Lupa (已結業)

3.5

55 食評

味道

環境

服務

衛生

抵食

1088

中環

$201-400

意大利菜薄餅

Gourmet NC

等級2

相約朋友食lunch，今次就選擇咗新開張的Lupa環境不俗...美式意大利餐廢的裝修、有私家房及露台，餐廳走 casual dinning 路線招呼: 不過不失餐牌選擇以大路菜式為主，沒有甚麽特別，而且用料一般般埋單連酒水及加一 $1635，但無端端收多我 $1 donation，我有權比或者唔比，埋單前又唔講又無告示、去消委會投訴佢。細心查看帳單總數是 $1486 加 10% service charge 應該是 $148.6 但就收咗 $149 做10% service charge、又唔見４毫計計吓如果我唔比 $1 donation 總數是 $1485 加10% service charge $148.5 埋單連酒水及加一應該是 $1633.5...嘩足足唔見咗$1.5 (你捐一元餐廳收多你一亳又呃吓你Ｄ服務費)，絕對反對這樣的捐獻方式和呃錢方法 Dinner 仲要收你 $2 donation ，問你死未...焗比廚師的職責我認為在工作時間應該在廚房監察出品、試味和控制廚房的運作。但不是像相中兩位廚師，像傳菜員一樣...等買嘢。根本無可能控制得到食物的質素，結果我們三個人的

相約朋友食lunch，今次就選擇咗新開張的Lupa

環境不俗...美式意大利餐廢的裝修、有私家房及露台，餐廳走 casual dinning 路線

招呼: 不過不失

餐牌選擇以大路菜式為主，沒有甚麽特別，而且用料一般般

埋單連酒水及加一 $1635，但無端端收多我 $1 donation，我有權比或者唔比，埋單前又唔講又無告示

、去消委會投訴佢。
細心查看帳單總數是 $1486 加 10% service charge 應該是 $148.6 但就收咗 $149 做10% service charge、又唔見４毫

計計吓如果我唔比 $1 donation 總數是 $1485 加10% service charge $148.5 埋單連酒水及加一應該是 $1633.5...嘩足足唔見咗$1.5 (你捐一元餐廳收多你一亳又呃吓你Ｄ服務費)，絕對反對這樣的捐獻方式和呃錢方法

Dinner 仲要收你 $2 donation ，問你死未...焗比

廚師的職責我認為在工作時間應該在廚房監察出品、試味和控制廚房的運作。但不是像相中兩位廚師，像傳菜員一樣...等買嘢。根本無可能控制得到食物的質素，結果我們三個人的主菜 (pasta) 全軍覆沒

Prosciutto di Parma $148

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淨 Ham ，沒有任何裝飾或配菜。但質素麻麻不是頂級貨，好似係一般餐廳及酒店比自助餐用的級數

只得一款選擇、凍及韌 (可能係隔夜麵包)，而且不會主動 serve Olive oil & Balsamic Vinegar 比你但又冇其他 dip for 麵包，要問先有。這好像是一間意大利餐廳最基本的要求

Pork Sausage & Fennel Pizza $198

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水準普通，買相更加唔掂、至於味道

Linguine with local Clams $218

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朋友Ｂ這個 pasta 是三個 pasta 之中最咸。每人食咗一半就放棄

最後朋友Ｂ忍唔住作出投訴

House Made Square Spaghetti w/ Crab $238

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朋友Ａ這個 pasta 比我個 pasta 還要辣和咸

這是我的主菜、又咸又辣

題外話/補充資料： Set Lunch 只供應 Mon to Fri ，星期六、日 lunch 只供應 A la Carte 至於甜品方面，當我們看過餐牌後就放棄...無興趣

(以上食評乃用戶個人意見 , 並不代表OpenRice之觀點。)

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已推介
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張貼

評分

味道

環境

服務

衛生

抵食

用餐日期

2012-05-05

用餐途徑

堂食

人均消費

$545 (午餐)

推介美食

Passer-by

等級3

This restaurant came highly recommended by a goof friend of ours as its counterpart in New York is one of her favourite.

