Quadri Bistrot – a kitchen that keeps moving in Brera

On Via Solferino, in the gallery-hung quarter of Brera, chef-patron Riccardo Quadri opened his own address in October 2022: a bistro built around his name, where the dining room and the cocktail bar share one floor rather than two separate identities. Quadri trained at Alma and then moved through the brigades of Carlo Cracco and, in France, Yannick Alléno, gathering Swiss precision, French technique and a taste for Japanese detail that still shows on the plate today. Quadri Bistrot carries no star, but it is selected in the MICHELIN Guide, and it has held two forks in the Gambero Rosso guide since 2023 – recognition that places it among Milan's closely watched younger addresses without turning it into a shrine to its own cooking.

01The room and the setting

Inside, the dining room sits under high vaulted ceilings and exposed brick, lit low behind tall windows, an elegant space that never tips into formality.

A narrow terrace runs along the pavement outside, letting dinner spill into the rhythm of Brera on warmer evenings.

Down a flight of stairs, the Spazio Privato occupies its own floor: a small citrus garden sits beyond the room, and at its centre an imperial table seats up to sixteen guests, with banquettes along the wall for looser conversation and a further area kept free for standing events.

The walls throughout carry paintings by the German artist Klaus Prior, whose exhibition in Brera won over Milan fifteen years ago; Quadri brought the canvases back to the neighbourhood that first loved them, and every piece on show is for sale.

02The chef

Riccardo Quadri was born in 1994 in Ticino, Switzerland, and trained at Alma before working through the kitchens of Carlo Cracco and, in France, Yannick Alléno, gathering experience between Switzerland, Milan and Portofino.

Insider tip

Open Tuesday to Saturday; closed Sunday and Monday. Terrace on Via Solferino.

He chose Milan for his own restaurant precisely because the city does not stand still; the young Ticinese chef opened his address in 2022 as the setting that matched his idea of cooking as constant motion.

03The cooking

Quadri's cooking runs on two tasting menus, Origini and In Movimento, alongside a full à la carte, and the name of the signature menu is not an accident: it sums up a kitchen that keeps rebuilding its own repertoire rather than settling into a fixed one.

The current range stretches from a saffron risotto finished with plated bone marrow and a gremolada sauce to a veal cutlet with Pont-Neuf potatoes and green salad, Milanese reference points sitting next to raw tuna dressed with wasabi, anchovy, black sesame and stracciatella.

New for autumn is a crunchy reworking of the classic meat raviolo, its filling turned crisp rather than soft, and a pigeon dish that borrows its logic from chicken Kiev, built around a rich, buttery stuffing.

04What to order

Start with the carpaccio of raw tuna, coconut, sesame, soy and basil, or the handmade tortelli filled with fish.

The Neapolitan-style ragù ravioli, finished with stracciatella and basil, sits alongside handmade tagliolini tossed simply in butter and Parmigiano Reggiano, or, for an occasion, topped with shaved black truffle.

05Wine and drinks

The cellar holds roughly 2,500 bottles across some 410 labels from Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain, Austria and the United States, plus a further 420 references of spirits, liqueurs and vermouth behind the bar.

The cocktail list takes its cue from Italy's regions rather than the usual run of international classics; bartender Marco D'Aiuto now leads that side of the room, pairing drinks with the kitchen's own dishes.

06The neighbourhood

Quadri Bistrot sits on Via Solferino in Brera, the quarter of galleries and design studios just north of the centre, where the restaurant's own terrace blends into the evening traffic of the street.

The room keeps the same working week as much of Brera's dining scene: service runs Tuesday to Saturday, with lunch and dinner split by an afternoon pause, leaving Sunday and Monday for rest.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.