Bvlgari Hotel Milano launches Da Niko restaurant
Bvlgari Hotel Milano has opened Da Niko, a new restaurant developed with chef Niko Romito that shifts the hotel’s flagship dining experience towards a more informal and convivial style of Italian hospitality. The restaurant opens on 1 September, replacing Il Ristorante – Niko Romito, which closed in June while its space was redesigned for the new concept. Da Niko retains Romito’s focus on ingredient selection, technique and flavour, but introduces a menu and dining style designed to encourage sharing and a less formal experience around the table.
Menu and Ambience
The menu draws on Italian culinary traditions and includes raw seafood, pasta, tableside preparations and dishes intended for sharing. Among the offerings are oysters, amberjack and tuna carpaccio, tomato spaghetti, paccheri with langoustines, lemon and tarragon, and Dover sole meunière. Other dishes include milk-fed Milanese veal cutlet, beef tenderloin with green pepper sauce, eggplant parmigiana and traditional Piedmontese fried chicken with roasted potatoes and seasonal vegetables. The catch of the day is presented to diners from a trolley.
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Silvio Ursini, Executive Vice President of the Bvlgari Group, said the redesigned restaurant was intended to create a less formal atmosphere and encourage conviviality, reflecting a wider shift towards dining experiences that feel more spontaneous and less governed by ritual. Romito said the more relaxed approach had not changed the standards behind the cooking, with the restaurant continuing to emphasise careful sourcing and precise preparation.
Design Details
The interiors have also been redesigned by ACPV ARCHITECTS Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, the architecture studio behind the Bvlgari Hotel Milano itself. The concept is intended to evoke an elegant Milanese home, using warm materials and more intimate spaces to encourage conversation. The dining room combines tables of different sizes with Philippe Starck armchairs for Driade upholstered in soft leather, green velvet sofas and teak. Bookshelves stand opposite the cocktail bar, while large windows connect the restaurant with the hotel’s garden.
Six large mirrors framed in willow by artist Emy Petrini have been installed on the walls. At the centre of the restaurant is La Venatoria, a rare Richard Ginori vase dating from the late 1920s, created during Gio Ponti’s period as artistic director and decorated with the Triumph of the Amazons motif. Tableware has been developed with Ginori 1735 using an exclusive version of its Diva collection, with terracotta tones also incorporated into the restaurant’s uniforms and linen aprons.
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It is easy to see how this shift in format could attract a younger demographic looking for high-quality food without the formality of a traditional fine-dining setting. The reliance on a menu that leans heavily on pasta and shared plates suggests a strategy to reduce the average spend per head while maintaining the high brand standards associated with the property. The integration of a trolley service for the catch of the day adds a theatrical element that appeals to the modern appetite for experiential dining, yet it is grounded in the practicalities of sourcing fresh seafood daily.
The hotel’s official announcement describes Da Niko as a contemporary interpretation of Italian cuisine centred on the experience of gathering around the table. The opening comes as Bvlgari Hotels & Resorts continues to expand its international hospitality portfolio. The group currently operates hotels and resorts in Milan, Rome, Paris, London, Dubai, Bali, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai. Its current development pipeline includes Bvlgari Resort Ranfushi in the Maldives in 2027, Bvlgari Resort Bodrum in 2028, Bvlgari Hotel Miami Beach and Bvlgari Resort & Residences Cave Cay in the Bahamas in 2029, followed by a new resort in Abu Dhabi in 2030.
