Forget about sandwiches that taste like plastic and uncomfortable little bars with strange seating. Even if we’ve waited too long in Italy for such a concept, you can now happily interrupt (or conclude) a visit to one of the great museums in the country by enjoying a good, if not excellent, meal. Perhaps outside of Italy, this is not news; for decades, managers of famous museum sites have partnered with top chefs across the world to set up restaurants at the height of exhibition season. Because they know that today food is all about culture and fashion – plus it attracts more visitors. This explains the presence of star chefs such as Josean Alja (Nerua at the Guggenheim, Bilbao), Tony Mantuano (Third Floor at the Art Institute, Chicago), Abram Bissell (The Modern at MOMA, New York), Garrett Kneown (Rex Whistler at Tate Britain, London) and even the mythic Alain Ducasse (Idam at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha).
Haute cuisine and ‘bistronomies’
Your run-of-the-mill museum eatery features a pretty impersonal kitchen. Luckily though, other venues have created a different culinary philosophy to combat the tedium of usual museum fare: at In Situ (at Moma, S. Francisco), the three-starred chef Corey Lee replicates 80 signature dishes – all in rotation – from his famous colleagues that includes five famous Italian chefs: Alajmo, Bottura, Camanini, Esposito and Romito. So far, the peak of culinary evolution. But at most museums – from Le Georges at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the original Pharmacia in Lisbon to the Acropolis in Athens or The Hermitage Restaurant in St. Petersburg, and even the Rijcks in Amsterdam or the El Mirador de Palau in Barcelona – you’ll find the curious development of ‘bistromony’: well-cared-for, expensive food (that’s usually not worth what you’re paying, in all honesty). Usually divided in two: a bar during opening exhibition hours with one or two kitchen services available at specific hours throughout the day.
In Italy
The premises of our selection are a guarantee: these are tested locales, managed by great chefs (sometimes truly great chefs – just think about Enrico Bartolini) or by expert culinary teams. These are the best museum venues for Italian cuisine – and for foreign visitors, the top international options. Elegant design, often in excellent locations. And we’re not necessarily looking for designer cuisine, either: just think of Caffè delle Arti at the Gnam in Rome or the capital city’s other great spot for a bite, Macro 138 in the Museum of Contemporary Art with its delectable Mediterranean cuisine on offer. Then there’s the National Cinema Museum in Turin where the restaurant’s long name – Eataly meets Caffè Vergnano at the Mole Antonelliana – invites you to taste the many delicacies made by two very important culinary brands. And Milan loves the Lùbar, a bar-bistro of Sicilian specialties inside Villa Reale, which houses the Modern Art Gallery. And decidedly spectacular is Bar Luce that truly lights up the Fondazione Prada; designed by director Wes Anderson, this bar was inspired by the atmosphere of Milanese cafés in the fifties and sixties. "It could be a great set, but also a great place to write a screenplay. I actually wanted to shape a place where I'd like to spend my afternoons when I'm not working," Anderson said at the opening of Bar Luce. For many, it has become just that; clients spend a lot of time there between a gourmet sandwich and the perfect gin and tonic.