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2011-06-08
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Date dined: Tues 7th june 2010 8.10pmOrdered: Steamed MusselsHalf a kilo of mussels steamed in a mixture of garlic and shallots with white wine. Served with fresh bread&Veal Scallopini MarsalaGrilled vegetables and fingering potatoes with wild mushrooms, shallots and marsala wine&Glass of Sangiovese (Red)ORGlass of Montepulciano D'Abruzzo D.O.C. (Red)Reservation: YES as i was using coupon, but I don't think you need to as there are many seats and not full when I visited. They do speak english t
Ordered: Steamed MusselsHalf a kilo of mussels steamed in a mixture of garlic and shallots with white wine. Served with fresh bread
&
Veal Scallopini Marsala
Grilled vegetables and fingering potatoes with wild mushrooms, shallots and marsala wine
&
Glass of Sangiovese (Red)
OR
Glass of Montepulciano D'Abruzzo D.O.C. (Red)
Reservation: YES as i was using coupon, but I don't think you need to as there are many seats and not full when I visited. They do speak english though. I would definately book for lunch though as a lot of people from OIE would come for lunch.
Taste:
Steamed Mussels: this was served with a warm Ciabatta bread. Was quite a big pot, 1/2 kilo. the sauce was creamy white and very creamy. Comapred to Frites and belgo's, this sauce was much richer and creamier. the Ciabatta was toasted so the outside was crispy but the inside was so soft and warm. I loved eating it on its own with teh butter and olive oil. But using it to dip into the white wine sauce was so good, soaking up all the taste of the mussels. But because the sauce is so creamy, the bread soaking up the sauce made teh bread very creamy. The bread was definately not enough.
the mussels was big and fresh. Only one or two of them was not fresh. but overall they absorbed the sauce and was delicious. i finished 1/2kg by myself with the bread. although the portion of the bread was small but because the bread wasn't dense, it was soft and tender, it did not fill you
The sauce was so delicious that i actually drank it like a soup, but after a while you realize it is quite salty. so DO NOT try to drink it all.. although you might want to, such a dumb thing to do, but when a dish is good, you would want to finish every single bit to it. There was a lot of vegetables on the bottom of the mussels. Like carrots, onions and celery. there were so mucha nd was quite enjoyable to eat some vegetables when eating so much mussels. there were so much i could not finish all the vegetables underneath. Althought they were too soft after being in the sauce for so long,, but i loved it as it soaked up all the sauce.
The butter had some olive oil on it so it was very softa nd smooth.
Veal Scallopini Marsala- This was veal cooked in the marsala wine sauce. the sauce was thick and dark. so thick after it was cooled down, it was like a gel. But it was rather salty especially the veal was not a thick slice but a thin slice. Just slightly thinner than a piece of gammon ham. the texture of the veal was not too nice as it was too thin. if it was a bit thick the texture would be bit better and the sauce would not be too salty. The wild mushrooms was within the sauce and tasted real good, nicely seasoned but again it was bit salty because of the sauce.
There were fair amount of mushrooms all in the sauce. There were Grilled vegetables on teh side and I was really surprised on the amount of vegetables they gave you. there were a piece of zucchini, pepper, Onion, cherry tomato and they all came in a big piece. How generous. There were finger licking potatoes whichw asnt too tasty as it could be. But sides do not need to be more delicious than the main. The potatoes were not seasoned well, and wasnt baked till crispy which was sucha a waste.
Although i did say the sauce was bit salty, it was enjoyable as it is different from the normal gravy sauce they give you. the sauce was made with marsala wine which tasted bit like oyster sauce but sweeter.
Service: The service was splendid. when we first walked in the restaurant, we were greeted and took to our table. there were only two of us, even though the restaurant was not full, the lady gave us the table for four. Sow e sat comfortably and spaciously. Other restaurants would have gave us a seat for 2 people, even though there are loadsa of bigger tables. i love how considerate they are.
as we were having the coupon, there were only 4 main course we could choose. the lady kindly told us which ones they werea nd also told us which wines was free too. They filled our blue glass withw ater and then the bread with butter and olive oil. I thought this was the welcome complimentary bread, so we started eating it. after my mussels came without bread, we asked, and realized the bread that came ALOT earlier was the bread with the mussels. Why would you serve the bread like 5 mins earlier before the mussels? surely would make people think that is the complimentary bread. Anyway, the lady kindly asked if we would liek mroe bread. We nodded. Then another waiter asked us if we wanted more bread, we said yes please, and he was so kind and said,w e can order more bread ANYTIME nad how many times we want. They were so kind.
Conclusion: i love this place. it was better than I have intended it to be for definatately.
As I was using coupon, I expected the portion to be smaller and the food to be worst. But instead I actually think they gave the same quality of teh food. The Veal had lots of sides, so much sides it actually fills you up. The mussels was teh best i have had before. it was creamy and rich, with big fresh mussels.
i liked the atmosphere, had a couples tables but wasnt too crowdy. the restaurant was big, with more seatings on the other side. So spacious, it doesnt intrude your privacy and the waitress is not always standing beside yous taring at you. People who dined there were all work people from nearby etc. Although we used coupons, the service was great, could have been better with more smiles, but they were good enough. at a place like this and great food, they did not give attitude but tried to fulfil our requestment. normally they would think we are only using coupons, and will slack on teh service. but they did not at all. evenw hen we asked for the bill, he kindly said we only need to pay the 20 hkd for teh service charged. excellent. this is what superb service should be, there were flaws, but with great food and great atmosphere, it is worth it. Even without coupon teh dishes are affordable, from 100 hkd to 200hks for a main course. I think this place desrves more positive review and more hits to let people know what they are missing out.
We even got 2 breakfast vouchers for next time- buy 1 get 1 free!!!!! Andw hat was so funny is, i looked at teh expire date. It was 6th of June, which was YESTERDAY!!!! It was quite funny, but they fixed the error and apologizedI heard their pasta and pizza are GREAT, I will come back next time for such a great meal.
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