Nico's Spuntino Bar and Restaurant (已結業)

食到Nico's真系好机缘巧合一开始系咁啱经过见到门口既宣传牌先知终于去左试Semi-Buffet Menu青酱鸡肉沙律鸡粒不油不腻，好似冇脂肪但又唔会太硬实青酱好香又唔油，抹走平时食青酱油腻既记忆，加分位烧牛肉牛肉入口即溶，好香肉味薄切令肉好易入口，亦冇咩筋果类脂肪是关键！少量围边既脂肪唔油腻，放入口即刻溶化，油香满溢，又唔会成口油淋淋虾够大只,好少见鲜甜爽口肉肠沙律有唔同款既肠仔，虽然唔系脆皮，但都几好食加左茄汁更开胃金宝挞上面金宝大粒左少少，可想而知食落有点过硬同埋美观都稍有欠差不过馅既味道令人满意，微酸，整体唔会过甜Tiramisu是圣物佢个别装可以免却自助时会毁食物容貌及不洁等情况另外，甜品本身唔会因太多酒会好苦涩反而只系会有湿润但酒香浓郁并偏甜曲奇个人中意朱古力款，较crunchyChestnut Puree甜味好自然食到栗子味都好香浓唔会好腻面包布甸佢用既系牛角包唔会好油但唔系脆身如果有云尼拿汁就好了:^o蓝莓切饼面头好似金宝既其实系椰丝好似椰挞既味但佢唔会过甜（有时椰挞既会甜到乸口味道同整体好清爽，唔会好似平时既甜椰蓉咁油加上佢蓝莓部分真系比较酸，中和番甜味批底都系少甜，可以降低番整体既甜度，反而好开胃  继续阅读

星期六的中环, 下午1点多, 都几人来人往, 尤其系专诚黎揾野食既人们, 不过都仲有不少巿店尚未开门, 可能系做HAPPY HOUR 或者做下午茶啦! 我地2个人行下睇下揾BUNCH 食, 见佢冇乜人得黎, 又好似好舒服, 门口既侍应又好鬼好笑容咁介绍佢地既menu, 我地就决定入座喇!店内环境宽敞, 冷气非常强劲, 见到好多一家大小既外藉人仕, 这里有为小朋友准备了一点玩乐小设备在店的角落里, 见佢地走来走去, 玩得非常开心, 假期的心情加上欢愉的环境, 真的特别开心...由于BUNCH 时间刚过, 我地点左1 个 Pepperoni Pizza ($108) 两份食, 即叫即做的, 热辣辣上枱, Pepperoni 没有太多的配料, 但见到软棉棉的芝士, 已经令人心动, 薄薄的饼底, 不会令人有非常饱肚的感觉, 我不明白为何还有很多Pizza 连镇店还会不断在推出新口味的厚底Pizza... 这个 Pepperoni 上枱时, 份量也不少, 我地只系想食下午茶, 本以为会食唔晒, 但因为实在太好味, 我地征服了它, 好彩冇叫其他食物, 否则又是浪费.... Pepperoni 上有类似辣椒酱的配料, 芝士虽多, 但也不会有太腻的感觉, 非常赞! 至于这杯Strawberry Smoothies就比较逊色了, 不够冻之余, 也没有甜味, 勉强完成了它.... 我地完成食物后, 一路倾计倾左半小时, 侍应都好有礼貌地加水, 完全无压力, 这是一个轻松愉快的下午! 继续阅读

