MILAN: Bar Barba and crudo

Previously in my Milan Cocktail Notes series, we experienced Mag café, Backdoor 43 and FARMILY botanical liqueur.

[November 2017] – Located in the Porta Venezia neighborhood, Bar Barba is one of the newest to the Mag group. Here, the space had a modern and slightly industrial design and a mostly grey and black hue.

The bar itself was black metal with a cage type appearance. We were seated by the window and handed one of the coolest menus I’ve seen; printed on old 45 vinyl records. The sleeves listed the foods, while the record’s label listed the Barba cocktails.

I ordered a FARMILY based daiquiri and roasted octopus salad, and later proceeded with the interesting Barba hamburger.

The server explained that it was served crudo (raw); basically a delicious steak tartar served in a bun. Not as expected when ordering a hamburger, but it was delicious none the less. The Barba hamburger may not be for all, but there were other dishes on the small menu to satisfy any palette.

Before heading home, we made our plans to all meet for lunch the following day. Thinking back to our conversation with the ever so friendly Francesco from Mag Café earlier in the evening, we decided to take up his suggestion to try Domenica della Nonna lunch at their group’s eatery. (In the next post.)

I’ve got to give props to the fantastic Francesco of Mag Café. He was a great salesman, suggesting us to visit practically all of their locales, including a very enticing mention of their secret speakeasy; which we regret not going to, but we really didn’t have much time to get there.