Cecconi's Italian (已搬遷) 新店位置

星期六不用上班, 到SOHO享受一個悠閒午餐, 再逛逛附近新舊交雜的商店, 真是樂事.來到餐廳, 點了2-course set lunch先來一客香草麵包, 第一道菜是沙律, 裡面有parma ham, 水牛芝士, 蕃茄仔及黎麥, 呢度既黎麥煮得好好味, 應該是加了olive oil 及其他香草提升左佢既味道, 黎麥是健康榖類食物, 應多吃喔!呢個沙律係老公既, 裡面主要有芒果粒, 果后(牛油果)及蟹肉, 呢個前菜好好味, 比我的吸引, 建議三樣野一齊放入口食, 一次過有齊"甜" "鮮" "軟綿綿"感覺我既Main Dish係 雞肉丸忌廉濶條麵,  忌廉略為太多, 吃到一半已好漏老公既steak, medium rare, 老公話好食, 我唔係牛的, 只是吃了伴菜既薯仔, 呢個係炸skin potato, 不錯.由於我兩唔趕時間, 最後加多了兩個甜品, 再享受多一陣...冷氣呢個甜品正確名字唔記得左, 係香蕉配vanila ice-cream 再淋 affogato & caramel sauce上面. 呢個超好味, 好味在個caramel sauce 跟 ice-cream 好夾, 不太甜又有種焦香咖啡味道.呢嗰係Tiramisu, 食完上面個甜品, 反而覺得呢個無驚喜, 但其實呢個也不錯喔~~想係度讚下呢間餐廳既waitress and waiter, 佢哋親切帶笑容的服務令我哋覺得舒服, 亦吃得開心. 繼續閱讀

