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2017-11-28
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My friend loves pasta a lot. There are a few Italian restaurants famous for their pasta dishes, but prices also vary a lot. After a thorough research, I picked Al Dente as the restaurant for celebrating his birthday this year. Situated at the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui, the outer part of the restaurant looks more like a bar with high tables and strong music for a drink. When we entered, the waiter led us into the other part of the restaurant which is decorated with white table cloth covered tables a
Situated at the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui, the outer part of the restaurant looks more like a bar with high tables and strong music for a drink. When we entered, the waiter led us into the other part of the restaurant which is decorated with white table cloth covered tables and sofa. It is a fine dining area with completely different atmosphere from the outside.
The choices on the menu are abundant. Other than pasta, meat and salad dishes are also available. There is a great value 4-course set dinner of $248 including appetizer, main, dessert and drink. As a group of 4, we ordered two set dinners, and two more pasta to share.
Appetizers:
We have ceasar salad to start with. Salad greens are very fresh without any bitterness. Cheese strips and toast dices make the ceaser salad less blend. The ceasar dressing is just of the right amount without soaking the greens. Smoked salmon also tastes fresh but not fishy.
We picked mussels as the other appetizer. Mussels are relatively smaller in size, but as an appetizer the amount is satisfactory. I like how the mussels are cooked with tomato and onion dices with white wine, instead of the usual cream sauce, making the dish lighter as an appetizer. A piece of crunchy toast is given for us to enjoy the sauce by dipping it in.
Mains:
My friend loves tomato meat sauce in appetizer. Other than spaghetti bolognese, lasagna is a relatively more special choice. The tomato meat sauce is rich and tasty. The lasagna is neatly done with several layers of meat sauce in-between lasagna sheets. The lasagna is topped with greens which make the pasta less filling.
We thought the pasta would be in lobster sauce, but turned out it was in double cream sauce. The cream sauce is very thick and a bit too filling. The shrimp and lobster pieces have umami and are scrumptious.
The angel hair is cooked just right in time without being too soft or too hard, achieving the restaurant's name "Al Dente".
The shrimp is large in size. It is grilled to slightly dark to give its crunchiness and smell. The chips are freshly deep-fried and nicely flavoured with suitable amount of salt and pepper.
The ribeye steak is cooked to medium with nice pinkish colour inside while being grilled to brown outside. It is not bloody at all, and the meat is of tender and juicy texture.
The other main is lamb fillet. Having three large lamb fillets is a generous portion given that it is included in the set dinner mains.
Again, the lamb fillet is done just right with tender texture and pinkish colour. The taste is rich and the meat is marinated well.
I asked the restaurant when booking the table, and the restaurant kindly offered us free writings on the dessert dish. As the above portion is generous, we are not able to order more desserts other than the ones in set dinner. The dessert tonight is this banana caramel cake. The cake is wonderful as a whole piece of freshly sweet banana slice is sandwiched between fresh whipping cream and sponge cake, and thus giving various textures. The cake goes well with the vanilla icecream scope on the side.
On the whole, the 4-course set dinner worths the price with excellent quality of food. Not only pasta is made to al dente, other dishes especially the dessert are also up to good standard. Will definitely recommend this restaurant to the others as a celebration feast.
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