Restaurant in Milan, Italy
Milan's focused kaiseki room. Commit to the format.
Hazama is Milan's most focused kaiseki address: a small, minimalist room on Via Savona where chef Satoshi Hazama runs a 7-course kaiseki progression or a 4-course tasting menu. Michelin Plate (2025) and a 4.7 Google score confirm consistent execution. Book if kaiseki is your format; skip it if you want a flexible, lively Italian dinner.
Yes, with a clear condition: you need to commit to the format. Hazama on Via Savona is Milan's most focused kaiseki address, a small, minimalist room where chef Satoshi Hazama runs either a 7-course kaiseki progression or a 4-course tasting menu. If you are after a la carte Japanese in the city, look at Iyo or Osaka instead. But if kaiseki is the format you want, Hazama is the address to book in Milan.
Hazama sits in the Zona Tortona district of Milan, a neighbourhood that has steadily built a reputation around design studios, gallery spaces, and a quieter, more considered pace than the city centre. That context matters: this is not a flashy Brera showpiece or a tourist-circuit destination. The restaurant draws a local and professional crowd that treats the neighbourhood as a daily environment, not a pilgrimage route. For a food-focused traveller, that means the room reads as genuinely rooted rather than performative.
The physical space echoes the cooking: minimalist, stripped back, small. The mood is calm to the point of being quiet. If you are expecting the ambient energy of a lively Italian dinner, recalibrate. Hazama runs at a low, focused frequency. Conversation carries. The atmosphere is closer to a serious Tokyo counter than anything typically Milanese, which is precisely the point. For a solo diner or a pair who want to concentrate on the food, this works well. For a group looking for a celebratory, high-energy evening, it may feel too restrained.
The kaiseki structure at Hazama follows the classical framework: five fundamental techniques applied to seasonal ingredients across the progression — raw, grilled, fried, boiled, and steamed — building in intensity as the meal advances. This is not fusion or interpretation; it is a deliberate application of a codified Japanese tradition to whatever is seasonal at the time of your visit. The 7-course option gives you the full arc. The 4-course tasting menu is a shorter commitment, suited to a lunch or a lighter evening. Advance reservation is required for both, which also tells you something about how the kitchen operates: nothing here is improvised for walk-ins.
2025 Michelin Plate recognition confirms the kitchen is operating at a level Michelin considers worth marking, even if a star has not followed. The Michelin Plate signals technical competence and consistency rather than the ambition or creativity that earns stars. For kaiseki specifically, that is a fair read: the format is disciplined and restrained by nature. Hazama also appears at #671 in the Opinionated About Dining European rankings for 2025, a crowd-sourced list weighted heavily toward serious food travellers. These are signals that the restaurant holds up among a knowledgeable audience, not just local acclaim. A Google rating of 4.7 across 199 reviews reinforces consistent execution. For context on what kaiseki at the highest level looks like, Iyo Kaiseki in Milan operates in the same format with a different positioning, and comparing both is worth doing if Japanese cuisine is your primary reason for being in the city.
Booking at Hazama is rated Easy, which is genuinely useful information for a small, format-driven restaurant. You do not need to plan three months out. That said, advance reservation is explicitly required for the tasting menus, so do not arrive expecting a walk-in. Book a week ahead to be safe, two weeks if you have a fixed date in mind. The kaiseki format rewards unhurried evenings: arrive early in your booking window, allow the full duration the menu requires, and do not plan anything tight afterwards. Midweek evenings tend to be the most settled in rooms like this, where the regular local crowd keeps the energy consistent rather than weekend-tourist heavy.
Milan has a broader Japanese dining offer than most European cities of its size. Wicky's Innovative Japanese Cuisine operates at a higher price point with a more experimental approach. Bentoteca Milano covers the casual, accessible end of the spectrum. Hazama sits in the middle of that range on price but occupies a distinct lane on format: classical kaiseki, small room, no compromises on the structure. If you want to understand what Italian cities do with serious Japanese cooking, Hazama is a useful data point. For Japanese dining at the highest technical tier in Tokyo for comparison, Myojaku and Azabu Kadowaki represent what the source tradition produces at its peak.
