[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

[The Spaghetti House] New Ocean Bounty menu

The Spaghetti House at Wanchai is a good place for dinner during the weekdays because all the people working in that area have deserted the place.

There was a new summery Ocean Bounty menu launched for summer.

They even had sea cucumber on the menu paired with salad but I was immediately attracted to the squid ink ravioli filled with spinach and scallops that are made freshly everyday.

It was a very hot day so had the macchiato with haagan dazs vanilla icecream topped with a square cube of frozen red bean puree recommended by the manager.

Definitely a photogenic drink with a strong matcha bitterness complimented by the red beans at the bottom.

The other drink Strawberry wonderland was just simply stunning with the sexy red strawberry floating on ice.

Started with the creamy asparagus soup with scallops which is a good pairing of asparagus and scallops because both are delicate in flavour.

The garlic bread was perfectly toasted and buttered, it was crispy with a slight soft centre saturated with garlic butter.

The mussels came in a rich tomato sauce which made every mussel tasty while the sauce was great for dipping the garlic bread.

Now to the star of the show, the squid ink ravioli filled with spinach and scallops were big while the ravioli pasta was soft and hung the lobster sauce well. 

www.thespaghettihouse.com

[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/

Dessert pastas

This place is called Pasta oyster house, which obviously specializes in oyster and pasta. 

A few years ago tried the North point branch, which was great.

This time went to the Sai Wan Ho branch because there was no one in the restaurant.

For lunch, the choices are pathetic because during lunch, no one is willing to pay more and restaurants have to cook simple stuff because people only have an hour for lunch and so that they can serve more people as well.

Tried the pasta and curry, which were both disastrous.

The curry was cloyingly sweet and the tomato sauce was also sweet.

Pasta with a Chinese fusion twist

Came here again because of the interesting fusion of fermented beancurd and pasta.


Basically it was lamb and pasta in fermented beancurd sauce.
In Chinese dishes lamb and fermented beancurd are always paired together so it should taste good.

The Matcha Azuki risotto was another interesting fusion dish too!
綠茶紅豆意大利飯
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Lamb pasta in fermented beancurd sauce:
羊肉腐乳意粉

To be honest $138 is a bit pricey for the pasta.

Anyway, the pasta was too creamy for my liking and the fermented beancurd sauce was not as strong as I would have liked.

According to the Chef, the fermented beancurd taste should be stronger and it should not have been so creamy, but that night it was not cooked by that Chef.
I think it would have tasted nice if the sauce was purely lamb and fermented beancurd.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
◎ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ◎
Green Orange (Sheung Wan)

Price: $14X
Service: OK
Service charge: 10%
Napkins provided: yes
Toilets: yes
Noise levels: No
Glass of water provided: yes
English Menu: Yes
Air Conditioning: Yes
◎ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ◎

The ideal and perfect place for pasta

The Pasta Place (Sheung Wan)

I love pasta but at most restaurants they make simple pastas complicated and expensive.
At The Pasta Place I was attracted to their down to earth homely decor.


The menu was simple and straightforward and I liked the manual typewriter font.


At The Pasta Place, the decor was most impressive.


On the walls they have lovely homely wallpaper and they had dado rails known as chair rails on the walls just like the houses in the UK.
They might have them in the US too but I have never been to the US to comment.


On each table there is a lovely red rose and hooks to hang your coats or bags.


In the middle of the restaurant, there is a really nice alcove that hides a toilet!
It looks like a tiny room underneath a staircase but the toilet is quite spacious.



There is sink and mirror outside the toilet in the alcove!


Cute taps!


I would have tried the Lasagne and Mac and Cheese but there were too many choices too choose from.

Anyway, here was what I had:

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Rich beef ragu on Tagliatelle pasta $110:


I knew this was going to be good and tasty, each strand was covered uniformly in rich beef ragu sauce.
The beef was minced finely and mixed in well.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Tomato and sweet basil sauce on fresh potato gnocchi:


The portion was huge! I think out of all the gnocchi dishes I have ordered in various restaurants, this plate had the most!
The gnocchi was quite chewy and the tomato sauce was lovely and acidic but lacked the taste of basil.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Roasted pumpkin and sage sauce on fresh spinach and ricotta ravioli:


This was beautifully presented but the sauce lacked connection with the sage because I could only taste pumpkin which was also quite light.
Four sage leaves had been fried and placed on top as decoration.
Other than that, it was a lovely light pasta dish and the ravioli was filled with soft clotted ricotta in the middle contrasted by the gentle sweet pumpkin puree sauce.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

I am definitely coming back to try Lasagne and MacNCheese

Back for my favourite pasta in tomato sauce

Kei Heung Cafe (Ho Man Tin)
Made my way here after having crappy food nearby.

