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2014-07-18
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What more to say about Grissini? Why would anybody still want to talk about an established, renowned restaurant?Unlimited buon sapore Italiano and free flow wine and fresh juice, that's why.While I find the price for a la carte menu a bit on the high side, I have no hesitation reserving seats for their weekend brunch buffet. For $728 you can sample a variety of their famous seafood and pasta dishes. One would wish for a big appetite.Even if you don't have a big appetite, it is still a comfy plac
Unlimited buon sapore Italiano and free flow wine and fresh juice, that's why.
While I find the price for a la carte menu a bit on the high side, I have no hesitation reserving seats for their weekend brunch buffet. For $728 you can sample a variety of their famous seafood and pasta dishes. One would wish for a big appetite.
Even if you don't have a big appetite, it is still a comfy place to chill out and relax for a Sunday afternoon. The "infamous" grissini was certainly a devil disguised as an angel, especially when paired with the flavoursome balsamic-oil mix. I needed much self control to lure myself away from them.
It was easy to get distracted at the buffet tables, be them the fresh and fragrant foccacia, the beautiful and scrumptious proscuitto, salami, mortadelle, or my favourite beef and swordfish carpaccio, to name but a few.
I am not a vegetable person but I can never get enough of their fennel and rucola. The baked egg tart with vegetables tasted divine even with no meat in it. The egg dish reminded me of the Chinese dish "baked worm with egg" (焗禾蟲) and it tasted just as great with no worm in it.
Over at the roast meat corner there were roast beef, nicely grilled pork ribs with a pink centre, grilled rack of lamb or lamb leg. 3 or more kinds of meat were served each time.My favourite corner is always the hot plate session in which some difficult-to-get-here traditional Italian dishes, such as zampone (the rusticity and spiciness of which was so charming), stewed ox tongue (a big favourite among ox-tongue lovers!), stewed ox-tail, braised beef brisket, grilled salcissia (I mean the REAL Italian pork sausages with beautiful spices and a hint of acidity) could be found.
Over at the pasta station egg pasta of different width ranging from taglionini to pappardelle were freshly cooked with choices of pesto, ragu, seafood sauces, etc..
Each table was served with fried seafood south-Italy style. The squid was probably of the best flavour and texture I had tasted here in a western restaurant.
The buffet didn't end here. There were 6 choices of made-to-order piatti primi and secondi (unlimited order!) including stewed lobster, grilled lobster, sauteed mussels Livorno style, and fish / pasta / risotto of the day. The lobsters were simply too fresh and cooked too perfect for a semi buffet. I could easily devour a couple of these.
The other time we were served with razor clams with pesto instead of mussels. We lamented that we did not order enough of this! Of course "fish of the day" was also something one wouldn't want to miss, though I ranked the fish dishes fairer to other seafood and pasta choices.
Risotto with white truffles never disappoints.
The place lived up to its reputation with this wonderful dish of garlic tortelloni with saffron sauce.
Over at the dessert table there was no shortage of Italian goodies such as panna cotta, tiramisu, authentic cannoli, fluffy and texture-wise conflicting yet interesting Piedmont hazelnut cakes. The stand-out desserts for me was the lemon tart, which was swamped with natural Sicilian lemon flavour, and the "nutella" creme brulee, which was hardly creme brulee in nature but was made just to the perfect smoothness and sweetness. It was intriguing to couple this dessert with Italy's favourite taste.
Finally I would save my stomach (which rarely happens for me in other buffet visits) a variety of imported Italian fresh fruit such as peaches, nectarine and apricots. My only complaint is that the ice-cream was a far cry from gelati Italiani, though the coffee was decently made and tasty.$1,000 per head with free flow drinks is not cheap, but it would guarantee an interesting culinary journey of Italy.
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