Coffee & tea – All our local tips

Forget this place if you are on diet! It’s the house of temptation and you will notice it just giving a quick look to all the cakes and donuts exposed by the shop-window. They serve breakfast, lunch and brunches (on Sat and Sun). Dinner is served only on Thursday nights.

Cheesecakes (Well, I suggest you the chocolate one, of course!), muffins, scones, chocolate, all you want is finishing your meal just to get some dessert! At brunch you can choose between different meals with different prices and amount of food. Pancakes, sandwiches, burgers.

What I like most of this restaurant is the interior decoration such as the wonderful lamp hanging from the ceiling and the cake stand. And they cakes themselves, they are wonderfully decorated.

And what makes a restaurant 100% American? Coffee! That’s why you can get as much as coffee as you want for free!

Bakery is also take-away: you will get your donut or muffin wrapped in pretty boxes or paper.

Reservation is recommended for brunch.

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American Donuts Cafè | Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants (USA) | Brunch € 15.00
Via Giuseppe Sirtori, 4 | Porta Vittoria | +39289057779
Mon – Wed 07:30 – 19:30, Thu 07:30 – 23:00, Fri 07:30 – 19:30, Sat 08:30 – 19:30, Sun 09:00 – 19:00

The typical Italian breakfast, cappuccino and croissant, is a great way to start a working day; and on Sundays, you can head over to one of a number of “pasticcerie” where the croissant is freshly baked and delicious.

But from time to time what I really want on a Sunday morning is something savoury, a french orange juice and American coffee: in a word, brunch. The California Bakery has an extensive (if not cheap) brunch menu, starting with homemade bread with a selection of spreads (bell peppers cream, plain cream and so on), followed by eggs on a bagel, and maybe something sweet to finish; and of course the mandatory squeeze and free refills of coffee.

Or you can have a fantastic savoury pie (radicchio and cheese is awesome, for instance) or a nice piece of their famous cakes. This place is not for brunch either: they are open every day for lunch or a midday break. And if you are going to a birthday party or a dinner at some frie

nd’s place, I can guarantee one of their cheesecakes will ensure you’ll be invited again.

An advice: California Bakery is hugely popular, so although they do accept walk-ins, make sure you reserve your table for brunch (or the takeaway cake) at least the day before.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
California Bakery | Coffee & tea, Restaurants (American) | Brunch menu € 16.00
Viale Premuda, 44 | Porta Vittoria | +390276011492
Mon – Fri 08:00 – 19:30, Sat – Sun 09:00 – 19:30, Thu – Sun 19:00 – 24:00

While I wouldn’t write home about the fantastic service, I would highly recommend this cafe for its chocolate. Whether it be a tasty chocolate croissant with your morning cappuccino, a slice of cake for that afternoon sugar burst or very chocolatey gelato after dinner – it should satisfy your chocolate craving.

Yes, you can get chocolate gelato at any gelateria, but there aren’t many with a range of different chocolate flavours like this! On three levels, this café is also a good place to sit down and have a catch up with friends or watch the world go by for a while after a big shopping session.

There is also a great selection of chocolate based products on sale, perfect for gifts. Lunch is also good value and boasts ethic dishes such as couscous.

The only downside is that you may need to wait a while before it arrives. I like it as it’s a place where you feel like you can take some time to relax, read the newspaper and indulge!

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Choco Cult | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Coffee & cake € 5.00
Via Michelangelo Buonarroti, 7 | Fiera | +39248027319
08:00 – 00:00 daily

Colonial Fashion Cafè is a very nice and particular cafè placed very close to one of the most popular areas of Milan: Colonne di San Lorenzo, where hundreds of people use to hang out for walk or a beer.

This Cafè offers a huge selection of both coffee (from Ethiopia, Jamaica, Brazil and El Salvador) and tea (18 sorts).

The interior decoration is really well-groomed, with comfortable armchairs, beautiful pictures and loads of ornaments of all sorts! The fun thing about it is that you can buy whatever you want, and most of the objects carry a price lap.

I usually go there for a cup of tea. I recommend the “Cina Verde alla Menta”, a Chinese tea with menthol flavour. With every cup of tea they serve you small cakes and biscuits: very British!

On Tuesdays and Saturdays there are live jazz concerts.

Not much parking place in the surrounding and remember that yellow parking lines are just for residents!

Picture: Colonne di San Lorenzo by Bernt Rostadt

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Colonial Fashion Cafè | Coffee & tea, Music | Tea € 2.50
Corso Magenta, 85 | Ticinese/Genova | +39243511054
Mon – Fri 07:00 – 0:00, Sat 07:00 – 02:00, Sun 07:00 – 0:00

This Art Gallery is definitely a must for all the design-addicted and art lovers! The Triennale Gallery is located in Sempione Park, just beside Castello Sforzesco.

Besides the wonderful location, and the perfect set up of modern pieces of art, what I do really love is having a cup of coffee at the DesignCafè, very white, very design!

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Triennale di Milano | Art & culture, Coffee & tea | Adults € 6.00
Viale Alemagna, 6 | Centro | +392724341
Tues – Sun 10:30 – 20:30