Since my last visit, they have redecorated the cafe, it still has its retro style but the rusty mirrors have now been replaced by new shiny mirrors.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
pasta in tomato sauce with luncheon meat:
Ordered the pasta in tomato sauce with luncheon meat.

It is slightly different to the "saam bo" which has chicken, egg and ham tossed in the spaghetti.
The luncheon meat was not tossed in put on top of the pasta.
Nevertheless, the taste was amazing because the tomato sauce was tangy and rich.
The pasta was delicious because the sauce was evenly tossed on every strand.
The tomato sauce was so moreish and the taste was not too tangy or sweet with rich tomato taste.
Each strand of spaghetti was firm and the texture was similar to freshly made pasta with a doughy texture. The chicken, ham and egg added more taste and chew to it balancing out the thick tomato sauce.
Anyway, on my next visit, I must remember to order the macaroni in tomato sauce.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Vegetarian pastas @ V8美食軒

V8美食軒 (Wan Chai)
Not my first option for food, but I normally get the vegetarian option because most vegetarian foods are over priced.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Vegetarian burger patty with pasta:

The pasta improved slightly compared to my last visit and it was not so soft but still too soft for my liking.
It was covered in delicious tangy tomato sauce but it was slightly oily because I felt bloated after eating this.
The vegetarian patty is just the usual vegetarian patties.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Delicious chicken tandoori drumettes

Pizza Max (Jordan)

Tried this restaurant because of sunflowerting's photo featuring Mo Mo on the menu which is Nepalese.

It was interesting because this shop is called Pizza Max which obviously serves pizza and pasta but they also serve Indian and Nepalese food.

I was meant to come here ages ago but I didn't know the had seating so I left it for a while.

Anyway finally made it there and the capacity for diners was bigger than I imagined.




They have simple sets which is quite a good deal because it includes a slice of pizza with nepalese dumplings or the chicken tandoori drumettes.

For lunch they have my favourite butter chicken curry and if you don't eat Indian food there is spaghetti bolognaise.

As well as those delicious selections they had my favourite pita bread and chips!!!

I really liked this cosy joint because it reminds me of London and the people that work there spoke good English.
The guy is Philipino which was hard to believe because he had no Philipino accent, but Philipino's are the best connoisseur for food.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mo Mo with chili sauce:Mo Mo's are Nepalese dumplings which are served with chili sauce. The dumplings are made with onions.
There are three choices for dumplings at this place: steamed with tomato sauce, panfried with tomato chutney or steamed with onions, green peppers and sweet chili sauce.
I ordered the last one because the ones I have tried before came with Chili sauce.
I used to get them at 2 Star's Fast Food in Wan Chai but it takes ages for the dumplings.
Anyway, the dumplings were served soon after I ordered.


They looked delicious when they arrived and I imediately took them out and put them on another plate because the sauce was quite spicy. At other places you add the sauce yourself.
The sauce is different too. At this restaurant they have made a sauce especially for the dumplings rather than a condiment.
Anyway the dumplings were delicious, the minced chicken was packed with onions and the delicious sauce spiced it up.

The sweetness in that sauce was soothing too because the chili was very spicy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Buffalo chicken wing lollipops:Although they are called buffalo wings they were Indian style with Tandoori spices and mint sauce, but it stated that on the menu which was why I ordered it. I love TANDOORI chicken.
It was good the dumplings were served first because the taste of this was strong.

The drumettes were perfectly grilled. The skin was removed and the chicken had been loosened around the bone so that it was marinated all the way through and the chicken comes off the bone easily.

Parts of the chicken drumette were slightly crispy but it was not at all dry.
There was lots of thick tandoori paste on the chicken and the texture is hard to describe because it was velvety and almost felt like it had pate all over it.
The Tandoori chicken that I have tried before were usually chicken legs or chicken breast but here they have used the drumette part which makes it so tender and tasty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
I will be back for the butter chicken curry and pita bread!