If you've been living in Hong Kong for any length of time, chances are, you've been to one of the restaurants that makes up the DiningConcepts stable. In what has to be one of the most diverse portfolios of restaurants in HK, DiningConcepts has so many dining spots that they run a frequent diners club loyalty program. With over over twenty different concepts, the team run such favourites as Gordon Ramsay's Bread Street Kitchen and Mario Batali's Lupa.We've rather enjoyed most of our visits to the DiningConcepts restaurants, so have recently been keeping an eye out for one of their restaurants when looking for dinner. Over the last few months, we'd had some pretty ordinary Italian cuisine, which is always disappointing given our love of Italian food. So, when we spotted a little restaurant in Expat territory (Elgin Street), we breathed a sigh of relief when we saw it on the list managed by the group.The front of Cecconi's is quite deceiving, it's hard to see into the restaurant, so it would be easy to miss the casual elegance of the white linen tables and the classy, yet understated dining room. Walking through the front door located under the slightly garish neon sign and into the quiet tranquility of the completely empty restaurant, completely removed us from bustling Soho and the heat of a typical Hong Kong evening. We were taken directly to our table, which was located in a very comfy booth at the back of the restaurant, which gave me fantastic views of the pass.Menus were offered and glasses of cold water were poured, then consumed and then poured again (it was a very warm night!). While we were looking over the very comprehensive Cecconi's menu, trying hard to decide how our evening of consuming would play out, we were given some fresh bread, olive oil and a plate full of olives. I skipped snacking on the olives in favour of the fresh bread, but SC started to tuck into the salty olives with an appreciative smile.It gave us just enough time to stave off our hunger and a little time to consider our options before our incredibly affable and friendly waiter took our orders. While waiting for our starters to arrive, we noted the steady stream of diners arriving for their dinners. We may have been the first to arrive, allowing for a few moments of tranquility, but before long, Cecconi's really came alive.Being so close to the pass, we were able to keep our eye on the food as it moved from the kitchen to the dining room. We could see the care taken in wiping down the plates to ensure maximum presentation, which was clearly evident with the arrival of our starters. First up was the roasted fig with goats cheese, flat pancetta and honey mustard dressing. The dish looked beautiful, with the fig wrapped inside the pancetta, along with some slowly melting ricotta. The combination of the ricotta and fig was delightful, but wrapping it in the salty pancetta was something special. The sweetness of the fig was set alight by the added saltiness, a brilliant combo and great start to the meal.I'd chosen the veal meatballs served on stewed tomatoes with Grana Padano as my starter, and it looked spectacular. The vibrancy of the tomato base, sitting starkly against the white plate and a drizzle of olive oil was visually stimulating... But it was nothing compared to the smell emanating from the plate, which was mouth watering. The three large meatballs were topped with the Grana Padano cheese and a contrasting green and purple salad. The aroma of the dish had been driving me wild and as I eagerly started to devour the veal meatballs, I was mentally calculating where they sat in my all time list... It was right near the top, they were wonderful, but I could easily had a bowl of the sauce on its own as a soup. The only thing missing was some crusty baguette to soak up the sauce on the bowl, it was a shame when my plate was cleared with some of the sauce remaining.With such delicious starters, we were really keen to see if the mains would measure up, so many times a meal starts beautifully with a great entree, then falls flat after. SC's peppered duck breast and confit duck leg, served with sweet potato mash and lime jus was delivered and from appearances, Cecconi's was not going to befall that fate! The duck breast was thinly sliced and the presented in a layered manner over the leg, making it quite lovely to look at. The breast was lovely, with fat that had rendered just right and was almost melt in your mouth. What was completely melt in your mouth was the confit leg, which fell away from the bone from just looking at it (not quite, but it came off easily!). The dish had a rich and deep gamey flavour, which was offset nicely by the lime jus provided an interesting undertone.I'd decided on one of the many risottos available on the Cecconi's menu, which had five in total. I'd been contemplating the lobster risotto, but was finally swayed by the chicken, chorizo, rosemary and aged balsamic risotto. With hindsight, ordering a risotto might have been a mistake after devouring the delicious, but very large veal meatball starter. While I quite liked my risotto, which was cooked to perfection, I just couldn't seem to make a dent in the dish, and by the time I'd finished, looked hardly touched. While I did assure the waiter, who then assured the chef that I'd left the bulk of the risotto because I was full, this was only partially true. If the chorizo had not been chopped so fine, I probably would have eaten just a little bit more (or at least picked out the chorizo pieces). With the balsamic drizzled over the top, the dish was just a little sweet, which could have benefited from more of the spicy chorizo.We were both completely stuffed, but wanted to check out the dessert menu, largely because we'd enjoyed the meal so far and wanted a sweet finish to dinner. Most of the dessert options looked quite heavy, but there was one option that looked tailor made for the end of a heavy meal.. The pavlova roulade with chantilly cream and fresh fruits looked a little rustic on the plate, but it was the perfect finish to our meal. There was an abundance of gooey meringue, plenty of fresh fruit and just a little bit of cream, which made it a great pavlova. Great, but not perfect. There needed to be a thicker layer of crunchy meringue over the top of the gooey meringue, which would have provided extra crunch and align with an Aussie's view of pavlova..You could have rolled us out of the restaurant by the time we'd finished the whole meal, for some reason, we'd reached our limit of eating! We'd had some terrible Italian in Hong Kong, so it was refreshing to find a place that had very reasonably priced Italian in a very accessible location (it was right on our way home). We'd discussed that Cecconi's had now made our list of restaurants we'd like to revisit when thinking of a quick and easy meal. The fact that the surroundings were lovely just added to our interest in the place.There was a funny moment, when I overheard the chef giving our waiter a bit of grief about the nearly full plate of risotto, but seriously, there was not much wrong with it at all. It was well cooked, and inventive, but there was a lot of it and would be best served after a much lighter starter than the one I chose.My confidence in the restaurants run by DiningConcepts is growing to the point where I would now start to recommend to others. Yep, with over 22 restaurants under their management, there are quite s few more that I'd like to get in and check out. Hopefully, they're all as great.@FoodMeUpScottyThe veal meatballs with that tomato sauce was simply mouth wateringThe duck was perfect, with the slight peppery flavour balanced out by the jusThe restaurant filled up quickly after we arrived (first as usual)No surprise, Cecconi's is award winning 繼續閱讀

