Sempione — Restaurant in Milan

I am torn. I am an unapologetic foodie and I have eaten in some very fine restaurants.

I stopped here as it is close to where I am staying, has good reviews, and because I wanted a memorable meal.

The space is lovely. All the details of the decor are thoughtful: evoking the sea with elegance.

The presentation of the food is very simply plated. Letting the food and the beautiful plates from Churchill in England to speak for themselves.

Now the food. I started with a selection of raw shellfish on the shell or half shell. Some of the pieces contained grit and shell, and none of the oysters had been cut from the shell.

Then I had the octopus. The octopus itself was perfectly cooked. I would have preferred some type of seasoning but the taste was still very good. It was served, inexplicably, on some potatoes that had been mashed with some slight lemon juice. The textures and flavors absolutely made no sense together. After one bite of the potato I abandoned them completely.

I wanted some pasta and the only one with a red-ish sauce was served with half a lobster. Now, I love lobster and have decimated lobsters and other shellfish all over the world. This was a complete waste. The kitchen didn’t loosen the meat. It stuck completely and ultimately I got most of the claw meat but not much of the tail, refusing to use my fingers and wrestle with it. I just set it aside and ate the pasta. The pasta was fresh, perfectly al dente (unsurprising considering where we are) and the sauce had a wonderfully rich seafood stock base and pops of brightness to contrast with the cherry tomatoes. I enjoyed it very much.

Dessert was a type of panettone with with grand marnier and a rich cream flavored gelato on top. I ended up loving the ice cream but gave up on the rest.

I finished the meal with a rich bitter espresso and wonderful cookies.

And the service? Really excellent. Like any well run restaurant everyone, not just my server, worked together to advise, serve and clean up.

As there were portions of each course I did not eat, I deducted two stars for the food. But the...

The restaurant is really nice looking. I have been there many times before and its one of the best in this area. The design of the restaurant is very elegant. The prices are considered cheap for the great service and design. The prices are understandable and nice. The best dish for me was the sottocoperto linguine with mixed sea food, the spaghetti seem to be home made and are very chewy and delicious. The service is nice, however the waiting time is a bit long in between the starter and the main we had to wait a bit of time. The starters are good looking and delicious. The sea food dishes are all amazing. However the spaghetti alle vongole I didn't really enjoy it, there was something missing to make it more flavourful. I haven't tried any desserts made by the restaurants because everytime I feel full after the main course. They still very kindly offered me for free some home made biscuits and desserts which were quite delicious. I would definitely reccomend...

I can only review the service as a symbol of gratitude and thankfulness for how they helped us. On the day of our departure the workers of subway trains and trams went on strike and we did not know how to get to central station with our luggage. I went inside the restaurant and asked a man who was putting lobsters into a aquarium whether he could call us a taxi. Without any hesitation he pressed some buttons on a machine. After a while he gave me a printout with the name of our taxi driver who arrived 4min later. Thank You! Thank You! Thank you! If your food is as good ad your service I will come again vut this time for food not for a...