Home Valerio Braschi’s The View: A Culinary Journey with a Duomo View in Milan

Valerio Braschi’s The View: A Culinary Journey with a Duomo View in Milan

Marco BenedettiJanuary 8, 20265 Mins read18

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Valerio Braschi’s The View: A Culinary Journey with a Duomo View in Milan

Entering The View by Valerio Braschi means accessing one of Milan’s most powerful and symbolic vistas. It’s not just a matter of beauty, but of emotional and cultural proximity. The sensation is that of touching the heart of the city with your hands, but as if you were in a Tarantino film. The restaurant is located on the first floor of Piazza Duomo 21, within the Glamore Group building, directly overlooking the cathedral and the capitols of the palace that houses it. The immediate, almost dizzying impact conveys a rare privilege: looking at Milan from above, feeling immersed in its history.

The interiors are elegant, refined, and consistent with the context, but they do not dominate the scene. Here, the true protagonist is the view, which becomes an integral part of the experience, a living backdrop that accompanies each course. It is the iconic and symbolic Milan, the Milan of the world (because, as we know, Milanese people do not frequent this part of the city) that frames a restaurant which, just two months after its inclusion in the Michelin Guide 2025, has already chosen to reposition itself to more clearly express its identity. The move from the fifth to the first floor is not a change of identity, but a refinement: same name, same vision, but a more intimate and focused context, designed to make space for the cuisine and the chef’s personal narrative.

Valerio Braschi, Beyond the Talent Label

Before even talking about the gastronomic experience, I think it’s worth pausing for a moment to reflect on an issue often avoided or approached with a certain snobbery in Italian gastronomic journalism. In Italy, those who have participated in a television talent show like MasterChef continue to carry a label that is difficult to shake off. Valerio Braschi won MasterChef at a very young age, and for some critics, this seems to be more of a brand than a starting point.

It’s not like that abroad. In Korea, for example, MasterChef winners are considered reputable chefs on par with those who have trained exclusively in the field, if not more so. Talent is seen as an accelerator, not a shortcut. Braschi, after that victory, did exactly what is expected of a chef: training, practice, trials, errors, adjustments. Today he is a chef with a restaurant in the heart of Milan, a recent but significant entry into the Michelin Guide, and a clear, personal, recognizable gastronomic vision.

His cuisine is curious, open, and contaminated. It blends flavors from around the world and Italian references without worrying too much about pleasing those who seek a reassuring narrative. And this, in my opinion, is where his strength lies: in freedom (which in his case is also devoid of arrogance, an added bonus). Experimentation, as we know, proceeds by trial and error. There are highly celebrated restaurants that produce experimental cuisine with questionable taste, but which legitimize themselves behind the label of conceptual territorial cuisine, gaining a hipster allure that often proves fleeting. Braschi, on the other hand, experiments by openly declaring the game, without too many ideological superstructures, with humility and kindness.

The Experience: A Journey Around the World with Braschi as Your Guide

Let’s move on to the experience. There is still some work to be done on the service, and I say this honestly. I also want to emphasize that I was invited and that the declared presence of a journalist who will most likely write about the experience can, in some cases, create a certain tension. Nothing that cannot be adjusted, but today the service needs the same personality as the cuisine. It is a matter of consistency.

The journey proposed to me began with a poker of amuse-bouches that tell the story of Italy as the starting point of this journey, with Braschi as the coordinator. A bonbon of Amatriciana sauce covered with pecorino and served cold, a fake tomato stuffed with Caprese, a liquid pizza. This is followed by a shortcrust tartlet with avocado and caviar, designed to cleanse the palate from the tomato and prepare it for a change of direction. Before the main courses, a palette with four small compartments, each filled with a different oil, is brought to the table, accompanied by excellent bread. No France and no butter: here the homage is to the Italian terroirs of liquid gold.

Then we move on to Chawanmushi, the Japanese egg custard with milk and dashi, traditionally eaten with a spoon. It is worth remembering that, as often happens, this dish also has its origins in Chinese cuisine, a detail that makes the narrative even more interesting, especially when linked to the recent and lively all-Italian controversy about the idea of gastronomic tradition. It makes me think that, in the end, it’s a small world.

Braschi proposes it as a test that he would like to include permanently on the menu, and I say yes. The consistency is perfect, although in the long run it could tire a Western palate accustomed to the mantra of needing a crunchy element. But if served in an adequate portion, it is more than enjoyable. The spiciness is intelligently balanced: it becomes one flavor among others, it does not overpower, it does not paralyze the taste buds, it brightens them. He uses bison meat, also present in another course on the menu. Sustainability, as the experts would say.

We continue with Catfish in Northern Europe, catfish cooked on hibachi with a Scandinavian sauce based on dill, cream, smoked eel, leek, and potato, topped with sorrel salad and salmon roe. It had been years since I had eaten catfish, and my childhood memory was not the best: a difficult fish, often with a muddy aftertaste. Here Braschi does an enormous job of ennobling the raw material. The dish is fresh, clean, and transports the mind and mouth to the Scandinavian countries without hesitation. We return to Italy for a moment with rigatoni with Piennolo tomato. A simple, direct, tasty dish that will also work very well for an international audience. It is executed correctly, and when things are done well, there is little to add.

The last two courses are the best of the entire meal, and I am happy that they come at the end because I am part of that team that saves the best bite for last. The Glacier 51 and Rubia Gallega, cooked on hibachi and served with an emulsified sauce of beef stock and pure Rubia Gallega fat, is an exceptional dish. For those who don’t know, emulsifying a sauce with ultrasound means using acoustic cavitation to create ultra-fine and stable emulsions, so-called nanoemulsions, of normally immiscible ingredients like oil and water, without resorting to stabilizers. The process takes place through sonicators, ultrasonic homogenizers that generate microbubbles whose implosion produces strong shear forces, capable of dispersing one phase into the other in nanometric droplets. The result is sauces that are smoother, more stable, and with a more intense and persistent taste over time, applicable to mayonnaise, vinaigrettes, creams, and stocks. The Glacier 51, fished according to a sustainable zero-emission protocol, has firm and buttery flesh, crispy skin, and a delicacy that is enhanced by the sauce. It is a balanced, sensible dish, with an essential and elegant presentation that resembles the design of a jewel.

I never thought I would say it, because I don’t particularly like sweets, but Braschi’s is one of the most interesting desserts I have ever tried. Perhaps because it is actually a dessert. The main difference is that “sweet” is a broad category of sugary foods that can be consumed at different times, while “dessert” indicates the specific course served at the end of a meal, which can also include fruit, cheese, or ice cream. The term comes from the French desservir, meaning “to clear the table.” So yes, all sweets can be desserts if served at the end of a meal, but not all desserts are sweets.

Sea urchin, cream, and lime: lime panna cotta, Japanese UNI, jelly, and lime powder. The use of Japanese UNI, instead of the more common Galician one, is an intelligent choice. This sea urchin is salty with a beautiful umami note, but also sweet, with hints that vaguely resemble hazelnut.

At The View By Valerio Braschi, you don’t go to be reassured by familiar flavors; the chef doesn’t want to coddle his customers’ palates, but rather to take his guests by the hand and lead them to discover the world through his eyes and palate.