I struggled with myself about writing this review, because in Hong Kong, when I find something good, my first impulse has become to keep it to myself. There's no end of food influencers, bloggers all lining up to react to things in this city and some of their effects on restaurants I used to enjoy can be adequately described as noxious.But at the same time, as someone with a little experience behind the kitchen counter I appreciate the sheer amount of work and effort that the team at BACI have gone to in order to provide what they've done. I want to give them a little support - LKF Concepts should be rightly proud of BACI, but the effort required to produce their brunch every weekend makes me wonder for how long they can keep this up.The meal: Brunch. The exceptional: the Margherita. Sauce pops and is fresh, it is an uncooked sauce that balances out the olive oil and the other elements. My guess is that the giant custom copper oven setup allows them to use a bright, uncooked sauce like this without it bleeding everywhere. The pizzaola deserves all the props for perfect doneness. The crust also has excellent flavor, likely a long ferment. This is, hands down, the best slice of pizza I've had in Hong Kong. Fiata may still win in the "official" rankings and I would still go to Fiata for the specialty pies and the tartare, but if I had a textbook with an image of Neapolitan pizza in it, this would be the picture. The surprising: the buffet counter. Salads and cold apps of all sorts, uniformly delicious. Wide selection of cold cuts and cheeses, of superior quality to expensive hotel buffets. Hot food was no less exceptional - the roasted beef cut had a good buttery richness, it was a superior product. Seafood freshness was similarly good. The amount of work and prep, not to mention sourcing, is completely out of this world for something they do on a weekly basis. Maybe they share a prep area with the other LKF Concepts restaurants? I am very surprised that in this day and age when everyone is scrimping and saving and quality has fallen in favor of trying to keep costs under control that the buffet can be of this quality and amount. Needs improvements: pasta bar. Didn't order the carbonara as looked a little too congealed, maybe it was cooked too long and didn't have the perfect silky wetness that a good carbonara should have. The four cheese pizza - it was not made clear that this contained blue cheese. It was out of balance and dominated everything on the pizza. While I get the idea and this is probably influenced by the success of the infamous Jacomax blue cheese and apple pie, I would recommend using blue cheese in much tracer amounts. The service: Good, although I can feel how hard the staff are working, which is probably a detriment. Then again, friendly, cheerful floor staff that make service feel invisible and effortless are absent. I feel like an attitude that feels at home more in an izakaya or casual bar would work best; the atmosphere of the restaurant suits staff that are enjoying themselves and comfortable chatting with the customers better. And a place that puts out this quality of pizza will attract regulars.The dislike: Bathroom not great.Verdict: I think, if you are craving Neapolitan style, you will not get a better pizza in Hong Kong - maybe not even in Asia - than the margherita at Baci. As a fat bastard, I think the market is still wide open for other pizza styles, like the New Haven or Detroit, but if you are planning on opening up another pizza joint serving classic style pies, please come here and have a taste first. This is the competition.…查看更多
