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2014-02-01
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The best italian restaurant in HK, I would dare to say. My friends call me "a food critic" or "someone with food connoisseur" and I found this restaurant absolutely amazing. An excellent substitute for a 5 star hotel dining experience.Some might find their prices steep, but for us, they were excellent value for money. They are currently offering special seasonal "black truffle menus" and all time favourites, "sicilian menus". I went for the 880HKD 4 course black truffle menu and my hubby chose t
Some might find their prices steep, but for us, they were excellent value for money. They are currently offering special seasonal "black truffle menus" and all time favourites, "sicilian menus". I went for the 880HKD 4 course black truffle menu and my hubby chose the 680HKD 4 course sicilian menu. Hence, we could cover a majority of their signature dishes.
Ambience is very classic and friendly. From the moment you get off the lift, there are a couple of people ready to usher you into one of the three restaurants on the same floor. I've heard these three are Chinese, Japanese and Italian respectively and all are owned and run by a Japanese tycoon.
The interior of the restaurant is not contemporary but rather classic- it reminds you of the movie, "God Father". I like classic stuff, so was happy with the atmosphere. I found each and every member of the staff friendly and comfortable. As opposed to way too professional or rather "look kind but superficial" service I would receive in some of the famous restaurants in HK, Messina's staff provided humble and genuinely nice service.
We were pleasantly surprised by the selection of bread (olive ciabatta, plain & wholemill baguette, croissant, tomato cheese foccacia, grissini, fried red potatoes, etc.) and the amuse bouche- spinach stuffed mushroom stuffed in cheese sauce. We are not too familiar with wine but I do have a specific inclination towards white wine, especially NZ sauvignon blanc, so went for a glass of white wine from Italy and it was tasty.
As appetiser, I had pumpkin cream soup. It had no artificial sweeteners or sugar in it, I am pretty sure. It was naturally and mildly sweet and had a heart-warming feel to it. I am not a soup person but really enjoyed it. My husband's white tuna carpaccio was pleasantly refreshing in the way bloody orange jus blended with the raw fish.
My expectation went up and there I was served blue French lobster spaghetti. Omg. It was the best lobster pasta I've ever had. The dish presented me with a feeling of swimming in the sea of lobster bisque or consomme. The sauce was rich and full of sweet lobster flavour, and lobster meat itself was succulent. Spaghetti was cooked al dente. I wanted to lick the plate but instead wiped the plate with bread so that there remained no sauce. My hubby even said it was better than 8 1/2 otto e mezzo's pasta.
My hubby's burrata cheese ravioli also was delish. Very creamy and rich. I think I enjoyed it more because of its contrast with my tomato sauce based lobster pasta.
My second main course of italian beef sirloin steak opened my eyes to the world of beef. I am not a meat lover and rarely eat beef. But this beef was so sweet, juicy and yummy that I really enjoyed it. The waiter said it was from Italy. Basically Messina sources most of their ingredients from Sicily in Italy. Even cherry tomatoes I had in my pasta.
My hubby's crispy suckling pig was not my cup of tea as it had lentil beans in it but it was definitely far better than the crispy suckling pig I had last year in a famous Italian restaurant in Singapore. The meat was not overly fatty. It was crispy outside and soft inside.
We kept on saying throughout our meal that we should revisit the restaurant next day. That's how satisfactory the dining experience at Messina was.
As last course, we had dessert. I wanted to have tiramisu but it was not on the set menu. But the waiter willingly changed the pre fixed dessert to tiramisu. I really liked that flexibility.
It was full of mascarpone cheese. Though a little bit different from the version I am used to, it was yummy. (It was rather runny in terms of texture)
Oh, we also a pre-dessert. Apple sorbet with mint powder. Scrumptious. Fared better or similar to the apple sorbet that comes with pomme(apple) crepes in Salon de the de joel robuchon in Elements Mall, Kowloon Station (which I visited 7 times already solely to have crepes).
We were too full to finish our desserts. My hubby's pistachio molten cake(?) was not my favourite but the rest of the meal was perfect. We ordered two cups of coffee and found it plain. I wished they had included tea or coffee in the set menu. We paid 65HKD before tax for each cup of americano.
Overall, Messina turns out to be the best italian restaurant for me. Apart from the fact that it's a little far away and not so accessible, it parallels michelin starred italian restaurants in HK. I would definitely visit Messina again and again.
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