Book Hazama if: you are a food traveller who wants to eat kaiseki during a Milan visit and you are prepared to commit to the tasting menu format. The neighbourhood setting in Zona Tortona adds to the case , this is a quieter, more considered part of the city that suits an evening built around a single, focused meal. It is also worth booking if you have already covered Milan's Italian fine dining circuit (Osteria Francescana in Modena is a day trip worth planning separately) and want a different register entirely.
Skip it if: you want a lively, social Italian dinner with flexibility to order freely. The format is fixed, the room is quiet, and the experience is designed for people who want to follow a progression rather than build their own evening. For broader context on eating and staying well in the city, see our full Milan restaurants guide, our full Milan hotels guide, our full Milan bars guide, our full Milan wineries guide, and our full Milan experiences guide. Italy's wider fine dining circuit , from Le Calandre in Rubano to Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Piazza Duomo in Alba, Dal Pescatore in Runate, and Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico , sits at a different register entirely, but Hazama earns its place as the city's most coherent kaiseki address.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hazama | Japanese | Japanese cuisine in a small restaurant with a minimalist mood echoed in its cooking. Here, young chef Satoshi Hazama offers – in addition to the à la carte menu – a 7‑course Kaiseki journey or a 4‑course tasting menu. Kaiseki cuisine employs five fundamental techniques applied to seasonal ingredients: raw, grilled, fried, boiled, and steamed, in a crescendo of intensity that showcases Japanese haute cuisine (advance reservation required).; Michelin Plate (2025); Opinionated About Dining Top Restaurants in Europe Ranked #671 (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| Enrico Bartolini | Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Cracco in Galleria | Modern Cuisine | Michelin 1 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Andrea Aprea | Modern Italian, Italian Contemporary | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Seta | Modern Italian | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Contraste | Progressive Italian, Modern Cuisine | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
A quick look at how Hazama measures up.
The small restaurant format at Hazama makes large group bookings a practical challenge. For parties of more than four, check the venue's official channels to confirm capacity and whether the kaiseki menu can be served to the full table. This is not the venue to book for a group that wants noise, flexibility, or a long sharing format.
Commit to a menu format before you arrive. Hazama offers either a 7-course kaiseki menu or a 4-course tasting menu alongside à la carte, and the kaiseki is the reason to come. The room is small and minimalist, matching chef Satoshi Hazama's cooking style, so this is not a casual drop-in dinner. Advance reservation is required for the kaiseki.
Bar seating is not documented in the available venue data for Hazama. The restaurant is described as a small room, so counter or bar options, if they exist, would be limited. check the venue's official channels on Via Savona, 41 to confirm seating configurations before your visit.
The 7-course kaiseki is the stronger case for the price. It applies five classical techniques to seasonal ingredients in a structured progression, which is a format you will not find executed at this level elsewhere in Milan. If you want flexibility, the 4-course menu or à la carte are available, but the kaiseki is what earned Hazama its Michelin Plate and an OAD Europe ranking of #671 in 2025.
For Japanese fine dining at a higher price point with more ceremony, Wicky's Innovative Japanese Cuisine is the direct comparison. For non-Japanese fine dining at a similar investment, Seta at Mandarin Oriental carries two Michelin stars and is booked harder. If kaiseki specifically is not the draw and you want Italian fine dining instead, Contraste offers a creative tasting menu at a comparable price with easier booking.
Yes, with the right expectations. The minimalist room and kaiseki format suit a focused, intimate occasion rather than a celebratory group dinner. It works well for two people who want a serious meal as the centrepiece of an evening, rather than a convivial table with bottles and noise.
At €€€€, Hazama is priced at the top end of Milan's Japanese dining tier, and the value case rests on the kaiseki format. If structured, technique-driven Japanese cooking is what you are after, the price holds up against the Michelin Plate recognition and OAD ranking. If you want a more relaxed or informal Japanese meal in Milan, there are more cost-appropriate options.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
