Waby – Milan's Japanese theatre behind Corso Como

Behind the glass towers of Porta Nuova, on a quiet street a few steps from the bars of Corso Como, Waby turns Japanese dining into a piece of theatre. Waby is more of a restaurant as a business, owned by Matteo Zhu, born in Biella in 1996, the son of a family originally from Zhejiang devoted partly to import-export and partly to restaurants. The dining room wraps around an open sushi counter that serves as the stage, in a space where every detail, down to the entrance portal, carries the signature of architect Maurizio Lai, architect, scenographer and designer. Classic nigiri and sashimi sit here alongside robata-grilled dishes and contemporary plates that borrow international technique. It is a Selected restaurant in the MICHELIN Guide 2026, and it also carries two globes in the Gambero Rosso Ristoranti d'Italia 2026 guide.

01The room and the setting

Turning the shell into Waby took time: renovation work lasted 18 months, until the opening in April 2022. What emerged is a dining room where light and lighting, glass and wood, stone and fabric, coral and metal are played against one another by Lai, whose eye for theatre comes from a career as both architect and set designer.

Beyond the main room, a second, more intimate space is dressed with decorative corals, small tables alternating with mirrored panels and ochre-orange curtains, kept for quieter dinners and reserved for private events.

02The chef

Waby has no headline chef in the usual sense – the project belongs entirely to its owner. When he was two years old, his family moved to Milan, and growing up he absorbed the city's restless entrepreneurial energy. Rather than step straight into the family business, he went to China for two years to study the language, travelling widely in search of the best Asian kitchens before he returned to Italy and gained experience in his family's establishments.

Insider tip

Selected in the MICHELIN Guide 2026; five minutes' walk from Milano Garibaldi station.

The idea for Waby took shape, by his own account, while he was developing the project just below Gae Aulenti Square, Milan's glass-and-steel symbol of the new Porta Nuova. Zhu is rarely away from the floor: the owner, Matteo Zhu, is always present and welcomes guests with a smile and professionalism.

03The cooking

There is, deliberately, no single chef who takes the spotlight, but rather an experienced kitchen brigade working to a shared project born of travel and consultancy in Asian fine dining. Zhu supervises the sourcing personally, and the standard is uncompromising: Balfegò bluefin tuna, Kaluga Amur caviar, the prized Japanese rice Tamanishiki, and Iberico Pata Negra 5J ham all appear on a menu that sets Japanese classics – sushi, sashimi, uramaki, gunkan – against more inventive, internationally accented creations and the restaurant's robata grill.

04What to order

The carta opens with Le Creazioni, a changing run of signature plates: Special Uni, Galician sea urchin served with tuna belly and spring onion; a Trilogia di Ostriche pairing Gillardeau oysters, salmon roe and tempura-battered Kaluga Amur caviar with a red prawn in shiso; and Negi Toro, tuna belly wrapped in a nori cracker with egg cream, tobiko and Kaluga caviar.

Among the carpacci, Hotate Iberico layers scallop with Iberian ham, jalapeño and a yuzu-miso dressing, while Crispy Rice tops crunchy rice with avocado cream and spiced salmon and tuna tartare. From the robata grill, seared Wagyu beef, whole lobster and shiitake mushroom are the dishes regulars come back for.

05Wine and drinks

Sake, more than wine, carries the weight of the pairing list. Waby's own sake sommelier is Yasumasa Yamasaki, who guides guests through a deliberately wide and considered selection chosen to match the kitchen's raw and grilled dishes alike. A separate wine list, set out in the restaurant's own carta vini, covers more conventional ground for those who prefer it.

06The neighbourhood

Waby sits in the Garibaldi – Porta Nuova district, a five-minute walk from Milano Garibaldi station, one of the city's busiest hubs for business travellers. Its windows look onto the quarter at the foot of the skyscrapers and Piazza Gae Aulenti, by day a business district of glass towers, by night folded into the nightlife radiating from Corso Como. The address also places it within easy reach of the design showrooms of Brera and the aperitivo crowds of the Isola district.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.