La Cucina Italiana  

I only discovered La Cucina Italiana a few months ago, but I've been back several times already. The food is good and the prices are reasonable. I went for lunch and unlike other venues that may only have 2 set lunches to choose from, La Cucina has several to select from ranging from $118-$278. I selected the $158 daily special which includes bread with pesto (love this!), assorted mushroom soup, grilled steak, salad and french fries and a drink (either Italian coffee, tea or a cold drink). I enjoyed all courses. For an additional $25, you can add dessert. My friends and I are dessert people so we always order dessert. We enjoyed the Profiterole and the Panna Cotta Caramellata. Try their pork dish too, it is very tasty.

The place is quite spacious, a welcome respite from the crowded streets of Hong Kong. There are 2 floors - try getting a table on the upper floor by the window. Unlike some HK restaurants where the tables are crammed together, La Cucina has enough space between tables that you have privacy. It is a very relaxing way to spend the afternoon, and my friends and I usually end up eating, drinking and chatting for 3 hours! There is no pressure for you to quickly vacate the table. In fact, the manager (and even the owner when he is around) is so welcoming and cheerful, this place almost feels like home.

The restaurant is easily accessible from the MTR. It is a short 2 blocks away from Exit A3.

1. Prosciutto melone (ham & melon)
sweet melon and tasty ham

2. Maiale grigliate ( grill pork )
pork is full of favour , tender and succulent, no nonsense side dishes, fresh salad with balsamic vinegar.

3. F Cremosa ( F stuff with spanish , cream and cheese sauce)
Super tasty & creamy , sauce good consistency not too thick .

4. Panna Cotta
too sweet, only finish 1/3 !

And the service is moderately good
Surely go again !!!

This is a wonderful place to meet friends excellent dinning environment. Starters and pizza were nice but main courses were very disappointing. We ordered a seafood stew and it was so salty you just want to spit it out. The very same dish was taken into the kitchen and came back out as salty as before. The dish would definitely give you a heart attack!!!

Pasta Amatriciana was decent but service was raw. The waitresses would forget our requests the minute they turned their heads and asked if they could clear our table when we were just done with appetizers. Desserts (we had apple pie and tiramisu) were mediocre.

For the price there are better choices in town.

Passed by QRE and go to this restaurant for a try..

Very nice environment with a nice sofa...feel like staying at home.. shame that i didn't bring along camera to take pictures

Tried their assorted platter which tastes very good...and their seafood risotto are every yummy...their steak is juicy even it is medium well cooked ...

The price is reasonable given the environment..3 of us shared the bill and it costs around $200 per person..we will definitely go there again...

It is really long long time ago, with the thinking that, what shoud I write for it
QRE Plaza, a place that has certain good dining choices, and it is my 2nd time to visit this building
Today, really not much people are having dinner there except some foreigners

The bread that is delivered at the beginning, is really just so so, much more better quality bread can be found from my memory
The potato toast, oh, too sour to be
Pama ham pizza is normal really since the ham is not that fresh as I can taste out obviously, even the pizza base is just like kind of flour substance
Luckily, the salmon rissto is up to certain standard in my mind, rich of salmon taste and the softness of rice is alright
At 20:00, can hear some noise of fireworks from far
On leaving, a rose is given for free but it looks quite dark already

This is it, becomes ever and never

We had the lunch set which at $88 for two courses and a drink but without dessert was excellent value. The margarita pizza was very tasty,spaghetti bolognaise also very good the minestrone soup was unusual and delicious and the garlic topping for the bread had a tangy flavor that was irresistible -- unfortunate since we ate so much it spoiled our appetite for the main course a bit. Despite feeling stuffed the chocolate mousse dessert (for which we paid $35) was something we couldn't stay away from...nor did we manage to hold back from the other dessert they gave us on the house.

The flavor of the vinegar was a bit odd, and we didn't care for the coffee which was bitter, but other than that, we were very happy.

It was obvious that this restaurant placed an emphasis on decorations. I really like the way they've decorated it and the soothing yet fun atmosphere created.
One of the waiters recommended the four seasons pizza - which is basically a pizza split into four, with different ingredients on each quarter. Some of the toppings actually tasted quite weird with the pizza, but definitely a unique idea and worth a try.
It was actually very cheap compared to the quality of food, environment and the amount eaten!!

本來拉肚子, 但好像情況好轉了一點, 所以跟朋友出來吃飯.

QRE 21-22/F. 乘電梯記住按21/F! 我以為是22/F, 結果游了兩次電梯河, 非常白痴, 害我遲了5分鐘, 可惜.

