So we're back from our travels in bella Puglia (sob sob). 

I am absolutely kicking myself that I only went to the beach three times while I was there. The first few days we were working so much and I just wanted to lie around and read whilst it was too hot outside to do so. 

Then on the third day, we took a walk down there and I was absolutely awestruck by the crystal waters. I remember it being beautiful but not this beautiful! I promptly marched to the nearest shop and bought a snorkelling mask for the next day.

But anyway, I will come back to Puglia another time once I have organised the hundreds of photos I took.




To help ourselves reacclimatise to Milan (which has suddenly gotten really bloody hot by the way) and because we had absolutely nothing edible in the fridge, we went out for dinner.

We wandered out towards El Tombon De San Marc which I have fancied trying for a while now due to the mismatch of chandeliers inside and the cheap and cheerful menu outside but it was closed. So instead we fell into Timè, the next restaurant along the road.

Magro says that Timè is owned by the same people who own La Libera, one of our favourite restaurants just off Corso Garibaldi. It's one of my favourites simply because of the gelato al forno dessert which is like some ridiculously fantastic super-chocolatey baked Alaska but without the blowtorch element.

Timè proved to be quite the competition.


Happily, it's one of those places that brings you a little appetiser before the rest of your food. This is home-cured salmon in a strawberry and ginger sauce with flowers and a foam of some sort.

I wasn't actually there when the waitress explained what it was, I was too busy checking that the barking dog I could hear wasn't in one of the nearby parked cars (animal nut, me...)

But even if I don't know what the yummy, creamy foam was, it was so pretty!



Giorgio, who ordered the 4 course, €40 vegetarian menu (not bad value at all! Especially for the centre of Milan) started off with an appetiser of basil infused ricotta with "perfectly cooked" asparagus (I trust his opinion!)

He also ordered a bottle of red at random. Which later turned into two bottles. I was a good girl and didn't partake in excessive drinking like those two loons.




The mains were startlingly pretty. I've seen food like this before and it sure as hell did not cost €12 a plate. Bravo Timè!

My ravioli were filled with goats cheese, topped with pears cooked in red wine and drizzled with castagno honey. I'm a complete sucker for pears, honey and cheese together! I'm also a complete sucker for honey, cheese and hazelnuts together, ever since our trip to Piemonte which I never wrote about. Watch this space, it will be up in the next 2 years...

The startling purple dish is purple potato gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce and purple potato crisps. I have honestly never heard of purple potato before.



Magro was magro and had salmon carpaccio with seaweed pesto. No pasta for him in this heat! Which by the way reached 40°C today. 40! I can't cope with that, I was raised by the sea! In England!



Sometimes secondi (or the meat or fish course) can be a little disappointing. Not here. My seabass with rocket mousse and burrata sauce (yes, burrata, I can't stop eating it!) was sublime.

Magro had baccalà with prawns and steamed vegetables which was also excellent. I don't know personally as I didn't get to taste it but he polished it off pretty quickly so I'm going to say it was good.


The  vegetarian menu yielded a tower of steamed vegetables and bean sprouts in a carrot pureè. Healthy!





What can I say except more of the same? Our desserts were also spectacular. I had caramelised bananas with a "soft biscuit" (it was cake to you and me) and peanut sorbet, Giorgio had basil pannacotta with San Marzano tomato coulis (and it was sweet!) and Magro went for the black forest tart which was the most intense chocolate experience you could hope for.

I would 100% recommend Timè. It's incredibly close to our apartment which is why we chose it but now I've tasted its treasures, I can assure you it's worth travelling across town for.

If you're interested in visiting Milan next year, particularly for the Expo which runs from May to October, look out for our little apartment online - Magro thinks he'll rent it out either with Homelidays or Airbnb. It's been a lovely home for the last year (and the air conditioning unit comes in handy too!) but with restaurants like this around the corner, it would make a really fantastic holiday base.

Just don't drink too much wine...


Eek!