Spore Milano, the restaurant that loves fermentation and unites Scandinavia and Asia

Spore Milan

The chef is Mariasole Cuomo (pictured above in the opening plans), under 30, a graduate of the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, with a master's degree in Food Innovation and Health from Copenhagen and the Nordic Food Lab, and an internship at the Noma Fermentation Lab. Her specialty is fermented cuisine, in the vein of Noma, and a cuisine that isn't very widespread, although it's practiced by Marco Ambrosino (28 Posti) in Milan and Cristina Bowerman in Rome. In the dining room is the other half of the couple, Giacomo Venturoli, who spent years in the kitchen from Clove Club and Sketch in London to Baest in Copenhagen. After graduating in Global Studies from Roskilde University, he returned to the restaurant business as a host.

The place is very pleasant and informal, with a first room that has an open kitchen (or rather, right in the room) and a counter, a table in the next room and an outdoor area that looks out onto a house in the courtyard.

It's a modern cuisine restaurant, a constantly evolving laboratory, featuring natural wines and fermented products. They took a real gamble, and they came to Milan specifically to open this restaurant, which blends Asian and Scandinavian culture. The dishes are often shared and focus on fermented foods, from miso to kombucha, shoyu, and much more.

The menu

For now, the choice is to focus on a single set menu, which will change weekly. The idea, Giacomo explains, is to "try to make our cuisine sustainable, even in terms of costs. A single menu allows us to lower prices, which would otherwise be very high." Indeed, the final price of the menu is €40 per person, more than affordable for a cuisine of this quality.

We start with an excellent sourdough focaccia with wild garlic. This recipe is inspired by scallion pancakes, Chinese flatbreads with spring onions. In this case, instead of spring onions, it uses chefs' favorite garlic, a more delicate and fermented wild variety. Mariasole and Giacomo picked this in Monza Park. Wild garlic produces leaves, flowers, which are delicious even raw, and fruits. These are like capers, and when you bite into them, they pop. Delicious.

Next up are tomatoes, marinated in miso and grilled, with oregano. The tomatoes, Giacomo explains, "come from my dad's garden in Imola."

This salad of new potatoes, sour cream, and fermented vegetables features two ingredients worth highlighting: shiso and douchi. Shiso is a type of Chinese basil, balsamic and aromatic. Douchi, on the other hand, is a preparation made from fermented black soybeans.

Next up are fried zucchini and eggplant with kimchi, a Korean dish made with a spicy sauce made from cabbage and fermented vegetables.

The giant noodles with fermented chard, pork, prawns and prawn reduction are spectacular.

Pork belly is delicious, with koji. Which is mold. Don't make that face, it's the fermented ingredient (in this case rice) most used by great chefs, the one used to make miso and sake.

We washed it all down with a French wine, a Grolleau (the name of the grape) La Ferme du Plateau, a natural ruby ​​red wine from the Loire, fresh and easy to drink. Here's the list of sparkling wines and white wines, here's the list of reds.

To finish, a very soft and fragrant steamed cake, made with brown butter, zabaglione and fermented plums.

Ultimately, an original dinner, but one that, despite its high level of technical difficulty for the chef and for the diner who is unfamiliar with these preparations, is equally enjoyable, with some peaks of excellence.

There will be a chance to talk about it again and have the chef reveal some of her secrets, but in the meantime, it's time to get closer to this cuisine, taking advantage of the prices (who knows how long they'll last) and the tranquility of the outdoor seating.

Spore Milano, via Passo Buole 4 (a side street off Corso Lodi), tel +39 3899191929.