食物:
1.Pizza (mozzarella cheese, parma ham, anchovies and capers, black olives), 28-inch, 8 pieces. 無驚無險, 是個正統的披薩. 大量的mozzarella cheese, 交足貨. A bit burnt on top, delicious.
2.Pasta (sun-dried tomatoes, garlic flakes, pine nut oil)
fair. Lots of garlic. Therefore strong aftertaste in mouth.
3.Risotto (mushroom)
Could be better. A bit too sour for my tastebuds.

環境:
幾好的. 很輕鬆, 二樓的中央有一個放了3張沙發的地方, 有張桌子在中間, 讓人餐前喝點東西. 闊落. 乾淨.

Service:
Friendly staff, helpful, attentive. I guess the Spanish are generally more playful and lively than Chinese waiters.

My Surprise:
Turned out that my friends would be giving me a really surprising surprise. My birthday is on June 23rd. I didn’t expect them to celebrate it with me on June 3rd, but they did! That’s what you call a nice surprise  They had purchased a cake earlier on, and the staff brought it out singing happy birthday. They were all smiles. Loved the atmosphere. Coincidentally the table next to us had a birthday girl too. So, two birthdays on the same night at the half-full restaurant, ha!

We couldn’t finish the cake, so I asked the waiter to pack it away for me to bring home. When he handed me the parcel he wished me Happy Birthday again. That made me smile from the inside, despite the fact that it’s not my birthday yet.

Any dining experience is only complete with good company. =] Love you, my friends.

The restaurant is spread out over 2 floors so the seating is pretty comfortable. The place was virtually empty when we went for lunch shortly after xmas.

We were a group of 7 so tried a number of appetizers, pastas and mains and think the food is average at best. The food is not authentic Italian at all and reminded me of any other Italian restaurant you can find in Soho. There was not one dish that really stood out as great... The risotto was too creamy and tasted like the restaurant added cream/milk/cheese to thicken it rather then slowly cooking it to let the rice release its own starch.

The service was generally efficient except for when we paid the bill. I paid with credit card then I asked for 5 $100 bills to give change to my friends. But the waitress told me they didn't have any change. So I asked her nicely again and said if we had paid in cash then she still would had to give me back close to $490 in change in cash. After some protest she finally left to get me change for the $500 bill. I thanked her when she came back to give me the change but she just stared at me and then turned around and left without saying anything!!! How rude!

Perhaps it's near Lunar New Year, the resto is decorated with some "fai-chun", a mixture of East and West!
Food ordered: Parma ham and melon (bravo!), Antipasto platter (too oily, not suit our taste), free toast with garlic sauce (excellent! Wonder how they make the sauce). Risotto ai Funghi ( creamy tomato sauce with varity of fungi). Tiramisu (, I can make a better one).

The interior of this restaurant deserves a first mention. It is contrived, yet done in a rustic Mediterranean way. I would have preferred if it were a bit more "lived in", as it is too spanking new to feel that rustic or authentic. Having said that, spread out over 2 floors, the restaurant does have a comfy setting and there is even a living room atmopshere upstairs with a sofa and coffee table in the middle. I heard that there are booth seats on the bottom floor.

Foodwise, this restauant seems to pride itself on serving authentic Italian nosh. The menu is quite extensive, especially the pasta selection. Surprisingly, they don't have set deals for lunch, which doesn't cut it for me as even the biggest names are doing them. We opted for the following, in order of yummiliciouness (apologies for not remembering the exact names):

(1) Pizza with prosciutto: we were 2 and went for the 23 cm one instead of the 28 cm. It was a decent 6 slices each and the pizza base was quite well-made, not too burnt nor too crispy/soggy. Mozzarella was a tad on the thin side but the taste was there.

(2) Sliced beef with garlic and lemon juice: I order this as it would be easy to share. The beef was done medium and on the done side, but fortunately not too dry. Beef taste was somewhat lacking although the meat was extremely tender, which I don't actually like as I think meats should have some chew in them, which means they are more muscular than fatty (please correct me if I am wrong about this one )

(3) Tiramisu: the litmus test for italian restaurants, this was a deconstructed version with 3 or 4 very thin layers of chocolate sponge/biscuit soaked in generous amounts of liquor separated by thick layers of cream. Not a big fan of this one (except for the liquor). It was too deconstructed and "tiramisu" was a misnomer for this moussy dessert.

(4) Bruschetta: this was a free "canape" before the meal, chopped tomatoes and garlic on dry bread. Didn't whet my appetite.

Portions are on the small side. I think there is some Macanese influence as they have a branch in Macau (the dessert definitely has hints of the famous Macanese dessert serradura). This may not be a bad place if you want a small and more interesting meal, but $150 for one course and a small shared dessert isn't worth splurging on, quantity and quality considered.