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2009-11-25
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I was lucky to have stepped into this restaurant on its opening night, I had no clue and no wonder it was so crowded! The front half of the establishment was occupied by the bar area so my friend and I had to squeeze through the crowd to get into the main dining area. It wasn't as big as I imagined, likely a dozen or so tables from a quick scan.The first thing you will see when you enter the dining area is the open kitchen RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the premise. A bold move indeed to have such a hug
I was lucky to have stepped into this restaurant on its opening night, I had no clue and no wonder it was so crowded! The front half of the establishment was occupied by the bar area so my friend and I had to squeeze through the crowd to get into the main dining area. It wasn't as big as I imagined, likely a dozen or so tables from a quick scan.
The first thing you will see when you enter the dining area is the open kitchen RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the premise. A bold move indeed to have such a huge open kitchen smack in the middle of the restaurant. (Did I mention that there is a NO SERVICE CHARGE POLICY? and it said on the menu that "when it comes to tipping, whatever you feel reflects the meal") Yet another bold move in Hong Kong's standard of course! (the no service charge policy is how it always works in many parts of the world to my humble understanding, ie: US. TIPS are always extra, on top of the bill and not included)
Aside from the abovementioned, the decor was very nice with brick styled walls and has a true bistro feel to it. There were many items on the minimalistic menu that I wasn't sure what they are so I asked the waitstaff in explain in details. Through our attempt to ask the waitstaff to translate many of the items that we were unfamiliar with, the following two words were being repeated many times: Organic & Homemade. Alright, I get it, your ingredients are mostly organic and most pasta (& sauces) were homemade (including the Mozzarella cheese). Hence the homemade bread basket arrived soon after ordering.
We ordered the following items:
(1) Roasted Potatoes, Rosemary
(2) Beets & Leaves, Ricotta, Salata, Pin Nuts
(3) Cacio e Pepe Pasta
(4) Bombardoni Pubblico Veal, Pork, Beef
Likes:
* Roasted Potatoes - skin crisp, hot and mushy in the inside.
* Cacio e Pepe Pasta - rich cheese flavors and a simple pasta dish
* The relatively massive open kitchen was a nice touch (and yet bold move). Every square inch is valuable real estate especially in Hong Kong.
Dislikes:
* It gets quite NOISY when full house!
* The table arrangement was quite packed within the dining area
Avg Spending: HKD 200 - 300 per person
Please check my blog later for more details and pictures: http://jason-bonvivant.blogspot.com/
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