One of Milan’s most important Japanese restaurants, Poporoya helped bring authentic sushi culture to the city and remains a true classic.
Intro
Poporoya is one of those Milan restaurants that has already done the hard part: surviving long enough to become part of the city’s food memory. Long before every other block started offering salmon rolls, delivery boxes, and vaguely Japanese branding, this place had already built its name around tradition, simplicity, and serious regulars. That history matters. It gives the restaurant a kind of quiet credibility that newer openings can copy aesthetically, but not emotionally.
Poporoya, known as the original Milanese sushi-bar, opened back in 1989 by Chef Shiro (a.k.a. Minoru Hirasawa), who has been quietly setting the bar for raw fish in this city since before half of us were even born. The backstory hits like a movie: Shiro trained in Osaka, moved to Italy in the early ’70s, and ran a Japanese deli on Via Eustachi for over a decade before finally getting his restaurant license in 1989.
Big news for 2026 — the historic shopfront at Via Eustachi 17 has now merged into the larger Shiro Poporoya space at number 20, giving the original a fresh new chapter and, finally, a few more seats!
The Vibe
Walking in, you immediately get that Tokyo-back-alley energy. The space is small, warm, and refreshingly unpretentious — wooden counters, Japanese posters on the walls, the little Poporoya noren curtain doing its thing in the doorway. The atmosphere is compact, familiar, and slightly chaotic in the way that real favorite places often are. It does not sell you a fantasy version of Japan wrapped in polished design and curated lighting. Instead, it gives you something far more useful: a space that feels lived-in, known, and genuinely loved!
That said, the vibe is part of the charm. It feels personal rather than performative. You are not here for a luxury dining room. You are here because the place has a legacy, and because people still talk about it with the kind of respect usually reserved for institutions that have outlasted trends, influencers, and half the city’s restaurant rebrands. In a Milan dining scene obsessed with the next thing, Poporoya remains stubbornly, almost elegantly, itself.
The Food
Let us start with the obvious star: the chirashi. This is one of the dishes most closely associated with Poporoya, and for good reason. It is the kind of bowl that regulars return for again and again, not because it is flashy, but because it delivers where it counts. The fish feels central, not decorative. The balance is clean, the rice matters, and the whole thing has that reassuring effect of food that knows exactly what it is doing.
Then there is the chicken katsudon (chicken tonkatsu with egg and rice): crispy cutlet, soft-set egg, sweet-savoury sauce slowly soaking into the rice underneath, which brings a completely different mood to the table. If chirashi is the signature flex, this dish is the comfort pick. Warm, savory, satisfying, and easy to crave, it is exactly the kind of plate that proves Poporoya is not just for raw fish loyalists.
The Verdict
Poporoya works because it understands something many restaurant groups forget: not every place needs reinvention to stay relevant. What it really offers is authenticity, consistency, and history, shaped by the chef who arguably helped introduce an entire city to nigiri. For chirashi lovers, it still feels essential. For anyone tired of fusion-everything, it is a refreshing return to the basics.
Poporoya feels more like a reference point than a trend piece. It is where you go when you want a meal with substance, a bit of history, and dishes that have earned their place in Milan’s food conversation. In a city packed with newer openings and shinier concepts, that kind of staying power still tastes pretty good.
Poporoya ポポロ屋
📍 Via Bartolomeo Eustachi 17, Milano
🌐 website: www.poporoyamilano.com, instagram: poporoya_sushi_bar
Have you tried Poporoya yet? Let us know your opinion, and do not forget to bookmark chinatownmilano.it for more authentic Japanese eats around the city.