Food Journey #25c - Final Round of Italian Lunch Experience at Cecconi's Italian

After 3 rounds of Italian lunch experience during past week, we have a clear WINNER in my opinion on the best italian lunch and the WINNER GOES TO.......CECCONI's Italian located on Elgin Street, Central. Reasons to why they beat Pizza Express & Isola, it is unpretentious, good quality food, cosy atmosphere (during lunch hours) and good price & speed for lunch which is vital. Was extremely impressed with their set lunches which I recommend you to try out and I hope they do not rotate their set lunches on a weekly basis.

In fact, this is my 2nd visit to Cecconi's Italian, my 1st visit consisted of a Caesar Salad which doesnt say much about a restaurant but for the review, a feast must be required to try the real quality of food. $98 for a 2 course set lunch in Central is fairly decent considering the food definitely justifies the price tag.

Fresh Foccacia -- Dont be decieved by the photo below as I know the presentation looks very dull. However, the bread was warm when it arrived which is just the way we Asians like it and you can still smell the freshness of the foccacia. Drizzle this with fresh Tuscan Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar, this foccacia was a perfect carbohydrate boost after the morning madness at work.

Spinach Salad with Gorgonzola Dressing & Walnuts -- After watching this food related program on TVB Pearl one night regarding the amount of calories contained in a Caesar Salad, deliberately stayed away from this on the set lunch menu and opt for this instead. Spinach has extremely high amounts of Calcium, Iron and other sources of Vitamins thus making spinach a highly nutritious product. The amount of Gorgonzola dressing on the spinach salad was just the amount which I like, very moderate amount thus and it was extremely flavourful. The shaved Parmesan cheese also added more flavors to the salad and as a passionate cheese lover, this was my very typical salad. Not to keen on the walnuts but nevertheless, it paired very well with the spinach. Very refreshing salad to kick off your meal and my next course was simply spectacular!!!!!!!!!!

Pan seared salmon with a cucumber salad and balsamic-- Having been a salmon murderer for the past 10 years, this has always been on the top of my list wherever I go for lunch or dinner as i) the nutritional values are high ii) a perfect pan-seared or grilled salmon has always been a form of art to myself. Such cripsy skin on the outside but yet, so moist & pink on the inside, it is truly the best form of fish that the world has in my opinion. There are a few restaurants around town whereby I highly recommend a Grilled Salmon -- RED SoHo does a mean grilled salmon, H One also does a fairly decent Atlantic Salmon Steak but in my opinion, Cecconi's italian wins the tournament.

Pan Seared is a very interesting technique commonly used by chef which focuses on cooking the surface of the food product at high temperature which it caramelises the skin. Such searing technique is often said to lock the juices in the salmon, giving it a moist & pink texture.

The Pan-seared Salmon here was definitely one of the best I have had in town as it has all the above points mentioned. So juicy yet so crispy on the outside. However, I feel that the pairing with cucumber was slightly odd as it would have been better to pair with a Tomato Salsa or even just simple Green Salads on the side. Cucumbers are just simply boring and flavourless. Nonetheless, this was a wonderful dish and it was truly enjoyable!

Crumbled Chicken Leg with Napoli & Mozzarella-- This was the dish ordered by my friend on the day but however, she could not complete the portion due to the huge portion being served. I took 2 bites of the chicken leg and was equally impressed. The chicken was extremely tender, not greasy & the melted cheese was extremely pungent & flavourfull and the pairing together is the equivalent to Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie. BRAVO!

However, not your average dish which you may order unless you havent had breakfast in the morning as the chicken leg was rather large, so large that it looked like it was mutated.

If you are looking for a lunch venue with good quality food & very economical, do check out Cecconi's Italian on Elgin Street. Highly recommended for the quality of dishes but one warning, service may be sloppy at times as I had to speak to our server 3 times for the Fresh Foccacia. Definitely worth the money paid despite the set lunch was only $98 and you can see why they are the winner of the Italian Lunch Journey in Hong Kong.

Now comes the end of the Italian Lunch Journey, watch out for the next review of a restaurant with a humourous name -- 譽滿坊 Dim SumThe Art Of Chinese Tit Bits

Happy Eating & Drinking!

