Carnevino (已結業)

二月五日(星期三)早前Suyi跟同事讨论到哪间餐厅吃开年饭在OpenRice内找来找去，突想起Carnevino，不用多想，就用Tablemap订位四天的假期转眼间又结束! 回来的第二日就来到这里，实行来一个西式开年饭早前看过餐牌，有牛肉他他做前菜，真令人满心期待坐在舒服的梳化椅，整个餐厅感觉高贵优雅相信晚上用餐，光线再暗一点，气氛会挺浪漫的呢打开餐牌，发现原来已更新，与其网址的不同没有了牛肉他他，还有喜欢的Carpaccio主菜方面，今次不吃牛扒，反而点了较轻盈的三文鱼侍者先送上面包，一个富牛油香又质感松软而另一个则配上牛油或猪油(butter or lard)同吃猪油的味道强烈且偏咸，适合重口味的朋友而我则喜欢香滑的牛油，放落面包吃，美味满足试了两款前菜，其中一款是Veal Carpaccio with Salted Egg and Herb DressingCarpaccio上放了大量香草以及咸蛋，卖相已经先声夺人薄切的牛肉仍极富牛香，与两款味道浓郁的配料混在一起，仍然十分突出加上牛肉质感软滑，是色香味的享受，叫人难忘另一款前菜，是Calamari with Spicy Tomato 鲜鱿先经炸过，再放入带辣的番茄酱外层香脆，内里仍充满着鱿鱼鲜味，质感又弹牙与番茄酱一拼吃，鲜味会更突出主菜是简简单单的Pan fried Salmon生菜上放上蛋碎和洋葱等，吃落爽口香脆主角三文鱼亦煮得甚有水准，鱼皮脆口惹味，鱼肉则煎成半生熟，油脂丰腴美味只须加$58，就可享用一款甜品可惜是日太饱，吃不下了，下次下次 继续阅读

Friday night with no prior dinner bookings can be a little daunting since most places would be full house. So when I called Carnevino and was able to easily secure a seating for two at 8.30 despite calling just 10 minutes beforehand I was pleasantly surprised, but little did we know...Carnevino, one of Mario Batali's ventures and from the name already announces what it serves- carne meaning meat and vino (you guessed it!) wine with an Italian touch.Starting with some bread. A slice of white crusty bread extra thin and because it is a steakhouse as well as being an American thing, a miniature popover. Nothing really special, just empty carbohydrates to nibble on while waiting for your appetisers, the butter was decent, but the lardo was pretty nasty. Although infused with herbs, it could not fully disguise the overwhelming stale fat odour that lingered on the tongue afterwards.I am having a 'thing' with bone marrow at the moment and seeing it on the menu meant I had to order it. One bone split into two, it was beautifully roasted and the marrow wonderfully fatty. They scattered preserved lemon over it which was to help with easing the palate from all the oiliness, but it did detract me from concentrating on the rich flavours of the marrow. The accompanying white bread was lack luster as well, more of the crusty white bread, but this time toasted.The octopus was a decent serving of tentacles, but I would debate the freshness of the octopus used as I detected a slight fishiness. Maybe that was why they had to cover the dish in a strong sweet and sour sauce which was not unlike something you could order at a cha chaan teng just with an Italian twist from the limoncello.They had two selections for their dry-aged steaks and we chose to share the 18oz New York strip. Asking it to be cooked to a medium rare, you can see that it was seared to a rare and not only that the heart of the steak was cool to the touch. We asked for it to be further cooked and in the mean time we occupied ourselves with the side of creamed corn, which if not for the slight popping of the fresh kernels I would have assumed was poured straight out of a can.Upon return it looked slightly better, at least it was warm this time. The exterior is quite charred, with the layer of carbon lending its flavour to the steak. One word to describe this steak, chewy. And not just slightly. If you are in need of a jaw muscle workout I would highly recommend you in tackling this piece of steak.No dessert as our jaws were already too tired.Carnevino was definitely an experience. One that I happily will not repeat. 继续阅读