上星期五唔洗返工day off, 谂住同个friend去中环揾个地方食lunch.. 我地由半山电梯慢慢行上去soho睇下有咩好野食..上到伊利近街有间叫Nico's Spuntino Bar + Restaurant既意大利餐厅食semi-lunch buffet, 价钱系$118,都接受到,同埋间餐厅望落去几靓同当时都几full, 咁多客人都应该唔差啦, 所以就简就呢间.坐底左一阵就行出去睇下有咩食啦..都有好多小食, 有duck breast, 薯仔salad, 之士茄子, 虾, ham,.. 因为太肚饿既关系, 我食左3碟小食.. 我食得最多既就系duck breast同薯仔.. 因为真系几好味.. 但因为食到咁上下有D饱冇叫main course,反而想留返个肚食甜品, 因为个甜品望落去真系几attractive, 有tiramisu, macaroon, carrot cake, chocolate cake, 仲有几款糕点,, 不过我只系食左tiramisu同埋carrot cake, 因为之前食左好多小食食到饱饱地,哈哈  味道方面, 个tiramisu都唔错, 唔太甜同埋个酒味岩岩好... 至于个carrot cake都唔差!食到咁上下, 最后叫左杯Mocca,一路饮一路同个friend吹水.. 我地都坐左差唔多2个几钟,因为个环境几舒服同埋轻快既音乐令人特别relax!总括黎讲我觉得呢间餐厅都唔错, 食lunch既话都会系一个不错既选择  继续阅读

It was a night to celebrate: my wife and I had just paid off every last cent of debt that we had and now for the first time had positive net worth. My wife likes dinners with lots of small dishes to share, like tapas, so I had my eye on Nico's Spuntino Bar, as spuntini had been described to me as "Italian tapas."When we arrived, I'll admit that I was a little disappointed. I had hoped that there would be lots of distinctively Italian little dishes that were new to me. It was actually mostly bar food (sliders, fried calamari), cured meats, cheeses, and olives. Nothing I don't like, just nothing particularly exciting.We wanted to order a platter for two, but we were uncertain as to how many other spuntini we should get to round out a meal, so we asked. The conversation went something like this:Us: If we got this platter, how many other spuntini should we get? How big are they?Server: Small.Us: So like how big is this one?Server: Us: So we should get like 3 or 4 of these to share?Server: No.Us: How many should we get to share?Server: If you get that you need to order two. Us: We can't share?Server: No.Us: Um... let us think about the menu some more.I'm assuming that there was a communication problem and the server did not actually mean that we couldn't share. Anyway, our new plan was: pick whatever we thought was the right amount, order it, and then just order more if it wasn't enough.The first thing to arrive was the meat and cheese platter for two. This we ordered off the spuntino menu (there's a similar thing on the a la carte menu) You could get the platter for (I think) two, or three, or four people. It's nice of them to scale things like that.First, a complaint. When this arrived I of course did not have the menu any more. But I am about 95% certain that this was described as coming with more than just meat and cheese. The particular platter we ordered does not appear on the online menus Staunton's Group posted for Nico's, but on the online a la carte menu the antipasti platter is described as coming with "olives and pickles" and all the platters on the spuntino menu are described as coming with "condiments." We didn't get olives, pickles, or condiments. Yes, I could've complained to the servers but (a) I didn't know exactly what it was that I wasn't getting and (b) I was already somewhat exasperated with the servers.I don't know what the meats and cheeses were exactly, as no one made an attempt to explain that to us (admittedly, I didn't ask). I'm not an Italian cured meats expert, but the meat at the top of the picture might be capocollo and the closer one looks like some kind of salami? I'm even worse at cheeses, but the top right cheese was something hard, dry, and brittle like parmesan or pecorino, but less intense and less salty. The other cheese... no clue.Mostly I thought the meats and cheeses were unremarkable. Absolutely nothing wrong with them, but nothing special about them either. We asked for bread with them (and I'm really surprised we had to ask) and as HK standards dictate, the bread was not particularly good. If I came back, I don't think I'd order this again. C-... slightly worse than average.We ordered one thing off the a la carte menu, the spicy salami salad ("from Campania"), described thusly: "seared spicy salami, foccaccia croutons, cherry tomatoes, avocado, mixed field greens, balsamic dressing." I was quite a fan of the salad. They were judiciously light on the dressing. The searing helped the salami, but though I fear I'm beginning to sound like a broken record in my openrice reviews, I must say: the thing described as spicy was not spicy. There was a good mix of avocados and tomatoes in the salad. A-... excellent.Croquettes were not our first choice. We had ordered something that sounded exciting, but was also inexplicable (it was described as a "whole roasted pig" with mushrooms or something, but at $60 or whatever it was not that). Anyway, after the meat and cheese platter and the salad arrived, we were told that they were out of the mysterious thing so we ordered the croquettes instead. I notice that on their online menu, the croquettes have cheese in them. These one's didn't, but as I said the menu was different at the restaurant. Tartar sauce seems like, and was, a strange accompaniment for croquettes. I thought they were on the bland side, but that's kind of natural for this dish. They were nice and crispy, and not greasy. They were distinctly cumin-y. C+... better than average.We also got calamari rings. Like the croquettes, they were cumin-y and came with tartar sauce. I would have guessed marinara, but according to cookitaly.com, "Dipping sauces are not at all Italian, as they defeat the point of the crispness and tend to overpower the delicate taste of the squid - which is what this dish is all about." So I guess the tartar sauce is for us uncouth expats. Anyway, the squid was reasonably tender and the batter was nice and light. B+, good.I will mention that the cocktails were good but small. I had a Rosso Sour-- a bourbon sour with a red wine float-- and I really liked it. My wife had an Americano (which the menu helpfully informed us was not American in origin, it's just named that because American tourists in Italy like to drink it). I found the Americano too bitter, but my wife who likes bitter things enjoyed it. I'm starting to form an opinion of Staunton's group restaurants in general. The food's not particularly good, but not bad or terrible either. The servers aren't particularly competent, but certainly not wholly incompetent. They make middle-of-the-road, average restaurants for expats who don't like to walk more than a few feet from the escalators. Nico's gets a solid C from me: Average. 继续阅读

