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2009-09-18
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this is the fourth time i'm at cenacolo and the quality has always been very consistent - its pasta tasty, moderately authentic and very reasonably priced, while its service horrendous as usual. nonetheless, it's still one of my favorite pasta place in hong kong because it is what italian food should be - homey and easy on the palate, down-to-earth in short. if i want some sophisticated gastronomy at astronomical price, i would have gone for french.cenacolo is a relatively new addition to the al
cenacolo is a relatively new addition to the al dente italian restaurant group, kitchen headed by the same chef imran shawkat. seating is comfortable but noise level can be a bit out of control since the restaurant has no windows and tables are very close to each other.
we decided to skip the standard lunch menu and looked into a la carte. J ordered plain linguine (actually it's supposed to be spaghetti...) with garlic/wild mushroom in olive oil/wine sauce, while i ordered the linguine with clams in olive oil/wine sauce. my favorite pasta at cenacolo is pietro, but i decided to go for something slightly lighter today. both tasted delicious; the pasta was chewy and a bit firm (al dente), the generous use of garlic made the pasta almost addictive. though there was a lot of oil, it didn't feel too greasy because of the extra garlic chips that stimulated our appetite.
i have had other seafood/meat dishes at cenacolo in my previous visits, but i can only call them mediocre and unimpressive. scallops were overcooked, pan-fried soles were VERY oily and meat a bit rough. my friend was not very happy with his steak either. but for pasta, it's always been consistent (simpler dishes and and quality is much easier to control).
service:
the front house is staffed by middle-east and filipinos. there are ~4 waiters and 1 restaurant manager, and from time to time there is another guy not wearing uniform hanging around, so i can only guess this is a family restaurant. can get pretty hectic during busy lunch hour. i have had dinner 2x lunch 2x here, and the service ranges from adequate to vile, depending on what food you order. set lunch? tap water? main entrees only and no appetizer? your business is not wanted. wine & beverage? full course? dessert & coffee? the restaurant manager looks like a to-be father-in-law whose 40-year-old fat ugly daughter you're about to marry. so in both cases, i really have a problem with their service.
i'll still come to cenacolo for my pasta fix. but i restrict it to lunch only because i do not want to spend any more than 1 hour putting up with unpleasant staffs.
for original post with pictures: http://randomnomad.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/cenacolo/
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