Cammino  

A semi-buffet Italian lunch couldn't be a more better thing to do to spend an afternoon leisurely. Located at the Excelsior Hotel, this place has timber shuttered windows and terracotta tiling, which gives a genuine Tuscan atmosphere and makes a perfect place for a leisure meal. The place is actually not very big, but it does give a really cozy ambience.
As we sat down, we were given the bread basket.The bread was slightly warm. It included grissini, foccacia and ciabatta. They were all pretty fluffy and slightly aromatic. When dipped with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, it's quite an enjoyable and satisfying sensation.
Then we went to enjoy our antipasto buffet. There were quite a lot to choose from, such as seafood, salads, cold cuts and cheeses.

My family asked me to pick a resto today in Causeway Bay. When I was doing my research, I found quite a lot of decent resto that I have not known of their existence. By then I realised while I was whining about dinning in Causeway Bay is getting boring, I was pretty much a frog in a well.

Cammino is located in a small corner in the Excelsior Hotel, which ironically my family dined here before and apparently I was left out. The restaurant is rather small but is spacious enough for privacy concern. With a dim yellow lighting and soft candle light, the resto creates a lovely romantic ambiance to dine in. The service was very nice and the servers were friendly and knowledgeable. The Manager was pretty passionate and introduced us several dishes, but we decided to order two set menus for the night.

Cherry Tomato with Goat CheeseA complimentary dish for all the dinners tonight. The cherry tomato was very sweet and match with the taste of goat cheese much. A delight complimentary dish indeed.

Bread BasketFor complimentary bread basket, there were three choices available - Dried Tomato Bread, Sun Seeds Bread and cheese sticks. Olive oil and vinegar were provided at side.
1) Dried Tomato Bread - quite moist and was slightly sweet with juicy bits of tomato.
2) Sun seed Bread - wholewheat bread, not much taste and rather dry
3) Cheese sticks - very savoury with a strong cheese flavour. Can simply be taken without dressing.

Gastronomico Menu $598
Came with one starter, soup, pasta, main course and dessert.

1) Starter - Prosciutto, San Danielle with rock melonThere was only a slice on the dish which the portion seemed a bit pathetic. The San Danielle Ham wasn't that salty, while the melon was very sweet in taste, it kinds of covering the light tasted ham. There was also my favourite salad leave rockets at side which were very fresh and lovingly bitter.

2) Soup - Lobster broth with vegetablesI had never tasted lobster in clear broth, all the lobster soup I have ever tasted were creamy soup. The taste was surprisingly refreshing and delicious with a strong taste of Lobster. The lobster itself was very fresh and tender, it was utmost delight that the lobster had heaps of lobster cream. Very Yum, I like it.

3) Pasta - Ravioli with butternut squash, ginger, parsley, olive oil emulsion and caramelized almond.Coming in at this size, we were all SHOCK to see there were only two ravioli per dish. This dish had a very interesting taste which combined a taste of sweet and sour (not in Chinese way). The filling within the ravioli was in solid form with a texture like streamed egg. The butternut squash was very sweet in taste and also pretty sour which I am not sure if it was the ginger who gave the sour taste? Probably wrong but where did the ginger taste go i wonder? The almond did not seem to be caramelized at all, not even salted.

4) Main Course - Grilled fillet of Angus beef with foie gras, polenta and baby spinachThe setting of the dish was pretty nice. I had my Angus Beef in medium rare and it was the most tender steak I have ever tasted. The skin was slightly crispy and tasted fantastic with a slight char taste. The foie gras was disappointing though, the taste was fine but it should have pan fried it in short but stronger fire to give a crispy edge. May be it was just my personal liking to have it that way. The dish also had a big piece of Polenta beneath the steak. The polenta was not mushy, the texture was more foamy and similar to Japanese sweet egg, but rougher. Hm... I don't like the polenta.

