Can a restaurant function well (or at least well) and close? Is it possible to be in one of the most vibrant culinary districts of Italy’s gastronomic capital, have two renowned chefs – an already renowned Italian chef and an Indian war machine – and still succumb to the economic situation? Of course, I can. It happened at Polpo, Viviana Varese and Ritu Dalmia’s restaurant on via Melzo, near Porta Venezia. The Chef from Campania announced it in an interview with Cook’s Alessandra Dal Monte: the final service will be on December 22. Then down to Claire. Licensee Dalmia, a chef and entrepreneur who makes Italian cuisine in India and Indian cuisine in Italy (his name is Cittamani also in Milan) and is one of the gastronomic legends in his homeland, has decided to sell his license to another entrepreneur with another project.
An “octopus” in the heart for Varese, who was hired from Dalmia, and will have to adapt. Campania’s Cehf is about to stand on its own, already starring with ViVa at Eataly, already has other projects underway, battle bistro Faak also in Milan and Passalacqua kitchen inside a hotel on Lake Como this year in fourth place in the World’s 50 Best Hotels. But the feeling is, if not defeat, that of a missed opportunity. Which he tells a little with sadness and a little with fatalism. “2025 – he explained – is certainly not an easy year: the first struggle is to find staff. For a mid-range restaurant like Polpo, this is very difficult. Fine cuisine is a little better, where there is a little more professionalism”. As a result, “Polpo’s takings are down 30 percent between 2024 and 2025, costs are rising and customers are falling. We are no longer able to fill 80-90 seats, there is just a stream of meos: I heard from many colleagues, everyone is like this. We then, as a policy, increased the salaries of all staff by 50 percent, so that they adjust it slightly to the cost of living.”
Polpo is, or perhaps it could be said, a fish restaurant, as its name suggests, born a few years ago in place of Spica (a globalist company also managed by the Varese-Damia duo and which has convinced the Milanese to a certain extent). Simple eighties inspired trattoria with a touch of tapas bar for alcoholic drinks. The atmosphere is linear and clean with hidden maritime references, as in the blue palette and the menu where you find everything you would expect in a pieds dans l’eau restaurant in Milano Marittima or Viareggio: many raw dishes, some marinated fish such as croaker ceviche, guacamole, tomatoes, onions and crispy corn chips, traditional first courses such as Busiate with lupine clams, smoked squid, tarallo powder and lemon or Mezzo pacchero with octopus ragù, then grilled fish of the day and several special dishes that in the two years of its opening have won the hearts of fish fans in Milan, such as calamari lard made with lard and pepper and Dover sole meunière. And the price? Of course, pricey for a seaside restaurant but ultimately in line with what Milan is, and we certainly didn’t find that, we certainly don’t find that now. Oysters for 7 or 9 euros depending on the type, raw scampi with hazelnut butter for 9.50 euros, red Mediterranean prawns for 12 euros per piece, first courses between 21 and 24 euros, catch of the day for 9.50 euros per hectogram, other second courses between 25 and 28 euros. In short, to actually eat and not pinch the average receipt of 70 euros, apart from of course the wine. Not a little. But in Milan there are more expensive ones (see Langosteria or in Riccione) which are always full.
So it’s not about expensive prices. Or rather not just high prices. The question is the relationship between price and the audience you are targeting. At Langosteria you can easily go for triple digits, but you have the impression of having a fine dining experience and the service is still impeccable and this selects and satisfies the high spending public, who consider Langosteria to be top of the line. Polpo, on the other hand, is not top but pop, it has a style that appeals to the “normal” audience, even young people, for whom 70 euros can be a lot if you don’t have a lifetime of experience. And if you choose via Melzo, a street famous for its youthful nightlife is full of clubs with people drinking while leaning against parked cars, from Osteria alla Concorrenza to Picchio bar.
But the problem also has to do with, as Varese says, the hardships faced by the restaurant industry average, which is disappearing as is the middle class it targets. “This happens everywhere – he explains in an interview with Cook – but in Milan it is even worse because the city is expensive and normal people, with a salary of 2,000-2,500 euros a month, really struggle. Apart from having dinner out, spending 50 euros is a problem. And even those who are a little better off at the moment tend to make other choices: maybe they don’t give up traveling or going to the gym, but they still eat dinner out less.” Paradoxically, today’s luxury has fewer problems, which Varese says “works out really well.”
Or Faak’s popular tier, “a neighborhood spot that caters to office workers at lunch and offers many different things throughout the day, from alcoholic beverages to shared meal dinners.” In medium stable virtus. No longer.