Ciao

Geoff

Address: G/F, 43 Elgin Street, Central, Hong Kong (中環伊利近街43號地下
)
Tel: 2147 5500

Food Quality (5* the highest): ****

Price for Lunch (5$ = very expensive): **

檢視較大的地圖

Food Journey #8 -- RED SoHo Again

So, dinner with In-Laws & Parents this evening and mother wanted to try RED SoHo after hearing from her friends so much regarding the food. Will keep the blog nice & simple and go straight into the food. Located in the heart of SoHo, restaurant has a good vibe & a definite good place to people-watch. As a neutral, have eaten here at lunch a few times but dinner on the otherhand, is very different - much more relaxed, laid back and service is great. Not overly attentive but not scrappy! Dishes we ordered: Caesar Salad -- Generous Portion but slight downside is the plate seems very small on the table. Taste is superb -- not too richly flavoured. Soup of the Day (Wild Mushroom Soup with Cream) -- Didnt personally try this as not a fan of soup but very positive comments so I heard Old Bay Crab Cake -- Have tried plenty of crab cakes in Hong Kong and this to me tastes superb in the sense that you know it is "real" crab unlike many other restaurants. If they can increase the portion size, I can have this as my main course Pop Corn Shrimp with Chipotle Mayonnaise -- I like the overall taste and the shrimps are very fresh and pairs very well with the Chipotle Mayonnaise. Again, too bad that the portion sizes are a bit small and still the Pop Corn Shrimp in Inn-Side Out in Causeway Bay is still my best rated in Hong Kong so far. Turkey Burger - Gut feeling tells me that the local crowd will not enjoy this burger as the texture of the turkey is very dry. However, the burger bun is very crispy and should pay attention to the portion sizes of the avocado with the additional $12 charges. **Grilled Salmon Fillet with Basil Dressing -- This is a truly spectacular dish, my highly recommended dish at RED SoHo. Very rare do you find the outer layer of the skin so cripsy but the inner core ivery moist & juicy. Very incredibly healthy dish and the tomato & basil dressing pairs amazingly well with the juicy salmon! **American USDA Prime New York Strip 12oz -- Didnt try this dish but comments from the group were that the steaks at RED SoHo are god's gift and they returned to RED SoHo cos of the steaks -- enough said on the comments! RED Beef Burger -- Pounced on 1/4 of this burger as it was so tempting watching my fiancee's dad munching on that so I begged for a quarter. First time I tried their burger as I have heard many positive things on this but proved the comments are right. Very nice burger indeed and much much better than the commercial burgers you get in fast food joins (do not compare with the pricing point) **Chocolate Layer Cake -- This cake is absolutely surreal and can put life back into dead person. Quite possibly one of the best chocolate layer cakes in town and in fact I rate this the 2nd best cake in town. The inner part of the cake is moist which is perfect unlike other cakes where are dry & stale in the middle. Thank god there is a gym upstairs as the portions are MASSIVE!!!! **Pecan Pie -- Personally, between the Pecan Pie and the Choco Layer Cake, I prefer this dessert. So good that I completely forgot my homework to take a snap of this and finished this within 2 mins. Our group majority prefered the Chocolate Layer Cake, but I have my doubts. The Caramel ice-cream also pairs very well with the sweetness of the Pecan Pie and words cannot describe the moment of sensation!!! Overall, dinner was very plesant and my recommendation is to visit RED SoHo during a dinner for a plesant experience with your partner or mates! Address: 2/f, Kinwick Centre, 32 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong Tel: 8199-8189 Food Quality (5* the highest): 3/1/2* Price (5$ = very expensive): $$$

Food Journey #1 @ RED SoHo

Right!

So lunch today was with colleagues as our colleague from Taiwan visited us so we decided to head out to a new establishment in the heart of SoHo named RED SoHo which was previously occupied by Pure Fitness. Similar to its sister establishment in IFC, this place serves up hearty New York Cuisine. Lunch was pretty crowded today and 6 of us had various dishes -- some had set lunch (not my type) and some ordered a la carte. Some of the items which we ordered today:

1 x RED Reuben Sandwich

1 x Beef Tartare

2 x Chips

2 x Set Lunches

1 x Truffled Mac & Cheese

1 x Taglietelle with Shrimp

I myself indulged the Beef Tartare which was to perfection with the condiments of rock salt, black pepper, mustard and toast on the side and a kudos to the kitchen for doing a wonderful fries which is very rare in Hong Kong. The simplest food are always the hardest food to cook!

Ratings for RED SoHo (5* the highest)

Food Quality = ***

Average Spend = $$

2/f, Kinwick Centre, 32 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong

Tel: 8199-8189

Website: http://www.pure-dining.com/