I broke a simple rule I have by dinning at Carnevino - when in Asia eat Asian food. Why? Because although you can get good European food it is poor value for money. Carnevino is a prime example of this. My friend and I went here for her birthday. The atomosphere is good, comfortable booths, low lighting and a good selection of background music. So what was wrong?Service mixed - first waiter we talked to about the selection of meat didn't know what he was talking about (was later contradicted by a more knowledgable waiter we talked to). Waiter who took our order left us without asking the rather vital question of how we would like our steaks cooked. He also did not confirm our order before leaving and thus we got the wrong clam dish for a starter. Food - generally the food ranged from average to good. Slow cooked octopus start was tough - not good. Sauce also too rich. Clams were nice but should have bee served with something to add variety in texture and flavour. Wine list is extensive and the bottle we chose was pretty good. However, no wine waiter came to talk to us, which for a restaurant of this quality is poor. Steaks were cooked pretty well but not perfectly. Although nice and pink inside they lack juices. The outside of the steaks were too highly seasoned (salty). Mash potatoe was excellent though. Portions are generally good. So much so we decided against dessert. I had an espresso which was disappointing. Too bitter. An Italian restaurant that can't pump out a beautiful espresso time after time needs to up its game. All the above would have been acceptable if it wasn't for the price tag. Dinner for two was HK$2,601. And so we come back to the rule that can be turned around to 'Don't East European Food in Asia'. If I had this meal back in Europe it would have been half the price at the same quality. That is why I eat Asian food in Asia and European for when I travel back home.  继续阅读

Carnevino is an Italian steakhouse located right at the heart of Central. With its name "Carne" stands for steaks and "vino" stands for wine, the steak house is promised to serve the highest quality steaks and remarkable wine.The steakhouse was spacious with an open bar at the front door and a grand dining room further inside. The dining room was beautifully furnished with a classy steakhouse ambiance of marble and wood. The service was topnotch with attentive and friendly staffs. Shawl and hot water are both readily available for ladies if they feel cold.Carnevino's Restaurant Week Dinner Menu HK$438We went to Carnevino today for its Dinning City's Restaurant Week's menu. I always reckon the best deal at RW is dinner at a steakhouse. For the price you are paying for a set menu at RW, you can only get a main course (or less) normally.Watermelon amuse boucheI thought it was not really watermelon because it was a cube and I thought it is hard to prepare watermelon in a cube shape? Anyway, this watermelon cube was in tongue size, not even bite size. It was refreshing and sweet with a tint of herb flavour. Please give me more and be less stingy! Bread & ButterEVIL as Carnevino are, they dare to serve LARD along with butter with their breads! The lard was savoury and smooth with strong pork flavour, which compliments the bread really well. The unsalted butter was easily spreadable and smooth. The cupcake-like soft bread was light and delicate. I like the flat sliced bread more which was chewy at the rim and soft inner. Despite the crazy saturated fats the lard contains, I smeared the butter and the lard together with my bread. Soooooooooooooooo GOOD!Insalata Romana Romaine and Red Endive Dressed in a Sweet Garlic Dressing with Spanish AnchoviesThe cute little anchovies surprised me as the ones that I had was often overly salty. This anchovise from Carnevino was fresh, tender and in good saltiness. The romaine and red endive were both very crisp and fresh. Yet I would be happy if the kitchen chop the leaves finer for me. The garlic dressing was mixed in thoroughly and in good portion to just coat the leaves perfectly. There was a delicious amount of Parmesan cheese all over the plate. The salad was delish.  Calamari with Spicy Tomato Crispy Calamari with Pickled Chilies, Lemon and Spicy TomatoThe calamari was AMAZING. It was deep fried to give a light yellow puffy and crispy crust, and kept the inner fresh and chewy. The spicy tomato sauce was delectable! It was savoury, spicy and mildy sweet. We literally cleared the plate by swipping the sauce off the plate with our bread.USDA Prime Top Sirloin 12ozThe sirloin was beautiful. It was nicely charred on the outside and perfectly cooked to give a pinkish inner in medium rare. The sirloin was tender and juicy with a crunchy aromatic charred crust. It was a nice sirloin but I still prefer rib eyes or filet mignon more .Although it is best to have steak without sauce, or just with a bit of sea salt, I still appreciates Carnevino's steak sauce. There are in total six different kinds of steak sauce available but Salsa Verde Butter was recommended to go with the Prime Sirloin. The Salsa Verde Butter was rich in flavour and compliments the steak really well! Despite the steak sauce, a cute box of different kinds of salts were brought to us for our enjoyment.Although not as crazily many steak knife options as the Steak House Wine Bar + Grill, I was still contented with Carnevino's steak knife. The steak knife was heavy and sharp with an etching of Carnevino on it. Carnevino mainly use Christofle for their other utensils like table fork and knives.Roast Chicken with Truffles and Semolina alla Romana Roasted Half Chicken with Semolina CakeThe dish came in with a nice presentation and a strong flow of truffle aroma! There was some truffle shavings on the salad and probably some truffle oil as well, thus making the salad tasted heavenly. The roast chicken was extremely succulent, the dark meat was smooth and tender; the white meat was bouncy and tender! The sauce was rich and quite robust in flavour and tasted good with the chicken. The semolina cake tasted like mashed potato with a crunchy top. The dish was awesome.Creamed Corn with Lime SaltEver since I have the amazing cream corn at the Strip House by Harlan Goldstein, I could not resist but order creamed corn whereever I go. This creamed corn was quite weird in taste as lime salt and cherry peppers are added to it. The creamed corn itself was not very sweet nor buttery, its texture was more to the chewy side. I do not like the combined taste of the occasional spiced pepper and the sweet corn.Carrot Cake, Coconut Ice Cream, Ginger Carrot SauceThe 3 layered carrot cake was moist and moderately sweet. The ginger carrot sauce complimented the cake very well and brought some spiciness to it. The coconut ice-cream was light and creamy but did not match too well with the cake, vanilla might be a better choice.Lemon Semifreddo BSangria Sorbet, Mint Fruit SaladThe Lemon Semifreddo was weakly lemon flavoured and had an interesting texture, like frozen gelato. The Sangria sorbet was delectable, sweet with a mild wine taste. I could not remember if I had Semifreddo before, but I don't think I like it too much.  继续阅读

