[Ask for Alonzo] Hearty and Cosy Italian fare in Quarry Bay

Quarry lacks good Italian food and Ask for Alonzo just hits the spot with Southern Italian dishes in a trattoria environment.Discovered this joint after going to the Tong Chong Street market.
There is an alfresco table where you can have drinks before dinner.

The menu had a good choice of variety.

Started with the bread with was accompanied with basil puree rather than the usual olive oil and balsamic.
I loved the basil puree as it complimented the bread very well.

For starters, had the burrata cheese with extra parma ham for +HKD60.

Basically all my favourites on one plate on a bed of colourful Heirloom tomatoes in all colours which were juicy and umami taste to the max along with the creamy burrata.
The extra ham gave it the salty flavours and goes very well with tomatoes and the burrata too.
Next were the meatballs which were topped with chunky grated Mozzarella cheese. 
Each meatball was big and tasty loaded with herbs which accentuated the flavour as well as the chopped tomato sauce.

As well as the meats, the Zoodles are the best because they were juicy and crunchy without any grassy taste and the hazelnuts gave it a nutty balance to it.

For pasta, had the mixed mushroom and truffle fettuccine served with poached egg. It was good how it was not too creamy so you could taste everything from the truffles to the delicate egg.

Finished with the panna cotta and tiramisu which was a perfect ending complimented with aromatic coffee.

The panna cotta was creamy and sinfully delicious as it was made with double cream while the tiramisu was equally as good spiked with liquer.

Will definitely check it out again for the other dishes.

[Ask for Alonzo]
18 Hoi Kwong Street
Quarry Bay
Hong Kong
http://www.askforalonzo.com/

[Eatalian] Decent Italian food in SSP

I didn't have any expectations for Eatalian because most restaurant adapt their recipes to suit the people in the area.
Apart from that I liked the Restaurant logo and name which is a play of words EAT and ITALIAN pronounced Eatalian just like EeDaLe in Central.

Sat down and it was reassuring that there were expats dining there.
++++
Started with the Parma Ham and Melon which was the first surprise because it was creative.
It wasn't just melon topped with ham but on the side there was Parma ham paired with young pea shoots and molecular melon balls which actually tasted in harmony.

+++++
The Linguine with minced shrimp, garlic and anchovy was so good that I could have eaten two portions.
It was light with strong prawn flavours and the saltiness from the anchovy.

++++
Next was the Strozzapreti with proscuitto, fava beans, Parmesan, Black truffle.
I felt compelled to order this as you rarely see this on the Kowloon side and I wonder how long it will stay on the menu due to popularity.
Again it was flawless and hung the sauce well with fragrant truffle that wasn't too creamy.

++++
For dessert, I had the Banana Walnut Toffee Cream Pie which was a bit like banoffee but much better because everything was well balanced with crushed walnuts in the cream and dreamy toffee and a nice biscuit base that was soft and firmly held together but not hard in texture.

Finished with tea which was a perfect ending.

++++
Overall, I was more than impressed that I totally forgot I was in SSP.
Everything was top quality from the way they served the food and the presentation.
Price is above the average in that area but you are getting good quality food so lets hope they can keep the standard.

[Eatalian]
309 Lai Chi Kok Road, Sham Shui Po
Tel: 26176866

[3 ITALIANI] Italian gelato in Causeway Bay

3 ITALIANI meaning three Italians is obviously opened by three Italians.

At 3 ITALIANI, you can expect a good choice of authentic Italian gelato, chocolate and coffee.

There are 30 different flavours of gelato and sorbet.
(20 traditional Italian flavours and 10 Asian flavour on offer in Hong Kong).

They are made in store everyday, free from preservatives, syrups and colouring which can be seen behind the glass.

There are 5 flavours exclusively created for Hong Kong: 3 Italiani (mango, coconut and sponge cake), Chocolate Wasabi, English Trifle, Crema Antica and Chocolate sorbet.
The chocolate sorbet is an interesting one because it still tastes of strong chocolate without the milk.
Clearly English Trifle was my favourite being English.
It is slightly different to the trifle with custard and jelly because it had cherries, dark choc, red velvet cakes, small amount of liqueur but it was still good.
The best thing is that you can add whipped cream to it which I did.

Great coffee:

Also tried the waffle with nutella and cream, a great dessert to share:

[3 ITALIANI]:
535 Jaffe Road, Causeway Bay.

[Extra Virgin] Affordable Italian pastas in Hong Kong

It is really difficult to find affordable and delicious pastas in Hong Kong.
Extra Virgin has finally answered my prayers after Pasta Mio closed in Central.

The menu is diverse so it caters for Hong Kongers.
I felt that the drinks selection could have been better because they only served Hong Kong style tea in those thick rimmed cups and lacked Western teas.

The Italian choices were clearly the picks for me.
It had almost everything I wanted except Lasagne so I made quite a few visits to try them.

Here was what I had: Spaghetti aglio de olio, spaghetti pomodoro e basilico, fettucine bolognese and the Feta cheese pizza.
Everything was cooked to order.

+++++
spaghetti pomodoro e basilico:

Perfect pasta with fragrant basil and rich tomato sauce.
+++++
fettucine bolognese:

This was al dente fettucine in a lovely meat sauce loaded with lots of minced meat.
+++++
Feta cheese pizza:

The pizza was impressive because the cheese was just melted to how I like it while the base was thin and crispy.
It would be great if they used tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes because they were clumsy and kept falling off the pizza.
+++++
Spaghetti aglio de olio:

Unfortunately, this was boring and tasteless, perhaps the Vongole might be a better choice.
+++++
Will definitely come again for the ravioli and hope that they will add lasagne to the menu.

Extra Virgin:
https://www.facebook.com/Extra.virginss/

[Pici] Bring on the full pasta experience

Seeing lots of expats have visited this place I decided to go early one evening.

Luckily I got there at 6pm because it was full within an hour.

The menu is simple with appetizers, pastas and dessert.

There were four of us so we got a pasta each while we shared the starters.
It is really hard choosing a pasta because they have Gnocchi, ravioli, orecchiette, lasagne, tagliatelle, parpadelle and pici!!

We sat at the bar where we got a view of all the pasta being made and the cooking at the far end.
I seem to recognize one of the Chefs from Pirata.

Fresh hand rolled pici which looked like fat spaghetti being made:

Ravioli being prepared:

Parma ham sliced to order:

Began with bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar while we were waiting.

Started with the burrata cheese which was creamy, soft and supple:

Next was the Chefs selection which was served on a board comprising of parma ham, salami, taleggio and parmesan.
You can evidently see the difference of freshly sliced parma ham because it is moist and radiant in colour.

Moving on the the warm starters, we had the meatballs which were made of pork, beef with tomato sauce.
They were big and tasty.

Now to the stars of the show, we had lasagne, ravioli, gnocchi and orecchiette
The gnocchi was one of the best I have had because the texture is not stodgy and there are bits of potato in it.

The ravioli was also exciting, there were two choices for ravioli so I chose the one with truffle because it was filled with delicious asparagus and shallots.
The filling was silky smooth complemented by the fragrant truffle.

My friend had the lasagne which was very hearty and meaty.

Last but not least was the nduja orecchiette which had a spicy touch to it while the orecchiette pasta pieces were al dente.

Despite being quite full we had the tiramisu which was a perfect end to the dinner.

PICI:
https://www.facebook.com/picihk/