Forget everything you already know about the typical Apulian trattoria. Forget folklore, grandmother's dishes, traditional ragout and checked tablecloths. In Milan there is a new way, in full metropolitan style, of eating in the Apulian way, without betraying the most authentic enogastronomic tradition. If you want to experiment and are looking for a restaurant where to eat Apulian food in Milan, try Olio – Cucina Fresca. Where do we start?
THE DISHES OF THE APULIAN TRADITION, IN A MODERN KEY
At Olio, the menu is a tribute to true Made in Puglia cuisine, with its simplicity and freshness. A cuisine that, here in particular, rotates completely around extra virgin olive oil, the only product that enhances each dish, from appetizers to ice cream. The idea is simple: take Puglia to the city, to Milan, and adapt it to the times without losing its most authentic and real nature, made of slowness, care and scrupulous selection of each product. Because every detail has a history in itself, and is based on a single glue: oil. So taralli and focaccia homemade - seasoned with tomatoes in season - introduce lunches and dinners in this "masseria di città", between majolica and small olive trees in ceramic vases. We wait for you at the table!
BREAD, FOCACCIA, TARALLI
Everything you will eat at Olio is made by hand with the extra virgin olive oil from Frantoio Muraglia, salt, spices and flour. Just like the taralli, the welcome to the table, which the chef prepares and churns out every day, to serve them hot. Focaccia and bread, always handmade, can not miss: tomatoes, oil, salt, flour and oregano are the ingredients that are used to bring Puglia with you wherever you are. At the table, at Olio, there will always be a small bottle of oil: it is a homage to take home, a welcome in full Apulian style.
SEA URCHIN SPAGHETTI
This is a touch of class: everything you could try while eating fish by the sea is enclosed in this dish. Because spaghetti with sea urchin are much more than a pasta dish, they are the true essence of Mediterranean cuisine based on fish. Every self-respecting Apulian person has eaten spaghetti with sea urchin at least once in his life, and (most likely) since then has not done without it. Oil offers them in an exclusive version, with "Il Valentino" spaghettone, garlic, Frantoio Muraglia pepper oil, sea urchins, wild chicory and lemon from the Gargano (Slow Food Presidium). Seeing is believing!
RAGOUT ORECCHIETTE
Simple, genuine, in Puglia, orecchiette with meat sauce taste like Sunday with family on a festive day. Our chef twists a bit the plans daily, proposing revisited and "creative" versions of what is an indispensable dish for the Apulians, without losing the original flavors.An example? Here is the seasoning of the latest version: the meat is that of the Lucan black pig, the cheese is an irresistible fondue of podolico caciocavallo from the Gargano, one of the finest in Southern Italy, recognized by the Slow Food Presidium.
LAMB FROM BASILICATA
There is much talk of "Apulian tradition" identifying it with a single concept, yet in addition to the orecchiette of Bari there is a long history marked by the rhythms of the mountain, which is made of travel, transhumance, shepherds, simple and tasty poor recipes. For this reason, at Olio it is possible to taste dishes of the gastronomic tradition of Basilicata, perhaps still too (unjustly) unknown. In addition to the caciocavallo podolico, among the main courses on the menu there is the variation of lamb from Lucania prepared and served with peppers, capers, mint and basil. You will be fascinated!
FROM PUGLIA TO MILAN, FROM MILAN TO PUGLIA
The Olio menu (YOU CAN READ IT HERE) is designed as a journey. It overlooks the sea, takes you to the beach and the Adriatic cliffs, passes from the Valle d'Itria and Salento, from the hinterland of Bari and overlooks Basilicata, and then reaches the Gargano: sea and mountains, rocks and sand, the Mediterranean inspirations and the Arabic influences. In a kitchen so rich in contradictions, oil unites, exalts and involves. It is an open door, a welcoming message, a way to find and share. See you at Olio!