当日中午时分同老公系中环做完正经野就谂吓去边食晏好, 记得之前睇杂志有介绍过依间平日都有 brunch 于是就即刻打去订位, 不过都未到繁忙食晏时间所以十五分钟后行到过去唔使等就可以直接行入去坐低喇.睇吓 menu 大概都系 $150-200 一个主菜包一杯餐饮同任食前菜同甜品; 前菜甜品其实都唔系太多选择, 不过系依区以依个价钱都差唔多啦. 想讲当日高峰时间大概都坐满九成枱, 但佢地 refill 食物既速度好慢, (其中有 part 系我想食密瓜不过出面无晒, 于是我每隔一阵分别行出去两三次但仍然未有 refill, 咁我就同其中一个侍应生讲想食, 之后我坐返埋位又隔一轮后再出去仍然都系无, 唯有再问问𠮶个侍应生, 结果都系要等多阵先有得食). 幸好当日我俩唔赶时间可以慢慢等慢慢食, 不过就有点影响对佢地既观感喇 另外因为为食所以另叫咗半打生蚝, 当日有两款蚝而我地拣咗 Coffin Bay ($149), 佢质素唔错呀, 胀卜卜而且好新鲜够甜又有淡淡既海水味 食到咁上下可以上主菜喇, 分别有刚开始食时见到出面有 6 款迷你甜品, 但当食完主菜想出去拎时就只剩最唔吸引既一款, 今次唔打算问侍应谂住返埋位等一阵再拎啦, 如是者每隔数分钟再出去一次, 前后都应该行咗 6-7 次但等极都未有 refill, 最后直头等到有个女侍应以为我地食饱仲问我地饮咩餐饮, 于是我就叫佢催催厨房因实在太耐喇, 结果仍然要等多一轮先有得食, 依个感觉非常唔好呀 (女侍应解释话厨房见无晒于是即时制作中所以咁耐 .... 但当我俩食时所有甜品都系冻的, 根本啲野其实一早已经整好只需要系雪柜拎出黎就得  ) 继续阅读