MAG Cafè

When Flavio Angiolillo and Marco Russo opened MAG Cafè on the Naviglio Grande in 2011, they set in motion most of what Milan now thinks of as modern drinking. This is the bar that led to 1930, currently number 43 in the World's 50 Best, to Iter, and to the Farmily spirits company, yet MAG remains its own quiet success, sitting at number 80 in the 2025 Top 500 Bars. Walk in and the lineage makes sense. The room is all antique wood, counters and cabinets carried over from an old Argentine pharmacy, a bohemian warmth that never tips into theme-park nostalgia. In summer the tables spill onto the canal, and while the place is rarely empty, a seat overlooking the water is usually there for the taking.

The menu arrives on lo-fi, zine-style cards, complete with an alcohol meter and tags like "take it easy version," and it splits between reinvented classics and bolder experiments. The thinking is sound, though this year's list plays it safe. Ollio (€10) was the pick of the night, a rich, dessert-leaning build of Four Roses bourbon, Rabbit Hole rye, Noilly Prat, walnut bitter, banana and sherry cream, though the walnut and banana that should define it stayed in the background. È un paese per vecchi (€12), an Old Fashioned riff with gum arabic, orange, Fusetti cacao and a house decanter bitter, was well balanced but read like a straight Old Fashioned, with the orange and cacao too faint to register. Best suited to the weather was the Limojito (€12), Havana 3, Italicus and Nazionale limoncello lifted by a kaffir lime, lemongrass and mint cordial, refreshing and precisely balanced. On an earlier visit the drinks felt more inventive, and a little more fun.

Service can wobble. On a 35 degree night with a full house it was slow and slightly chaotic, forgivable given the conditions but worth knowing. The aperitivo of popcorn, nocellara olives, taralli and nachos is the expected Italian spread and does its job. At €30 to €50 for an evening, MAG is very good value, and after more than a decade it remains a genuine Navigli institution, better for its atmosphere and history than for any single drink right now.