5) Dessert - Crispy apple tart with vanilla ice-cream The dessert looked exquisite on photos but was shockingly small in size and in disappointing taste. The apple slices were rather sour and wasn't sweet enough. The pastry layer was too thin, especially the base layer. The crust was crispy enough but failed to create a volume texture as the layers was too thin. Along the swirl there were a few rum raisins but the alcohol taste was slightly too strong that made it bitter. The best part of the dessert was literally the cherry apple on top, the fruit was very fruity with great texture.

Artichoke Menu $488
Came with one starter, pasta and main course.

1) Starter - Pan Fried Scallops with Polenta, Sweet and Sour Baby Artichokes saladScallops was still half raw when served, it actually didn't taste bad, the texture was like Japanese sashimi but with slightly crispier skin due to pan frying. The polenta was foamy in texture and the taste was good. The salad was as its name very sweet and sour, and was great to whet the appetite as a starter.

2) Pasta - Pappardelle with Crab Meat, Artichokes, Fava Beans and Crispy HamI was surprised the pappardelle was under cooked, it was still very hard in texture. Under normal circumstances I would definitely ask for another plate, but I didn't bother since this dish's portion was as small as the Ravioli. This pasta tasted more normal than the ravioli but wasn't special. There were shaved antichokes in the dish as well but they were also hard to chew and pretty much tasteless.

3) Main Course - Pan Fried Seabass with Artichokes, Olives, cherry tomatoes and herb butter sauceThe Seabass looked very appetising but was kind of rough in texture and was not juicy enough. I had to pour a considerate amount of herb butter sauce on it to give a bit of taste (but even the herb butter sauce was too light in taste too.) The artichokes was totally dried out after cooking and was also slightly burnt which tasted awful. The cherry tomatoes were amazingly though, the inside had almost turned into juice.

Rasberry Pinna CottaThe Pinna Cotta was very different from the bouncy Pinna Cotta I had before, which I love very much. The Pinna Cotta here was very creamy and smooth. It was pinkishly purple coloured and had a tint of raspberry taste with a suitable sweetness. I love it very much, it was absolutely savoury. Just if the sour raspberry fruit could be sweeter, the dessert will be perfect. Oh, almost forgot to mention, the chocolate stick was quite nice as well.

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Overall, the dishes weren't that impressive in taste but could see all are meticulously prepared. The dishes I like in Cammino was the Angus Beef and the Raspberry Pinna Cotta, everything else that I had was just mediocre. The portion was also rather small, so when it says the portion is for a peron, its for a person. The ambiance seems romantic, but to be blunt, it is too small for a romantic dinner for two. Small or cosy, it just depend how u see it.

Went back to this restaurant, wanted to see any differences.
The semi-buffet or apptizer buffet served during every Sunday nigt was still available.
There were not many choices. However, there were good choices/variety - you got FRESH oyster, shrimps, vegi-salads, salmon...
For the main course of the night, we ordered the swordfish with pasta and the baked clams and oysters. We were served with seafood soup before the main courses. The presentation was beautiful for the soup, but not great with the taste and the qaulity of the seafood. I could say these seafoods were frozen ones, not fresh.
The main course - too much salt put in, we told the waitress, she was very nice and sent it back to the kichen/chef to re-do another one for us while we did not request so. It came back with better taste...
The desserts also looked good, the taste of apple tart and mocha tart was okay.

There are not a alot of decent Italian restaurants in Causeway Bay and the other day a friend said he got a Excelsior discount card so the 3 of us went to their Italian restaurant on the 1/F. The last time I went here was over 5 years ago as its location in the hotel isn't very eye catching and the outlet is quite small, probably have 40 seats.

