Wine shop, cellar bar and bistro in Brera, Milan

N'Ombra de Vin

Wine in the Friars' Dining Room

3.5 of 5

Augustinian friars took their meals in this vaulted hall beside the church of San Marco in the sixteenth century. Today it holds thousands of bottles for sale and a crowd that dresses considerably better than the friars did. Giacomo Cora turned the old refectory into one of Milan's serious wine shops. His son Cristiano runs it now, and he added the bar, a bistro, tastings and nights with DJs.

There are two ways to do this. At sunset the after-work crowd stands on Via San Marco, glass in hand, which is Brera aperitivo in its natural habitat. Or go down into the cellar, under the stone columns and the vaulted ceiling, and pick a bottle off the walls with friends. Either way, eat the mixed salumi board and the cheese plate. The prosciutto ages in the room, hanging over your head, which is the kind of quality control I trust. There is a fuller menu. Milan's reviewers say skip it, and I see no reason to argue.

This is not a temple for sitting quietly and contemplating terroir. It is loud, it is social, it is where people come to be seen, and the wine is good enough that nobody minds the theatre. Afterwards, walk a couple of minutes to Via Solferino 27, where a plaque marks the house in which Puccini composed La Bohème and Tosca. Opera history and a good red in one evening is a fair use of a Milan night.

Order this

Mixed salumi board, Cheese plate, A bottle off the cellar walls

The damage

$$

Go

Sunset, for aperitivo on the street or a bottle in the cellar

Find it

Via San Marco 2, 20121 Milano

Website

nombradevin.it