最近工作有点困阻, 只有见步行步, 食一餐好的平衡一下不正常的心理. 假日的12:30, 只有几张枱, 冷清而宁静. 他很喜欢CARNEVINO的装修, 古铜色的吊灯配上优雅的皮制家俱, 古典又有格调. 午餐: Appetizer + Main Course = $238, + Dessert = 另加+ 58Appetizer : 我叫了Veal Carpaccio with Salted Egg and Herb Dressing : 颜色很美, 生牛肉片加些旦, 加些香草, 很开胃. 他是Local Shrimp with Tomatoes and Polenta : 蕃茄虾加意式玉米饼, 很新鲜, 也大只.Main Course: 我叫了Carnevio Burger   : 包微微焦香, 牛肉是淡粉红色的, 丰腴多汁, 简单配腌黄瓜, 芝士和菜已很滋味, 番茄酱被冷落在一旁. 配菜沙律超大碟, 我俩一同尽力而为. 他是Flat Iron Steak: 平铁牛排, 它取自一般人用来慢慢炖的牛只肩膀部位, 在切割时避开肥油筋络, 是油花均匀而且肉质细腻的牛排. (注一)Dessert 我叫了Pineapple Upside Down Cake with Coconut Ice Cream 菠萝旦糕不太甜, 椰子雪糕很淡, 他不喜欢, 我却欣赏, 饱到上心口也把它吃光！ 他叫了Bomboloni : 四大粒的炸吉士酱麺粉团, 配香浓的士多啤莉果酱.食得很饱, 为了帮助消化, 周围逛逛才回家. 继续阅读