Nico's Spuntino Bar and Restaurant (Closed)

食到Nico's真係好機緣巧合一開始係咁啱經過見到門口既宣傳牌先知終於去左試Semi-Buffet Menu青醬雞肉沙律雞粒不油不膩，好似冇脂肪但又唔會太硬實青醬好香又唔油，抹走平時食青醬油膩既記憶，加分位燒牛肉牛肉入口即溶，好香肉味薄切令肉好易入口，亦冇咩筋果類脂肪是關鍵！少量圍邊既脂肪唔油膩，放入口即刻溶化，油香滿溢，又唔會成口油淋淋蝦夠大隻,好少見鮮甜爽口肉腸沙律有唔同款既腸仔，雖然唔係脆皮，但都幾好食加左茄汁更開胃金寶撻上面金寶大粒左少少，可想而知食落有點過硬同埋美觀都稍有欠差不過餡既味道令人滿意，微酸，整體唔會過甜Tiramisu是聖物佢個別裝可以免卻自助時會毀食物容貌及不潔等情況另外，甜品本身唔會因太多酒會好苦澀反而只係會有濕潤但酒香濃郁並偏甜曲奇個人中意朱古力款，較crunchyChestnut Puree甜味好自然食到栗子味都好香濃唔會好膩麵包布甸佢用既係牛角包唔會好油但唔係脆身如果有雲尼拿汁就好了:^o藍莓切餅面頭好似金寶既其實係椰絲好似椰撻既味但佢唔會過甜（有時椰撻既會甜到乸口味道同整體好清爽，唔會好似平時既甜椰蓉咁油加上佢藍莓部分真係比較酸，中和番甜味批底都係少甜，可以降低番整體既甜度，反而好開胃  continue reading

星期六的中環, 下午1點多, 都几人來人往, 尤其係專誠黎搵野食既人們, 不過都仲有不少巿店尚未開門, 可能係做HAPPY HOUR 或者做下午茶啦! 我地2個人行下睇下搵BUNCH 食, 見佢冇乜人得黎, 又好似好舒服, 門口既侍應又好鬼好笑容咁介紹佢地既menu, 我地就決定入座喇!店內環境寬敞, 冷氣非常強勁, 見到好多一家大小既外藉人仕, 這裡有為小朋友準備了一點玩樂小設備在店的角落裡, 見佢地走來走去, 玩得非常開心, 假期的心情加上歡愉的環境, 真的特別開心...由於BUNCH 時間剛過, 我地點左1 個 Pepperoni Pizza ($108) 兩份食, 即叫即做的, 熱辣辣上枱, Pepperoni 沒有太多的配料, 但見到軟棉棉的芝士, 已經令人心動, 薄薄的餅底, 不會令人有非常飽肚的感覺, 我不明白為何還有很多Pizza 連鎮店還會不斷在推出新口味的厚底Pizza... 這個 Pepperoni 上枱時, 份量也不少, 我地只係想食下午茶, 本以為會食唔晒, 但因為實在太好味, 我地征服了它, 好彩冇叫其他食物, 否則又是浪費.... Pepperoni 上有類似辣椒醬的配料, 芝士雖多, 但也不會有太膩的感覺, 非常讚! 至於這杯Strawberry Smoothies就比較遜色了, 不夠凍之餘, 也沒有甜味, 勉強完成了它.... 我地完成食物後, 一路傾計傾左半小時, 侍應都好有禮貌地加水, 完全無壓力, 這是一個輕鬆愉快的下午! continue reading

