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2009-05-27
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Oh my gosh!!! The reviews were so good here on Openrice. I was so excited to try this restaurant out. I love Italian food and had just been back from Italy last month and was craving for all the true Italian flavors. I visit Italy often because of my job.The antipasti table was beautiful from far but up close, you can tell the ingredients were not true classic Italian. My imagination of a truly sumptuous Italian antipasti table should include sharp Italian rucuola, Italian radicchio, Parmagi
The antipasti table was beautiful from far but up close, you can tell the ingredients were not true classic Italian. My imagination of a truly sumptuous Italian antipasti table should include sharp Italian rucuola, Italian radicchio, Parmagiano Reggiano, San Daniele/Parma ham with melone, carpaccio, buffalo mozarella with italian tomatoes, porcini mushrooms, langoustines. Nope, none of the above at the antipasti table. I was expecting much more and I have to say I was quite disappointed with the spread. Maybe I was expecting too much for this price (HK$170-200 set lunch). That got to be it! There were cubed cucumbers with feta cheese, grilled vegetables (egg plant, peppers), artichokes (this was the best part of the antipasti table) with beef, roasted pumpkin with potatoes, some cold cuts, risotto salad etc. Passable overall but no wow factor.
I had one of the HK$200 set lunch - sea bass with vegetable crunch and ham. Sea bass was slightly dry and the skin wasn't crisp and salty enough. Vegetable crunch almost felt like a Chinese American stir fry you find in NY-Chinatown and there wasn't much flavor. Maybe I should try a pasta next time.
I was by that time pinning all my hopes on that beautiful dessert buffet spread, which had been raved about. Tiramisu was pretty delicious (but not as good as Domani). All the little pastries were like pretty gems to look at but I did not have a memorable bite in any of them. The chocolate cake and prune cake were just ok. In fact, the chocolate cake was so pale that it was the color of light brown sugar and definitely not the dark, almost black color.
The place was new, white, shiny and modern. The service was kind but not polished.
Am I too critical??? Or my expectations too high? I really like writing glowing reviews but somehow this is just not one of them.....Maybe it's just a bad day ...for them and for me.
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