I don’t know about you guys, but I haven’t got much of a sweet tooth. Breakfast, lunch or dinner. Snack time or with a hangover. Between a chocolate croissant and one with ham and cheese it’s pretty straightforward for me. Whenever I see strangers at the caffe’ staring at me with a puzzled look as I scarf down a sandwich before going to the office on those gray mornings in Milan, I always think, “oh, what do you know?!”. But I kid you not, Biancolatte is the exception. It’s one of those places where you simply want to order… everything!
The place is warm and cozy: somewhere between a French bistrot and an American chain, mostly for the variety. But it’s also very much like granny’s kitchen: you’ve got cakes of every kind and things being made right before you’re eyes. Not even Santa’s elves in December do this kind of stuff. It’s a good thing I discovered this place closer to my thirties rather than in my twenties. Thank goodness places like this didn’t even exist when I was a kid. No doubt I would have been obese by my preteens. And see ya later useless diets.
Anyway, so the thing that really gets me, to the point of setting my alarm a whole hour early (yes, it’s that good), is the so-called “breakfast of champions”, or at least that’s what it was called in my day: warm, homemade bread, handcrafted butter and jam – and when the feeling is right yoghurt and fruit salad – always with a variety of coffees if not a cappuccino. We are Italians after all and if you don’t have coffee running through you’re veins you can’t really start your day, can you? At lunch I go with my usual, the “piadina Alpi”: turkey, grilled zucchini and Alpeggio cheese. Served in a basket so cute you could eat it and accompanied by sinful fries (I’ve never seen anyone pass them up for a salad instead). Instead, my friends have tried it all and have a rotation going.
On the weekend I give in and for brunch will have a whole meal. It is such a pleasure to mix salty with sweet. I hardly know where to start: a crepe or a slice of grandma Lina’s cake? Cheesecake or pasta? How I love the little Sunday dramas when you can go all out and give yourself the luxury of taking half an hour to choose what to eat, as if it was the most important issue of the day. I haven’t told you about the ice cream, a kid’s wonderland, with all these colors how can you possibly choose just two flavors?
To top it all off, there is the sweetest corner dedicated to shopping where you’ll find handcrafted products and the whole kit necessary for reproducing a little magic at home. If you want to impress your friends or after a crazy night out I recommend home delivery. With matching cups and napkins you’ll amaze anyone. Find me one person, just one who doesn’t love waking up in toy land. Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back, you’ll owe us one!