上星期五唔洗返工day off, 諗住同個friend去中環搵個地方食lunch.. 我地由半山電梯慢慢行上去soho睇下有咩好野食..上到伊利近街有間叫Nico's Spuntino Bar + Restaurant既意大利餐廳食semi-lunch buffet, 價錢係$118,都接受到,同埋間餐廳望落去幾靚同當時都幾full, 咁多客人都應該唔差啦, 所以就簡就呢間.坐底左一陣就行出去睇下有咩食啦..都有好多小食, 有duck breast, 薯仔salad, 之士茄子, 蝦, ham,.. 因為太肚餓既關係, 我食左3碟小食.. 我食得最多既就係duck breast同薯仔.. 因為真係幾好味.. 但因為食到咁上下有D飽冇叫main course,反而想留返個肚食甜品, 因為個甜品望落去真係幾attractive, 有tiramisu, macaroon, carrot cake, chocolate cake, 仲有幾款糕點,, 不過我只係食左tiramisu同埋carrot cake, 因為之前食左好多小食食到飽飽地,哈哈  味道方面, 個tiramisu都唔錯, 唔太甜同埋個酒味岩岩好... 至於個carrot cake都唔差!食到咁上下, 最後叫左杯Mocca,一路飲一路同個friend吹水.. 我地都坐左差唔多2個幾鐘,因為個環境幾舒服同埋輕快既音樂令人特別relax!總括黎講我覺得呢間餐廳都唔錯, 食lunch既話都會係一個不錯既選擇  continue reading

It was a night to celebrate: my wife and I had just paid off every last cent of debt that we had and now for the first time had positive net worth. My wife likes dinners with lots of small dishes to share, like tapas, so I had my eye on Nico's Spuntino Bar, as spuntini had been described to me as "Italian tapas."When we arrived, I'll admit that I was a little disappointed. I had hoped that there would be lots of distinctively Italian little dishes that were new to me. It was actually mostly bar food (sliders, fried calamari), cured meats, cheeses, and olives. Nothing I don't like, just nothing particularly exciting.We wanted to order a platter for two, but we were uncertain as to how many other spuntini we should get to round out a meal, so we asked. The conversation went something like this:Us: If we got this platter, how many other spuntini should we get? How big are they?Server: Small.Us: So like how big is this one?Server: Us: So we should get like 3 or 4 of these to share?Server: No.Us: How many should we get to share?Server: If you get that you need to order two. Us: We can't share?Server: No.Us: Um... let us think about the menu some more.I'm assuming that there was a communication problem and the server did not actually mean that we couldn't share. Anyway, our new plan was: pick whatever we thought was the right amount, order it, and then just order more if it wasn't enough.The first thing to arrive was the meat and cheese platter for two. This we ordered off the spuntino menu (there's a similar thing on the a la carte menu) You could get the platter for (I think) two, or three, or four people. It's nice of them to scale things like that.First, a complaint. When this arrived I of course did not have the menu any more. But I am about 95% certain that this was described as coming with more than just meat and cheese. The particular platter we ordered does not appear on the online menus Staunton's Group posted for Nico's, but on the online a la carte menu the antipasti platter is described as coming with "olives and pickles" and all the platters on the spuntino menu are described as coming with "condiments." We didn't get olives, pickles, or condiments. Yes, I could've complained to the servers but (a) I didn't know exactly what it was that I wasn't getting and (b) I was already somewhat exasperated with the servers.I don't know what the meats and cheeses were exactly, as no one made an attempt to explain that to us (admittedly, I didn't ask). I'm not an Italian cured meats expert, but the meat at the top of the picture might be capocollo and the closer one looks like some kind of salami? I'm even worse at cheeses, but the top right cheese was something hard, dry, and brittle like parmesan or pecorino, but less intense and less salty. The other cheese... no clue.Mostly I thought the meats and cheeses were unremarkable. Absolutely nothing wrong with them, but nothing special about them either. We asked for bread with them (and I'm really surprised we had to ask) and as HK standards dictate, the bread was not particularly good. If I came back, I don't think I'd order this again. C-... slightly worse than average.We ordered one thing off the a la carte menu, the spicy salami salad ("from Campania"), described thusly: "seared spicy salami, foccaccia croutons, cherry tomatoes, avocado, mixed field greens, balsamic dressing." I was quite a fan of the salad. They were judiciously light on the dressing. The searing helped the salami, but though I fear I'm beginning to sound like a broken record in my openrice reviews, I must say: the thing described as spicy was not spicy. There was a good mix of avocados and tomatoes in the salad. A-... excellent.Croquettes were not our first choice. We had ordered something that sounded exciting, but was also inexplicable (it was described as a "whole roasted pig" with mushrooms or something, but at $60 or whatever it was not that). Anyway, after the meat and cheese platter and the salad arrived, we were told that they were out of the mysterious thing so we ordered the croquettes instead. I notice that on their online menu, the croquettes have cheese in them. These one's didn't, but as I said the menu was different at the restaurant. Tartar sauce seems like, and was, a strange accompaniment for croquettes. I thought they were on the bland side, but that's kind of natural for this dish. They were nice and crispy, and not greasy. They were distinctly cumin-y. C+... better than average.We also got calamari rings. Like the croquettes, they were cumin-y and came with tartar sauce. I would have guessed marinara, but according to cookitaly.com, "Dipping sauces are not at all Italian, as they defeat the point of the crispness and tend to overpower the delicate taste of the squid - which is what this dish is all about." So I guess the tartar sauce is for us uncouth expats. Anyway, the squid was reasonably tender and the batter was nice and light. B+, good.I will mention that the cocktails were good but small. I had a Rosso Sour-- a bourbon sour with a red wine float-- and I really liked it. My wife had an Americano (which the menu helpfully informed us was not American in origin, it's just named that because American tourists in Italy like to drink it). I found the Americano too bitter, but my wife who likes bitter things enjoyed it. I'm starting to form an opinion of Staunton's group restaurants in general. The food's not particularly good, but not bad or terrible either. The servers aren't particularly competent, but certainly not wholly incompetent. They make middle-of-the-road, average restaurants for expats who don't like to walk more than a few feet from the escalators. Nico's gets a solid C from me: Average. continue reading