This is located at the new LHT Tower in Central, and is divided into two sections - outdoors and indoors with the reception sited at the top of the escalators. The staff member who assisted me in locating our table was actually quite helpless as another one was trying to use the only laptop available to make other reservations.

I was then led to one of the round tables near the entrance which wasn't really an issue apart from the fact that it was much to small for three people - our knees were practically touching each other's. Fine for a couple but for a business lunch, such intimacy was far from ideal. With the lunchtime crowd, the high ceilings did nothing to make the noise more bearable. If one had wanted a little privacy one would have been quite disappointed with the closely packed tables.

We soon found out that no a la carte menu was available for lunch and we thus had to go for one of the set lunches. The setup of the menu looked somewhat complicated but it was actually quite simple once the waiting staff came over to explain. In addition to the buffet, one could opt for a soup, a pizza, a pasta or a main course, each as an additional item/price.

There were essentially two buffet tables, one for the salad, breads & cold cuts and one for desserts. The main buffet table had about a dozen different varieties of pesca antipasti and salad - some more appealing/tasty than others. There were three different types of bread and three cold cuts. But the time we got to the buffet at about 1:10pm, a good number of the items have already run out and we saw no sign of any staff replenishing them. As such I could not comment on a lot of the dishes (lingua with fennel and citrus peels, razor clams with fregula and basil, caponata, cipolla onions and balsamic). Cheese, what cheese? Most of them were pretty ordinary and bland but the ones that stood out are as follows:
- grissini - these bread sticks were crispy with a very balanced taste of cheese
- focaccia - these were rather ordinary with hardly any taste of the herbs sprinkled on the surface
- cucumber slices - these were most bland with hardly any flavour at all
- grilled peppers with anchovies - very yummy
- salami - not too salty nor chewy
- parma ham - a bit too dry to my liking as all the slices were left exposed individually

Two of us got to try the two soups on offer that particular day - mushroom and minestrone. Both these portions were small. My mushroom soup was thickish without the fragrance nor the taste of mushrooms. The minestrone looked acceptable but same again, size was small and the taste was balnd.

The smaller buffet table for desserts was actually well presented with a good variety for every taste bud. We had no issue in finding what we liked - fruits, lemon tarts, panna cotta, cinnamon amaretti cookies, and peanut butter cookies. Some of them have also run out - chocolate bread pudding, Bombolini with cream filling. The lemon tarts were of a good size and a fine balance of sourness and sweetness. The cookies were very impressive with just the right amount of chewiness/crispiness and the taste of individual flavours stood out well but not overbearing.

All in all, it was quite a chaotic experience, and the food was not something one would want to write home about. Oh, they didn't even bother to bring us any vinegar/olive oil nor salt/pepper.

(以上食評乃用戶個人意見 , 並不代表OpenRice之觀點。)

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張貼

評分

味道

環境

服務

衛生

抵食

用餐日期

2012-05-02

用餐途徑

堂食

人均消費

$240

食神歸位

等級4

926

107

對這個春季妨似特別充滿著期待，但期待的並不只是和暖的天氣，而是一間間盼望已久、快將開幕的人氣餐廳。如箭在弦的有名廚 Harlan Goldstein 的懷舊紐約扒房 Strip House 和世紀名廚 Ferran Adrià 的得意門徒Paco Roncero 在合和中心所開設的 View 62。不過在三月底率先搶閘的先有Mario Batani 的 Lupa。Mario Batani 是美國駐名的電視飲食節目主持，亦是全球二十多間餐廳的老闆及飲食專欄作家，對飲食潮流的觸覺當然甚為敏銳。他旗下的餐廳注重以當代的食材及廚藝，重新演繹出意大利傳統的菜式。餐廳的名字 Lupa 在拉丁語解作狼，淵源來自一個古羅馬神話故事。故事中講及一對由一隻母狼所撫養成人的雙胞胎，最終成為日後羅馬的君主。Lupa 大致可分作室外的酒吧區、室內的用餐區和 private dining 廂房三部分。酒吧區位於室外的陽台位置，感覺有如鬧市中的一片空中花園，設計簡約，最適合在晚餐前跟友人把酒談心。室內的用餐區設計則相對時尚，在柔和的燈火下，情調更佳。麵包籃 (Grade: 1/5)一般高級餐廳都會供應幾款麵包給客

