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2013-07-02
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Popped in here with my 75 yr old Chinese mom and Chinese-Italian daughter for a little early dinner. We got there at 5:30pm on a Tuesday night, so expectedly there were about 2 other tables filled.I must first qualify that I am visiting, not living in Hong Kong, so am reviewing this relative to the real deal Italian which is found in Italy and New York City where I live. It may not be too fair, as I am aware that really top notch European cafe food isn't really as available in HK as it is elsewh
I must first qualify that I am visiting, not living in Hong Kong, so am reviewing this relative to the real deal Italian which is found in Italy and New York City where I live. It may not be too fair, as I am aware that really top notch European cafe food isn't really as available in HK as it is elsewhere...
I wasn't sure about how big the portions were and we were told that Dinner Mains wouldn't be available for order until 6pm, so I got a few Appetizers and some of the Primo Piatti/Pasta courses.
First up was the Fiat Favorite (shown by the little car icon on the side), Ricotta with Fig, white truffle, and honey. The ricotta had no flavor and the figs weren't terribly sweet. The truffle oil was barely discernible. The best part was the little hazelnuts. Thumbs down from grandma and daughter.
Then came the Seared Tuna & Cauliflower- to my feeling, there was way more Croutons than either seared tuna or cauliflower. The flavor of this dish was not bad but the cauliflower seemed just boiled, and boiled without salt too.
The French Green bean, Feta cheese salad came next. I liked this one; very plentiful amount of crisp green beans in a tangy salad dressing.
Carbonara was one of two of the hot dishes that I ordered. Well, I should say, I can make a better carbonara than this. The thick cheesy sauce was plentiful and the lack of bacon flavor was apparent. It really was just cheese sauce pasta, not too artfully done.
The other hot dish was the meatballs and rice shaped pasta - the meatballs were a little dry and tasted of dried herbs, and the tomato sauce lacked depth. Cute pairing with 'Orzo' little pastas though - looked alot like rice, which my Chinese mom really liked.
I got a glass of the red wine, some Barbera d'Asti. It was passable, wasn't the worse I've had for $60 a glass.
the service was pleasant though, and they seemed perfectly happy to split service btwn English and Chinese. actually, I've found most servers in HK in Western Style places are very pleased to speak both as needed. though it did seem there were alot of servers for such a tiny cafe. Oh, and the most genuine italian touch here were the Alessi style chairs, which, ouch, hurt so come' italia!
All in all, dinner for three for under $600 isn't awful by our (New York City) standards, but it's a far cry from genuine Italian.
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