Three centuries of Spain, China and Malaya on one plate — and no flight to Manila required.
Filipinos make up one of Milan’s oldest and largest Asian communities, and yet their food still flies under the radar. Ask an average Milanese where to eat Filipino and you will get a blank stare, maybe a mention of the fried chicken chain near Duomo. That is a shame, because Filipino cooking is one of the most quietly fascinating cuisines on the planet: three centuries of Spanish rule, waves of Chinese traders, older Malay roots, all folded into something that tastes like nowhere else. Sour, salty, garlicky, unafraid of pork.
You will find it here in two registers. There are the elegant, white-tablecloth places that plate kare-kare like a fine-dining course, and there are the packed neighborhood canteens where a Filipino grandmother ladles out sinigang the way she would at home. Both are worth your time. Below is where to find them, from the center out to NoLo, which has quietly become the beating heart of Filipino Milan.
No flight to Manila required.
Mabuhay
Bastioni di Porta Volta 9, Milano — Zona Chinatown
Google Maps · Facebook: Mabuhay.Restaurant
The sign says Filipino & Japanese, but do not be fooled by the diplomacy. The heart of the kitchen beats entirely Pinoy. Come for the crispy pata, the deep-fried pork knuckle that is the maximalist cousin of lechon: skin blistered to glass, meat collapsing underneath, a dish built for celebration and shared plates. Then there is the rice steamed and wrapped in leaves, torched at your table in a small piece of theatre that happens to also be delicious. Two locations and a busy take-out counter keep the growing community fed. This is a fine place to start your education.
Bakers Tinapayan
Viale Fulvio Testi 70, Milano — Zona Ca’ Granda / Porta Venezia
Google Maps · Website: bakersplace.it
The favorite bakery of Filipino Milan since 2016, now with three locations, and the place that best explains the Chinese-Spanish tug-of-war inside Filipino baking. Their asado buns are first cousins of the char siu bao, soft pillows of dough around sweet-savory pork. The legendary Buko Pie is the coconut classic from Laguna province, young coconut set in a tender crust. There is Kababayan, the little golden muffin whose name literally means “fellow countryman,” and brownies that will quietly ruin your afternoon plans. Go hungry, leave with a box.
Kasama
Via Nicola Antonio Porpora 9, Milano — Zona NoLo
Google Maps · Facebook: ryokoshatakeaway
Young, creative, and already written up in the Italian press. The cooking here comes, by their own description, from a Filipino “hippie grandma,” which turns out to be exactly the right energy: rooted but loose, traditional but unbothered by rules. The aperitivo is the reason to come, ideally on a weekend when the room fills with live music from Filipino artists. Warm, unpretentious, genuinely one of the nicest rooms in NoLo.
Minta
Viale Monza 13, Milano — Zona NoLo
Google Maps · Facebook: MintaMilano
Tiny, cozy, and run by an Italian-Filipino couple who have made the smartest kind of fusion: Southern Italian meets the Philippines, two cuisines that turn out to share more than you would guess, both built on garlic, pork, sour notes and long family lunches. There are only a handful of tables, so book ahead and do not sulk if you cannot walk in. When a reinterpretation is this thoughtful, it earns the wait.
Mamian Sa Milan Bar
Viale Monza 38, Milano — Zona NoLo
Google Maps · Instagram: @mamian__sa__milan
Set inside an old Italian bar and reliably packed with Filipino regulars, which is the only review metric that truly counts. The cooking is genuine home-style, and the set menus are extremely generous at prices that feel like a clerical error in your favor. Come properly hungry. This is where you order the adobo, the vinegar-and-soy braise that is the closest thing the country has to a national dish, and understand why Filipinos abroad get misty about it.
Bulaluhan Sa Milan
Via Popoli Uniti 7, Milano — Zona NoLo
Google Maps · Facebook: bulaluhansamilan
Another NoLo institution, beloved by the community and named for the dish you should absolutely order. Bulalo is a beef shank soup, marrow bones simmered until the broth turns clear and rich and the marrow slides out with a nudge, a highland comfort dish from Batangas. Beyond it: Sisig, the sizzling chopped-pork plate that started as nose-to-tail thrift and became a national obsession; Siomai, the Chinese-derived dumpling; and Fried Chicken. Simple room, low prices, real flavor. No frills, and none needed.
Yum (Taste of the Philippines)
Viale Coni Zugna 44, Milano — Zona Centro
Google Maps · Facebook: ristoranteyum
The grown-up of the list. An elegant room in the Sant’Agostino neighborhood that took the Gambero Rosso Restaurant of Italy award in 2018 and 2019, and remains, somehow, surprisingly affordable. This is Filipino cooking dressed for dinner rather than for the canteen, plated with real care but never sanded down into something unrecognizable. If you have a skeptic to convert, or you simply want to see how far this cuisine can be pushed, book here.
Jollibee
Piazza Armando Diaz 7, Milano — Zona Centro (Duomo)
Google Maps · Website: jollibee.it
Yes, it is fast food. It is also THE fast food of the Philippines, a national institution that outsells the golden arches on its home turf and inspires genuine homesickness in every Filipino abroad. Think of it as a local KFC with a red bee mascot and a sweeter tooth. The draws are Chickenjoy, fried chicken with an unreasonably crunchy crust, and the famously sweet spaghetti, a dish that will divide your table and that you should try anyway. The original branch sits near Duomo, with a second in Corso XXII Marzo. There is usually a queue. It is part of the experience.
Have you tried any of these spots yet? Let us know your opinion, and do not forget to bookmark chinatownmilano.it for more Asian food stories, restaurant guides, and hidden spots around the city and follow us on social media @chinatownmilano.it.