餐廳中央放置了以野狼(Lupa)為題的銅像。

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Lupa 大致可分作室外的酒吧區、室內的用餐區和 private dining 廂房三部分。酒吧區位於室外的陽台位置，感覺有如鬧市中的一片空中花園，設計簡約，最適合在晚餐前跟友人把酒談心。室內的用餐區設計則相對時尚，在柔和的燈火下，情調更佳。

Private dining 房間面積雖小，但氣派不凡。

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麵包籃 (Grade: 1/5)
一般高級餐廳都會供應幾款麵包給客人在餐前好好品嚐，Lupa 卻選擇每人派發一小塊跟八達通差不多大小的麵包，份量之小，實在驚人。要等侍應記得refill，更需要些少運氣。

炸藏紅花意大利飯 (Grade: 2.5/5)
Lupa 的菜式著重分享，所以不要寄望是大盆大鉢的，細心淺嚐不同的食材才是精要。

首先點了數款心水的頭盤作分享，先到的是藏紅花意大利飯。滿以為是一碟傳統做法、色澤金黃的藏紅花意大利飯，意想不到廚師將小飯團來酥炸，創意的確無限，但酥皮感覺較為厚身，令大家未能真正品嚐到意大利飯的那種煙韌口感。

酥皮較厚身，未能真正品嚐到意大利飯的煙韌口感。

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炸松露忌廉 (Grade: 4/5)
另一款炸物炸松露忌廉相對比較精彩，外層的酥皮做得皮薄香脆，咬落非常鬆化，中央的松露忌廉味道亦十分配合，不油不膩之餘，感覺相當醒胃。

羅勒香草蒸蟶子、配珍珠意粉 (Grade: 2.5/5)
兩款不同的炸物之後，接著是冷盤的羅勒香草蒸蟶子。蟶子蒸熟切粒後再加入大量羅勒香草醬和辣椒冷卻，單靠綠柔柔的顏色已經可以想像到所放的香草份量不少。

令人失望的是這道菜的賣相平凡，入口亦不覺有蟶子的鮮甜，相反羅勒草的清新和紅辣椒的辛辣更為明顯。

自家製方形意粉、香辣蟹肉 (Grade: 4/5)
Mario Batani 最擅長配搭不同香料來帶出食材的珍味，這道自家製方形意粉正是最佳例子。方形意粉每日親自手打，口感些少似我們的伊麵，加入新鮮的蟹肉和茴香、辣椒等的香料，味道非常惹味。唯一可惜的是份量的確太小，只適宜獨食而難以分享。

燜豬肩肉、伴啤酒青瓜 (Grade: 3/5)
味道和賣相都跟中菜的東坡肉不遑多讓，豬肩肉採用低温慢煮的方法烹調，成功做到原汁原味。肩肉的外層還特別塗上蘋果汁和來自意大利西西里的苦酒，帶出不同的層次感。

略為可惜的是肉質未有預期中的軟腍，而且份量跟其他菜式一樣偏為細少，倘若人多的話，恐怕未必足夠分享。

香煎脆鴨伴婆羅門參及濃葡萄醬 (Grade: 4/5)
整晚最滿意亦最足料的菜式應該是壓軸出場的香煎脆鴨，半隻的份量一點也不欺場。更重要的是鴨肉煎得恰到好處，外脆內軟。婆羅門參及濃葡萄醬令脆鴨更加香氣四溢，可算是色香味俱全。

