The Best Cafés and Bakeries in Milan

Perfect pastry and one of Milan’s best coffees, enjoy breakfast made by former Noma pastry chef Stefano Ferraro.Not the ordinary Milanese bakery-café. Serving perfect pastry and one of Milan’s best coffees, enjoy breakfast made by former Noma pastry chef Stefano Ferraro. Feather light focaccia is topped with agretti saltwort, squacquerone soft cheese and lemon zest. Also insanely yummy biscuits with jam and baked cheese filled croissants. Also try the lunch with some nice wines!

A gourmet grocery shop and a great place to stop by for a drink and something small to nibble on.Terroir is a gourmet grocery shop, but it doubles up as a great place to stop by for a drink and something small (mostly sweet) to nibble on. They serve freshly pressed juices, specialty coffee and real matcha, and pour natural wines you can also buy. Owner Gabriele Ornati sources the best Italy has to offer, thanks to an extended family of beloved artisans of food. Chocolate, coffee and tea, rice, flour, pasta, sweets, cheese, wine, produce, jars of pickled and fermented greens - the super niche selection will knock your socks off. Gabriele's attention to detail is borderline obsessive, his sense for ethical sourcing uncompromising: this really is the ideal stop for those who seek absolute flavor and like to make responsible choices for their home pantry. There is something to be said also about the store's interiors, thanks to the essential, elegant display curated by Gabriele’s wife, who is Japanese. A place like this is a magnet for a very specific community of like-minded people: you go to Terroir to shop but also to run into your friends and do some solid networking. If you’re in the mood for a more substantial bite after shopping at Terroir head to Onest cafe, a few blocks away. Owned by Lorenza Licciardello and Lea Pedrinella, this is a feelgood space, with a generous veranda and an intimate courtyard. They carry exceptional specialty coffee, thanks to Lorenzo Sordini, one of Italy’s best baristas, and the kind of smart menu where you can find banging selections of charcuterie and raw milk cheese, as well as a delicious take on pasta con le sarde or the perfect red lentil dahl. It’s great also for brunch, and they make their own bread and viennoiserie. It's my favorite cafe, together with Nowhere Cafe, which is in the historic center of the city, and has a fun Aussie vibe.

A great pastry shop and gelateria – this one's perfect.Marlà is a café and pastry shop similar to Pavé. I can tell when I see a place that is well made and this one's perfect. The owner is our customer and they sometimes bring us ice cream and it’s fantastic every time. Great pastry and they change the ice cream flavors often.

My favorite place for coffee.The coffee in this tiny coffee bar is fantastic. Brent Jopson is the Canadian guy who opened this café near the Milano Centrale serving espresso, pour over and aeropress. It's my favorite place for coffee.

The new wave of Milanese naturally leavened breadIf you want to stay in Milan and have never tried the new wave of Milanese naturally leavened bread, the place to start is one of Davide Longoni's shops (he has a few and the offer varies, from market-style to bakery-with-vegetarian restaurant). The reason is simple: he was the first to kick the Milanese out of their bad-bread-induced stupor, doing serious work on heirloom wheat with a legit entrepreneurial vision. If however, you have time to rent a car and head 45' outside of Milan, towards Bergamo, you can't miss Tilde Forno Artigiano where Peruvian artist Marisol Malatesta and Italian baker Simone Conti (both dear friends of mine) have built a beautiful space reflecting their impeccable taste and flavor-driven, conscientious philosophy (they use some of Italy's best heirloom wheat flours combined with freshly milled einkorn and rye). If I didn't make my own bread, I'd buy it here. 1. photo: Alessandra Magister2.-4. photos: Francesca d'Amico

Gourmet breakfast and croissants all day long.A pastry shop founded by three guys. One is a great pastry chef who worked at the famous Pasticceria Besuschio outside of Milan. They opened this place eight years ago offering various kinds of croissants, brioches, monoporzione, bread, panettone when in season, jam, some savory dishes like salmon salad, quiches and so on. Good coffee too.