Appetizer:
Beef Carpaccio - the beef is thinly sliced and the combination of rocket leaves and lots of olive oil makes this dish meet the standard of other Italian restaurant
Sword Fish Carpaccio - the manager highly recommended this dish to us as it is not that common in other restaurants and they really did a good job. The fish is fresh and looks like Japanese sashimi but with olive oil as dressing
Seafood soup - the tomato based soup with fresh seafood is a very hearty soup especially in a cold winter. There are a lot of seafood, shrimp, scallop, fish in the soup. So it is quite full after this soup

Main course:
Lobster Angellini - this dish is two thumbs up. There are a lot of lobster meat and the pasta is very al dente. I really don't like those localised pasta which is always too soft. the tomato based sauce is just good, not too sour or sweet

Service:
Since the restaurant is quiet on a Monday night, there aren't too many customers and the manager came to check our food quality.

Grappas
The maanger introduced us some grappas after our main course. I do not know they have around 8 kind of different grappas there. But the most interesting thing is he suggested us to try espresso x grappas. I'm never a espresso person but the combo is very well balanced. The grappa still the bitterness of the espresso but bring a scent of grappas. Worth trying

Sunday Brunch with unlimited refill of Prosecco, the antipasti and dessert are in buffet table, then have soup, pass around (mushroom rissotto & mussel), then main course, coffee or tea.

For antipasti, good quality and fresh!!
Lamb Carpaccio , Beef Carpaccio, Cod Carpaccio, all are very fresh.
The Cod carpaccio has mild favor with a little bit of sweetness!! very good!

Pamma ham with cantaloupe, the cantaloupe is so sweet, good!!

Artichoke and sundried tomato are two of my favourite, the size of artichoke is just right, and it is tender as well!!

Also have many other choices, e.g. fruittata, variuos ham, grilled vegetables, mushroom, mozerella cheese & tomato etc.

I ordered duck breast for main course, skin is crispy and the meat is tender, very good too!

Even have discount With HSBC platinum card, I forgot if it is 20% or 15% off, but the final price is around $300, very reasonable with quality italian cusine and unlimited refill of prosecco!!!

Cammino's seem very different, since they using majority girls team, and the style was not match, I remember the service was very good before, now the feeling is not so confortable, anyway I wont be that enjoy anymore there.

My favorite Italian restaurant has been closed for renovation! Well, fortunately it was just a minor touch up and it has been back to business already. Even better, they treated us an appreciation party for re-opening.

They installed some mirrors, changed the color of the windows. More importantly, seats have been replaced with armchairs. I suspect there are fewer seats than previously, so the dining experience here should now be more spacious and cozy.

Although we do not have to pay a penny for the party, we are offered a lot of great food including, olives, parma ham, shrimps, scampi, and even risotto with white truffle. All lived up to what you can expect from this restaurant. Not to mention we can choose among sparling wine, red wine or orange juice. It is so nice of them. They didn't offer any dessert, but there is no complaint.

From now on, they will open on Sunday mornings and will be offering a Sunday Brunch. Can't wait to try it out!

The lunch set consisting of an antipasti buffet or soup, main course & a drink costs around $160. Extra $20 for a tiramisu (large portion). Although I don't like soft pasta, I still think the fettucine is too hard. The tiramisu is tasty, but the cream (or sort of cream) is not soft enough. However, the service is excellent.

The 3-course set dinner (@298 plus 10%) is extremely value-for-money. While the food is somewhere between above average to very good, the service is cosy. The only shortfall is there are only 2 choices for each course. For me, a HKB Premium Card holder, I can't grumble with the 20% discount.

went there w/ a friend tonite for dinner...
ordered mussels w/ white wine sauce as appetizers, seafood pasta and baked monkfish as maincourse. The taste of the mussels was ok, but not as good as Le faucheon.. the pasta was good, but the monkfish was a bit overcooked... a bit dried... came to around 550 for 2 persons.. although the food was not that great, the service was EXCELLENT. The manager was really nice to us and highly recommended their new "seafood nite" on sunday (w/ appetizers buffet, 5 kinds of fish to choose as main course and 2 kind of desserts to choose from)...
The environment was good for chatting and relaxing... !