總結
餐廳環境和服務質素都做足功夫，但食物的水準欠缺穩定，相信仍有進步的空間。不過餐廳還剛剛開業，以 Mario Batani 的實力，假以時日，必能有所作為。

(以上食評乃用戶個人意見 , 並不代表OpenRice之觀點。)

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張貼

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味道

環境

服務

衛生

抵食

用餐途徑

堂食

人均消費

$300 (晚餐)

推介美食

cheesecake25

等級2

I referred to the menu on the website and was really looking forward to the lunch buffet. But did they have it on the weekend - NO! It is not clearly marked on the website or at all, so I was already disappointed when I found out there was no buffet on the weekends. So I had to choose something from the a la carte menu. We were given two pieces of slightly stale bread when we sat down, but we had to ask for butter or olive oil to go with it. We ordered the Quattro Formaggio pizza, Linguine with clams and the baked red snapper. Pizza was really good with a nice thick fluffy crust and crispy base. The tomato sauce wasn't too overpowering and the cheeses were delicious. Top marks for the pizza! The snapper was quite good with a nice gingery flavour, but the spinach was slightly on the bitter side.

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The linguine however was a BIG let down. This is my favourite type of pasta and I've tasted vongole (clams) all over Italy and in lots of restaurants - it is always my first choice when it comes to pasta. The waiter warned me that is quite a salty dish, but I always prefer it that way. But this dish - even for me, was actually really salty and not in a pleasant way. And worst of all, there was still some sand in some of the clams which made it really awful to eat, made the dish gritty and difficult to get out of my mouth. I pointed it out to our waitress who didn't even apologise and made up some lame excuse which didn't make any sense to me.

We weren't even offered a dessert menu so didn't get to try any. Our bill came to $780 including the 10% service charge. We usually round up but really didn't feel the meal or the service deserved any extra tip. It's a shame because I really like Mario Batali, so I hope they improve on the service and make sure they clean the clams properly next time!

(以上食評乃用戶個人意見 , 並不代表OpenRice之觀點。)

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張貼

評分

味道

環境

服務

衛生

抵食

用餐日期

2012-05-05

用餐途徑

堂食

人均消費

$400 (午餐)

Wenara

等級3

Friends have been having mixed comments about dinner at this place- disappointing, bad service, food barely warm etc. And finally I can testify their feedbacks are fairly correct. I had the buffet appetizer pasta. The appetizer was alright, few choices of salad, cheese n Parma, nothing worth highlighting. The homemade quill shape pasta with orange zest, which was prominently recommended by the waitor, was a complete failure. Each of the pasta was al dente at different levels. Chef is not generous on the sauce neither. One must think it's not easy to mess up a pasta, but there you go...Dessert is buffet style. Apple tart taste as if it's half baked, lemon tart perhaps had absorbed odor of the raw meat in the fridge and taste repulsively fishy. Dessert spoon was too big to reach the bottom of the Panna cotta contained in the shot glass. Service was mediocre. We were asked to walk out and take the dessert spoon by ourselves. Even 茶餐waiters would have gotten us.Tho the nicely decorated hall helps taking focus off the food a bit, I'd prefer put some other music on rather than Adele's. That's just my opinion though.

(以上食評乃用戶個人意見 , 並不代表OpenRice之觀點。)

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味道

環境

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衛生

抵食

用餐日期

2012-04-27

用餐途徑

堂食

人均消費

$250

Fussy Guy

(非會員)

Went in with high expectations after all the hype and publicity. Atmosphere was good, no large noisy groups. NYC style decor and vibe which was obviously their image. I was told someone who knew the menu would recommend choices but no one showed up. They had some staff that were from NYC. We found the prosciutto frittata was extremely salty - all 4 of us did not enjoy it. The raddicio with the melted scarmoza saved the appetizer as we were starving. The mains - pasta wise - for the price you paid, were small portions for a main course price. Carbonara was enjoyable but the crab meat pasta was bland. No real kick in either direction of spiciness or enough herbs. The veal saltimboca was again salty from too much of an over layer of prosciutto and no one enjoyed that either. The roasted duck was decent. The deserts were over priced again - we had 2 chocolate options and both were mediocre. The sommelier recommended a good wine - thank God. But he could have been more cordial. Came across like he was doing you a favor rather than his job. Would I go back - no. Service was fair, but the food was a disappointment. It will do well due to the hype but once everyone tries it once or twice after the euphoria dies down - it is just another Italian venue in a big city.

