In Milan, Viviana Varese and Ritu Dalmia inaugurate POLPO.

On one of Milan’s busiest streets, chef Viviana Varese draws inspiration from the trattoria of the 1980s to create a dynamic, contemporary and lively restaurant in which fish is the protagonist. POLPO, which transforms the famous Melzo Street into a retro-flavored promenade, reveals a dual soul by dividing itself between a bar, where tapas and tastings accompany aperitif time, and a trattoria. Its strengths: a quality seafood proposal that aims to enhance the raw material and engage an audience seeking an authentic dining experience.

Simply fish. These are the key words that distinguish
POLPO
, the new Milanese address of chef Viviana Varese opened at 9 Via Melzo, giving SPICA, a new look in one of the city’s busiest popular and democratic corners. A lively bar trattoria, a landmark for quality seafood cuisine, where excellent ingredients are combined with simplicity and cheerfulness. A movida context, informal but with attention to detail, born from the choice to offer a heterogeneous target a sincere gastronomic proposal that finds just as much youthful spirit in the kitchen, with Valentina Gaeta, and in the dining room, with Davide Gianni, Valeria Lorusso and Martina Guercia. Shades of blue draw its interiors, reminding one of the sea even to the eye: so that every sense can lead to a maritime and retro atmosphere. Like all of Viviana Varese’s restaurants, POLPO is in fact intended to be a place, where kitchen and environment, between design and furnishings, communicate in unison, to transport the guest into a unique dimension.

“It’s a POW, it’s a wanting to go back to the beginning of my career with the cooking I used to do with my family mixed with the experience of my last 20 years” underlines Viviana Varese. “Ritu and I chose to give SPICA an Italian look, because projects don’t end, they evolve“.

“Because of my friendship with chef Viviana Varese and the idea of this very interesting project, I think Spica’s location is the ideal spot to inaugurate a new seafood-based format, something you can’t find in an area like Porta Venezia in Milan” says Ritu Dalmia. “Polpo is that breath of fresh air that Chef Viviana Varese and I want to bring and that will never stop us in our future projects“.

THE CONCEPT.
POLPO is a landmark for those who love the sea: “Simply Fish,” in fact, the words that identify its soul. An informal and dynamic space dedicated to those who love authentic cuisine and the pleasure of conviviality, divided between a bar, an ideal space for an aperitif, and a trattoria with a menu that allows you to dive into the discovery of seafood dishes that respect and enhance the raw material. A project that fits into Milan’s food and wine offerings and provides a high-quality experience in a relaxed and democratic environment, open to all and dedicated especially to young people, eager to eat excellent seafood paired with a good glass of wine.

THE LOCATION.
POLPO takes Spica’s place, a fusion cooking project that star chef Viviana Varese had undertaken with her partner and Indian chef Ritu Dalmia in 2019, and which today sees its own design continuity with a bar trattoria with a modern character and well integrated into one of Milan’s most popular and lively streets, Via Melzo. It is within those walls that POLPO presents a new dimension, transforming the famous Milanese street into a waterfront. Blue is its dominant color, declined in furnishings and fabrics that evoke the sweet memory of the sea, which inspired Viviana Varese for this new project. That 80s sea that smells of spontaneity, retraced by images that, like vintage postcards, decorate the walls of the venue. Bar, lounge and outdoor dehors with sofas and standing tables complete a multifaceted environment where quality food and good drink are at the center, thanks to the restyling by the B-Arch architectural firm of Sabrina Bignami and Alessandro Capellaro.

THE MENU.
A few quality raw ingredients combined with different cooking methods make up a menu of about 50 dishes in total, an expression of simple and sincere cooking. Seafood, shellfish and fish first and foremost, from shrimp to oysters, including tuna and squid, but also plenty of room for vegetables and tastings, inspired by the famous tapas, that provide the right accompaniment for aperitif time. Everything was created and designed so that even the imagination can fly in search of memories and flavors that lead to 1980s beaches, beach umbrellas, and salt water. There is no shortage of coffee on the menu thanks to Chef Viviana Varese’s collaboration with Nespresso, which thus offers an intense Arabica blend and a decaf with an aromatic profile. Finally, prices are moderate and affordable, in line with the idea of a café trattoria with a democratic character.

CREATIVITY.
For POLPO’s communication, set-up and all internal materials-from the brand building to the design of the brand with its payoff, and then on to the signs, the customization of the curtains and shutters, the double menu for the bar and the trattoria, and even the uniforms and the definition of POLPO as a lively bar trattoria-Viviana Varese again chose almagreal, a Florentine communications agency led by Giulia Reali, who had already worked alongside the Chef for her starred restaurant Viva. The harmony and synergy between Viviana Varese and almagreal was – again – really strong, resulting in a project where simplicity and freshness blend with the atmosphere of the 1980s, among images where the grain is textural, bright colors with a strong character and a pop flavor in its truest sense, that of popular.

Via Melzo 9, 20129 Milan
tel: +39 02 84572974 / +39 3423926392
info@polpopesce.it

Open Tuesday through Sunday from 6 p.m. to midnight
Saturday to Sunday also lunchtime from 12 noon to 3 p.m.
Closed on Mondays