Dimorestudio’s much-anticipated Langosteria Cucina opens in Milan

Langosteria, a mainstay on the Milan dining scene since opening its first iteration in 2007, has finally cut the ribbon on a new sister restaurant designed by Dimorestudio, Langosteria Cucina. The original Tortona district hotspot has long been a fashion industry go-to for editors and models, who flock to its via Savona location for crudité di mare and champagne.

Dimorestudio interiors at Langosteria Cucina

The new restaurant, the Langosteria Group’s sixth, will enhance that experience by offering changing menus based on what’s been hauled in fresh that day. ‘It’s meant to feel as if you’ve been invited into somebody’s house,’ explains Dimorestudio co-founder Britt Moran of the restaurant’s concept, ‘like you’re having a dinner party with friends.’

To create the home-like effect, Moran and partner Emiliano Salci opened up the walls of the cosy 40-seat restaurant, allowing a porous transition between the dining room and kitchen, where they did away with the conventional, harsh industrial set up in favour of a more domestic feel.

The aesthetic is a typically Dimore blend of influences: moody 1970s references, Japanese-inspired finishes and a dash of Frank Lloyd Wright thrown in for good measure. Under an aubergine-coloured ceiling, walls are papered in a loosely woven jute textile or finished in silver leaf then bordered in black-lacquered bamboo, like glimmering tatami screens.

Seating comprises the midcentury master’s ‘614 Coonley’ chairs from Cassina, which face long built-in benches, a common theme in Lloyd Wright’s work. Maps, vessels and illustrations line the walls, ‘as if it’s the home of a traveller who has accumulated a collection of treasures on his voyages’, Moran says.

Lighting is a mix of custom-designed pieces and vintage finds, including sconces by Ignazio Gardella. ‘We wanted to include elements that had a lived-in, vintage patina to them,’ Moran explains.

The room’s centrepiece, a 3m-long fringed lamp in glass and brass, hangs dramatically above the bar, framing views into the bustling kitchen.

Like all good things, the collaboration between Dimorestudio and Buonocore was ‘born out of a dinner-time conversation’, recalls Moran. He and Salci, who have launched projects in Dubai, Shanghai and London in the last couple of years, jumped at the chance to design something on their doorstep. ‘Despite being based in Milan, we don’t do that many projects in the city,’ he continues, ‘so for us, it was an opportunity to do something here, at home.’

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