(以上食評乃用戶個人意見 , 並不代表OpenRice之觀點。)

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衛生

抵食

用餐日期

2012-04-25

等候時間

5 分鐘 (堂食)

人均消費

$800 (晚餐)

慶祝紀念

生日

AB209

(非會員)

I wasn't gonna write anything for this totally hopeless restaurant until I saw a popular food critic gave a 3.5stars out of 5stars for the food and 4stars out of 5stars for the service for this restaurant! It is totally misleading!! Therefore I decided to share my experience with you in openrice for the very first time.

I went to Lupa for dinner with my friends last week, the food was VERY SALTY in general, we didn't want to send them back as we didn't want to spoil the birthday girl's mood. Unfortunately, the carbonara spaghetti that the birthday girl ordered was raw (please note, it's raw, NOT al dente) and had almost no sauce and we had to send it back them. When we asked the waiter nicely that how about we pour our own wine (as he was super slow and unattentive), he told us bluntly, "I prefer not to". We were like shocked with his rudeness. When the desserts arrived, there was no "Happy Birthday" written on the cake as we requested specifically. As a matter of fact, since it was not possible to order a birthday cake in Lupa HK yet, we deliberately reminded them 2 times to make sure that they write Happy Birthday on the dessert plate - once when we made the reservation, and the second time upon our arrival in case they forgot. As you can imagine, the whole celebration mood was spoilt, so we just asked for a candle by that time. Unfortunately, with all these mistakes going on, it still took them another 15 minutes on top of the back and forth arguing - the restaurant manager tried to get away by saying there was some confusion. Hell No! There wasn't any confusion but Clear Instructions! By the time all these were ironed out, and they gave us the birthday girl a small piece of complimentary peanut chocolate bar, yet the other desserts that had arrived earlier were already melted. Even worst, we even found a hair in the date tart that arrived earlier (see pic). By that time, we didn't even bother to complain as we had totally given up. The service and food was really SUPER TERRIBLE for a so called award winning restaurant!

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題外話/補充資料： They did take out the desserts from our bill at the end, but who cares when all our mood were already spoilt? We just wanted a memorable birthday celebration with good food and service in a restaurant that is supposed to have excellent reputation!

(以上食評乃用戶個人意見 , 並不代表OpenRice之觀點。)

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衛生

抵食

用餐日期

2012-04-16

用餐途徑

堂食

人均消費

$700

慶祝紀念

生日

florent

等級2

Atmosphere:First impression is really nice with elegant decoration and an awesome Terrace - Closed during lunch time unfortunately. Open kitchen on your right hand side when you arrive in the restaurant - A bit hidden though.Tables are a too packed though and gets noisy really quickly.Service:Warm welcoming staff on arrival - Service is the usual HK stuff unfortunately : An army of weak service staff.Somelier:From New York, took time to explain a bit about the wine nose, flavors, specificities w

Atmosphere:
First impression is really nice with elegant decoration and an awesome Terrace - Closed during lunch time unfortunately. Open kitchen on your right hand side when you arrive in the restaurant - A bit hidden though.
Tables are a too packed though and gets noisy really quickly.

Service:
Warm welcoming staff on arrival - Service is the usual HK stuff unfortunately : An army of weak service staff.

Somelier:
From New York, took time to explain a bit about the wine nose, flavors, specificities which is great since we ordered a cheap Rose wine. Wine was ok and reasonably priced (according to hk standards): 300 hkd.

