Seta Sushi Lab, Milan

Why you should experience Seta Sushi Lab in Milan, Italy.

Seta Sushi Lab is a polished Japanese restaurant where Santo Stefano's medieval architecture, Maurilio Zaccone and Davide Colomba's friendship, Glen Cueto's sushi craft and MICHELIN recognition converge inside the historic passage of Corte Isolani.

Set along Corte Isolani between Piazza Santo Stefano and Strada Maggiore and just steps from the Santo Stefano, the restaurant occupies a sequence of courtyards opened to public passage in 1995 between two centuries-old Isolani residences. A long counter places Cueto's preparation of nigiri, sashimi and rolls in direct view, preserving an element present from Seta's earliest years as fish is sliced, avocado is worked by knife and selected pieces receive brief finishing heat. The restaurant later added a cocktail bar and underwent a 2023 interior project by Willy Calabrese for FGC Loft, extending its original modern-bistro character into a more developed contemporary setting. The result is a Japanese restaurant whose founders, chef, MICHELIN selection and evolving design have given Corte Isolani a culinary destination closely connected to the historic fabric surrounding Piazza Santo Stefano.

What you should know about Seta Sushi Lab.

Seta Sushi Lab is best known for growing from the friendship and shared interest in Japanese cooking of Maurilio Zaccone and Davide Colomba into a MICHELIN-selected restaurant guided by chef Glen Cueto. The project took shape in Corte Isolani in 2017, placing the new restaurant inside the historic passage connecting Piazza Santo Stefano with Strada Maggiore. Cueto brought a different geography to the partnership. The Filipino chef arrived in Bologna after working for years in Milanese sushi kitchens, then made the preparation counter central to Seta, giving diners a direct view of his knife work and finishing techniques. Zaccone assumed the dining-room role, developing particular expertise around the food and beverage program as the restaurant built a sake selection and a wine cellar reaching 100 labels. Omakase subsequently gave Cueto a format for directing the meal himself, with seats at the counter receiving a sequence chosen by the chef alongside conventional table ordering. The restaurant's success soon generated another project. In 2019, Zaccone and Colomba developed Seta Meat Lab with Cueto, transferring the partnership from Japanese fish preparation into a restaurant centered on rare beef cuts and cocktails. Seta Sushi Lab continued developing separately in Corte Isolani and added a cocktail bar, linking sushi preparation with an evening drinks program. MICHELIN selection established another chapter for the original restaurant, recognizing a Japanese repertoire grounded in traditional preparations with personal variations and Cueto still leading the kitchen. A 2023 interior project brought Willy Calabrese of FGC Loft into Seta Sushi Lab, marking a further physical change six years after the restaurant first emerged in the medieval courtyard.

Scallops with sea urchin begin with two distinct forms of marine richness, pairing the scallop's dense sweetness with the softer salinity of the roe. Marinated sashimi keeps the fish raw but introduces seasoning before the knife-cut pieces reach the plate. Scampi sashimi strips the preparation back toward cool shellfish and its naturally sweet flesh. Squid with bottarga adds a firmer texture, with cured roe bringing concentrated salinity across the cleaner flavor of the cephalopod. Nigiri changes the balance by placing seafood over seasoned rice, and Cueto's repertoire has extended that form through shrimp, scallop, turbot and richly marbled Wagyu. Lobster special roll develops a larger composed bite around shellfish, rice and the more elaborate construction associated with Seta's early counter service. Avocado tacos with ikura and katsuobushi take the meal beyond conventional sushi forms through creamy fruit, salmon roe and dried bonito, combining softness, briny bursts and a smoked finish. Seta Sushi Lab draws its strongest culinary character from these shifts in handling, letting raw fish, marination, cured roe, seasoned rice, shellfish and Wagyu place different demands on Cueto's knife work and preparation counter.

How to fold Seta Sushi Lab into your trip.

Seta Sushi Lab works as the meal anchor for an afternoon tracing medieval domestic architecture, Bologna's merchant institutions and the rise of the Pepoli family through the streets surrounding Santo Stefano.

Begin at Casa Isolani, a rare surviving thirteenth-century residence whose portico rises more than nine meters on immense oak supports. Raffaele Faccioli restored the facade in 1877, reopening pointed ground-floor entrances and reconstructing windows from medieval precedents, then the building acquired a new urban role when the internal passage through the Isolani properties entered public use in 1995. That route now carries Corte Isolani through successive courtyards to Piazza Santo Stefano and Seta Sushi Lab. Continue to Palazzo della Mercanzia, built between 1382 and 1391 under Antonio di Vincenzo and Lorenzo di Bagnomarino after Bologna's twelve major guilds formed the Universitas Mercatorum. The new institution settled commercial disputes and developed statutes governing merchants and artisans, and its tribunal formally occupied the upper loggia in January 1391. Alfonso Rubbiani restored the late-Gothic building between 1887 and 1889, followed by repairs from Alfredo Barbacci and Bruno Parolini after World War II damage. Conclude at Palazzo Pepoli, begun in 1344 for Taddeo Pepoli, Bologna's first lord and the patriarch of a family whose political ascent reshaped the city during the fourteenth century. His sons Giacomo and Giovanni inherited the residence after Taddeo's death in 1347 and became lords of Bologna three years later, before the Holy See confiscated the palace in 1360 amid the family's political reversal. Centuries of alterations followed, and the former fortified residence now houses the Museo della Storia di Bologna, whose 36 rooms extend from Etruscan Felsina through the modern city. The progression moves from the oak-supported medieval residence of Casa Isolani through Antonio di Vincenzo and Lorenzo di Bagnomarino's merchant tribunal into Taddeo Pepoli's fortified seat of political power, connecting domestic, commercial and civic history within the streets surrounding Seta Sushi Lab.

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