La Locanda
Some restaurants stay in your memory long after the meal is over. La Locanda in Milan was one of those places for us.
Twelve years ago, this was actually our last dinner in Milan. I remember being intrigued that an Italian restaurant in Milan was run by Chinese immigrants, but what really stayed with me was the Bistecca. That steak was, in my memory at least, one of the best I had eaten. Deeply beefy, beautifully cooked and full of flavour. Somehow, I could still remember that taste after all these years.
So when wife discovered that La Locanda was still around, there was really no discussion. It had to be our first dinner back in Milan.
Walking in felt strangely familiar. We were ushered into the same dining room as 12 years ago, although at a different table. I was quite surprised by how much of the layout I could still remember. Funny how food memories work. Sometimes you forget what you ate last week, yet a restaurant from more than a decade ago can still be sitting somewhere in your head.
We started with a few dishes to share. Octopus with greens, raw red prawns, buffalo mozzarella with prosciutto and a seafood pasta. Everything was decent and enjoyable, but if I am being fair, nothing really made us sit up.
I was saving my excitement for the steak.
When it arrived, it certainly looked the part. Unfortunately, the first bite brought me back to earth rather quickly. We had asked for medium rare, but it was noticeably overcooked. More importantly, that deep, rich beefiness I remembered so clearly just was not there.
Was the steak different? A different chef? Or have my own taste buds changed after 12 years of eating far too much beef? Probably a little of everything.
Still, I am glad we returned. The owner was wonderfully friendly and, after dinner, treated us to a tasting of different gins and spirits from his own distillery. We enjoyed them enough to bring a couple of bottles home.
The dinner may not have recreated the magic I remembered, but perhaps that is the thing about nostalgia. Sometimes we return hoping to taste the past exactly as it was. Life, and our palate, rarely stands still.
Not quite the steak reunion I had imagined, but definitely a memorable first night back in Milan.