當日中午時分同老公係中環做完正經野就諗吓去邊食晏好, 記得之前睇雜誌有介紹過依間平日都有 brunch 於是就即刻打去訂位, 不過都未到繁忙食晏時間所以十五分鐘後行到過去唔使等就可以直接行入去坐低喇.睇吓 menu 大概都係 $150-200 一個主菜包一杯餐飲同任食前菜同甜品; 前菜甜品其實都唔係太多選擇, 不過係依區以依個價錢都差唔多啦. 想講當日高峰時間大概都坐滿九成枱, 但佢地 refill 食物既速度好慢, (其中有 part 係我想食密瓜不過出面無晒, 於是我每隔一陣分別行出去兩三次但仍然未有 refill, 咁我就同其中一個侍應生講想食, 之後我坐返埋位又隔一輪後再出去仍然都係無, 唯有再問問嗰個侍應生, 結果都係要等多陣先有得食). 幸好當日我倆唔趕時間可以慢慢等慢慢食, 不過就有點影響對佢地既觀感喇 另外因為為食所以另叫咗半打生蠔, 當日有兩款蠔而我地揀咗 Coffin Bay ($149), 佢質素唔錯呀, 脹卜卜而且好新鮮夠甜又有淡淡既海水味 食到咁上下可以上主菜喇, 分別有剛開始食時見到出面有 6 款迷你甜品, 但當食完主菜想出去拎時就只剩最唔吸引既一款, 今次唔打算問侍應諗住返埋位等一陣再拎啦, 如是者每隔數分鐘再出去一次, 前後都應該行咗 6-7 次但等極都未有 refill, 最後直頭等到有個女侍應以為我地食飽仲問我地飲咩餐飲, 於是我就叫佢催催廚房因實在太耐喇, 結果仍然要等多一輪先有得食, 依個感覺非常唔好呀 (女侍應解釋話廚房見無晒於是即時製作中所以咁耐 .... 但當我倆食時所有甜品都係凍的, 根本啲野其實一早已經整好只需要係雪櫃拎出黎就得  ) continue reading