Restaurant recommendations in Milan

I am sure many of you have been to Milan - either for football, shopping or both. When there I am sure you also took advantage of the excellent Italian cooking.

So my question is - can you any recommend good (excellent food, price not an issue - cheap or expensive, fancy or artisanal) restaurants in the city centre?

I have a restaurant guide, but often there are others not noted but just as good.

Thanks y'all

Here are a few (I have some friends that lived there for 3 years):

* Le Ulmet (need a reservation, but fantastic) - in financial district
* Dogana Buon Gusto (in financial district, near Chiese Lorenzo)
* Stendahl (in Brera)
* Cantina della Vetra (in Piazza Vetra)
* GREF
* Nabucco (in Brera)
* Spice (Thai restaurant, but awesome)
* Boeucc (very expensive, but very Milanese) - in old city center
* Ristorante Peck (maybe one of best restaurants in world, but take your wallet and your friend's wallet- best for when you're not the one paying )

OK, having spent two weeks there here's my pick of hotels and restaurants so far:

Hotels
NH Grand Hotel Verdi - waste of money. I was expecting something vaguely cool, certainly catering for business types (gym, decent bar, quiet) but it didn't quite deliver. The bed was ok, and the bathroom had been renovated, but the carpet was worn, there was a fag burn in the couch in my room, the room was really noisy and they played piped music in the hallway from 7am very loud. They did a good cappucino for breakfast though.

Hotel The Grey - a design hotel spitting distance from the cathedral. Very very cool. Excellent little bar. The room was great. However I got woken each morning at 5am by local restaurants taking deliveries and emptying bins which went on for ages. And that was in a quiet room. Cool, but not great.

They did give me a free consultation at Chanel in Milan though, I can't use it as I'm a bloke, but if anyone is going to Milan before 22 April then PM me and you can have the invite.

Baglioni - quite possibly the most wonderful hotel I have ever stayed in. Can't say any more. It's just wonderful. Pricey though. It's on one of the main posh shopping streets.

Hilton - near the main train station. It's like every other hilton all over the world - clean, bland, overly air conditioned.

Restaurants
Fratelli la bufala - a restaurant that specialises in dishes with Bufalo mozerella. The pizza was great (and I mean great), the house mixed starter was lovely with loads of meat and cheese. Good wine too. Recommended

I've left the rest of my restaurant receipts at home but will add more reviews over the next few days.

As promised, a few more reviews...

Hotel
Hotel Pincipe di Savoia - this is apparently the best hotel in Milan - where all the film stars and fashionistas stay. And it is lovely, but massive. My room is almost as nice as the Baglioni, the gym is better here as are the toilettries in the bathroom (Acqua di Parma as opposed to unbranded), though the bar is a bit impersonal (and the pianist refused to play Britney when I asked him last night ) and the G&T not as good. It's a great place over all and I'd recommend it, but the size takes it below the Baglioni.

Restaurants
La Risacca 2 - Viage Regina Giovanna 14 (no link) - excellent fish restaurant. I'd imagine it'd be quite pricey, but someone else was buying and we just got loads of mixed plates. The wine they brought with each course went perfectly too. Apparently loads of celebs go there, like footballers and those semi-naked girls you see on Italian tv all the time. Unfortunately it was full of older ladies who had had too much surgery and their chaperones. Still as I said the food was excellent.

Don Juan - an Argentine restaurant. Meat was excellent and the mixed Parilla to share was monster - myself and a colleague failed to finish it, and we were starving. Argentine wine was cheaper than the italian, and was good. Good atmosphere too with a crowd in their late twenties and thirties. Is kind of in the middle of nowhere though. I think for a bottle of wine, meat, sides and coffee it came to about €75 between us.

Restaurant al Mercante - this is dead central, all of 100m from the Duomo. It was recommended by an Italian friend as a place to get good risotto alla Milanese. I was sceptical as it looked pretty touristy, but inside it was full of locals (or Italians at least). Not as pricey as others around that area, and the risotto was really good, if a little small. €6 for a 0.4l Nastro was just taking the piss though. Mains between €9 and €17 I think.

La Cantinetta - via Ripamonti 19 (no link) - this is a real local local local place. Classic 70s decor, grumpy patriarch running the joint with his sweet old wife. Sons doing the waiting. Open kitchen with joints of veal piled high in the corner. Luckily I had an italian speaker with me otherwise i would've been in trouble. Anyway, it's cheap - €7 for pasta. And it's good. Starters were fresh and lovely. The tagliatelle with a creamy porcini mushroom sauce was divine, with the pasta obviously home made (you can see the chefs using the pasta machine in the kitchen). The tagliatte (sliced meat main) was lovely too. Bottle of Barollo was €26 which is a bargain. Highly recommended - and again, well off the tourist route.

I think I will try Bouecc tonight as per Butterbean's post.

That Chanel voucher is still on offer btw.