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2009-02-21
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I have been wanting to try Sabatini for a long time and I have to say that after today's lunch, I will still be wanting to come back!The bread basket was rather delicious; I must say I almost single-handedly finished the entire basket! From what I have read in the other reviews, the grissini isn't highly rated, but having never tried the Grissini ones, I found these crispy on the outside and quite soft on the inside. There was a good selection of the usual antipasti but you can only do one roun
The bread basket was rather delicious; I must say I almost single-handedly finished the entire basket! From what I have read in the other reviews, the grissini isn't highly rated, but having never tried the Grissini ones, I found these crispy on the outside and quite soft on the inside.
There was a good selection of the usual antipasti but you can only do one round, although the waiter told us that this rule could be bent. ;) My favourite things amongst the antipasti were the funghi, eggplant, sun-dried tomatoes and smoked salmon, all of which were extremely fresh and appetising. I am not a huge fan of parma ham and did not find the parma ham especially impressive here.
For the pasta, we picked the Strozzapreti with mozzarella and Risotto with prawns cooked in lemon juice. I had never tried strozzapreti before and the waiter explained that this was much like Udon in texture and size. Indeed, I almost thought I was eating Udon with tomato and mozzarella. I must say that I wasn't too fond of this dish, as the pasta was much too thick for my liking and the tomato sauce was slightly too watery to stand out. The risotto on the other hand was perfect. The prawns were fresh and almost crunchy and each grain of rice was bouncy and chewy and the flavour of the lemon juice made the dish seem lighter.
We only ordered one main between the two of us - the lamb chops with potato gratin. The lamb chops were extremely tender and grilled to perfection, and the potato gratin on the side melted in my mouth.
The highlight of the meal was really the dessert. If you want the St Honore, which I highly recommend, you must keep an eye on how much is left on the dessert cart, as once it runs out, it will not be refilled. Every time the cart was stopped in front of a table, my heart skipped a beat for fear of missing out on the famous St Honore! When I saw that there were only 2 slices left, I immediately asked the waiter to reserve a slice for us, which turned out to be a smart move because indeed it was never refilled. It lived up to its name. The pastry was fresh and crispy, but the best thing was the layer of crunchy brulee in the middle. The tiramisu I have tried before and the mascapone is consistently silkily smooth at just the right level of sweetness. The Napoleon with its smooth vanilla custard and fresh berries was a favourite of mine, but I'm afraid it's now been replaced by the St Honore!
Over all I was quite pleased with the food and the easy and friendly environment allows for casual conversation. The service was attentive and unpretentious. We actually saw Sabatini in person today, who supposedly only comes to Hong Kong once a year, and he was bringing dishes out from the kitchen and refilling the antipasti with his own two hands, not to mention teaching Italian to a table of ladies! How's that for friendly service!
And did I say this wonderful lunch only cost us $320 each after a 15% discount with HSBC Visa Platinum?? If this isn't good value for money, I don't know what is!
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