Favorite dish: Chargrilled beef tenderloin, Spaghetti meatballs5/10 plates emptied! Was greatly anticipating to be wow-ed away by this restaurant week place and the food turned out to be just ordinary, I am not sure if the restaurant week menu has done its justice or it was just because the menu wasn't worth HKD328. I think I would have rated this restaurant higher if the dinner menu was around HKD250 Parma ham with buffalo mozzarella and rocket Overall quality was decent. They must have been too heavy on the olive oil as this appetizer was a bit too oily combined with the cheese. Liked the flavor of mozzarella and parma ham – they just can’t really go too wrong. Classic Caesar salad with pancetta and shaved Parmesan Chunky fresh cuts of romaine lettuce and bits of pancetta, there was enough shaved parmesan cheese for the whole salad and my case is settled Pan-roasted Salmon, with French beans and bois boudran sauce Here comes the main dish. The pan-roasted Salmon was cooked just right – tender, juicy, and still a bit pink in the middle. Spaghetti meatballs, with tomato passata and fresh herbs Liked how the sauce was tomato and herbs based, pasta was al dente and meatballs were nice in terms of flavor and texture as well. Chargrilled beef tenderloin, with celeriac puree and marsala jus Beef tenderloin was cooked to its perfection as the quality of the beef was tender enough and nicely charred on the sides. I was amazed by the fact that the puree and jus did not come out really wine-like taste but it had a truffle scent to it! Topped off with some brilliant shiitake mushrooms and the beef portion was too big for a girl to finish!Java chocolate pudding with condensed milk gelato The supposedly molten chocolate cake came out disfigured for most of our dishes (yes, really) and it was too sweet after a few bites, the gelato was alright for its taste and creaminess. Vanilla panna cotta with olive oil caramel The panna cotta was a bit waterly and was not rich in flavor at all, really mediocre dessert I would say. I saw people ordering a la carte menu next to us and they seemed to look really good, the restaurant was not crowded at all so if you are looking for a laid back Italian food place in SOHO then this can be one of your options. Overall restaurant week dinner experience was average but then the place was a great spot in SOHO to chill and relax as it is not crowded and greeted by warm-welcoming service. 繼續閱讀

一早就訂了位，入到餐廳，高級的裝潢，燈光柔和，環境很舒適侍應和餐牌都是全英的，老實說，其實都是烏烏下的落order.每枱都會逢送麵包，不夠可以追加，我見鄰桌就加了兩次。我們叫了個Classic Caeser Salad, Risotto with chicken, （仲有一份羊，但完全忘記名字＝　＝’’）和Triamisu.前菜：Salad好味！份量夠大，新鮮，好味！主菜：Risotto和羊。。。不過不失。。。但好像有點偏咸。。甜品：Triamisu!全晚最好味！！  繼續閱讀

Randomly chose this place from the many restaurants in Soho (partly because I could book through Tablemap).  It offerred a two course lunch at $128+10% (or $158+10% for pizza) which may look expensive, but I found it quite reasonable given the relatively large servings. BreadWhile we were looking at our menu our waiter served us some complimentary foccaica bread.  It was warm and soft, and the herbs brought a nice aroma.  Perfect with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar.The Everything Salad I chose this as the starter as it was the most balanced dish - literally with everything I wanted in a salad.  It was a big colourful plate of salad, but the dressing was relatively light so it did not feel too heavy.  I especially liked the beetroot which was sweet and refreshing.  Wish there was avacado as well - that would be my perfect salad!  Crumbed Sole FilletI was hoping it would be baked but it turned out to be deep fried.  It was a huge piece of fish fillet, but I was disappointed that it was dry and bland.  So I had to rely on the lemon and the tartar sauce to add to the taste.    繼續閱讀