Food:
> Appertizer - Combination of seafoods starters: Out of 3, 1 was outstanding (Preserved Tuna and Cannellini) 1 is ok (Baccala with Olives and Citrus), 1 was really average (Octopus and Celery)
> Pasta - Carbonara: Ok, the Pork Jowl is tasty but I would expect a more creamy sauce.
> Pasta - Ricotta Gnocchi with Fennel and Sweet Sausage: Good, but only 10 pieces.
> Pasta - Bucatini al’Amatriciana: Good, but again the portion is extremely minimalist.

Plates temperature:
Starters: Were fresh and cold enough - good point
Mains: Were definitely not warm enough, I almost rejected the carbo pastas

Damage:
700 hkd per head

Conclusion:
Overall experience is Ok Minus, Overpriced comparred to what you can get elsewhere. I'd definitely rather go to ISOLA instead for a better service and location for the same price range. Lupa's terrace is nice though, I will be back for drinks only I think.

(以上食評乃用戶個人意見 , 並不代表OpenRice之觀點。)

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$700 (午餐)

dianano1

(非會員)

紐約名廚Mario Batali在紐約、洛杉磯、拉斯維加斯和新加坡都開了Lupa,本月登陸香港，當然先試為快。去前先看看食評，不少客人對其服務頗有微言，特別是午飯時間。我想今天是Sunday, 定位也毫無困難，不忙的話service應該不會差。中午一點半到達（在中環Gap上面），漂亮的外籍女經理熱情有禮，還帶我參觀了餐廳。餐廳的環境和氣氛不算豪華但舒適，座位之間有足夠的空間。餐廳雖然基本滿座但並不嘈雜。坐下來后看看餐牌，選擇還蠻多的。可是等了十五分鐘，連麵包也沒有，催促三次，才上來餅乾大小的麵包片，只有一種，質量非常普通。這餐午飯大部分時間都在等上菜，幸虧主菜沒有令我失望。看來大廚Mario很喜歡辣椒，所以菜式都有些淡淡的辣味，這是我沒料到的，但味道卻出奇地不錯。閒話至此，看片：

紐約名廚Mario Batali在紐約、洛杉磯、拉斯維加斯和新加坡都開了Lupa,本月登陸香港，當然先試為快。去前先看看食評，不少客人對其服務頗有微言，特別是午飯時間。我想今天是Sunday, 定位也毫無困難，不忙的話service應該不會差。

中午一點半到達（在中環Gap上面），漂亮的外籍女經理熱情有禮，還帶我參觀了餐廳。餐廳的環境和氣氛不算豪華但舒適，座位之間有足夠的空間。餐廳雖然基本滿座但並不嘈雜。

坐下來后看看餐牌，選擇還蠻多的。可是等了十五分鐘，連麵包也沒有，催促三次，才上來餅乾大小的麵包片，只有一種，質量非常普通。

這餐午飯大部分時間都在等上菜，幸虧主菜沒有令我失望。看來大廚Mario很喜歡辣椒，所以菜式都有些淡淡的辣味，這是我沒料到的，但味道卻出奇地不錯。閒話至此，看片：

The home made pasta is a thumb up!

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THe signature desert Lupa Tatofo is ordinary.

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Crispy duck is fantastic!不油不膩沒臊味。

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The braised Pork shoulder melts in your mouth!

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This steam clam is spicy and too salty .

The price is very reasonable.

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題外話/補充資料： Lupa從周一到周五有Lunch buffet: $168起（前菜，海鮮，甜品，沙拉），但不包括coffee and tea.可加＄30 到＄50 試其招牌菜式。

(以上食評乃用戶個人意見 , 並不代表OpenRice之觀點。)

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2012-04-15

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$350 (午餐)

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Little Meg

等級4

130

Anyone who has lived in the States, especially with in NYC, would not be unfamiliar with Mario Batali. He is not just a famous chef and restaurateur but also has numberous cookbooks and TV shows as well as products and a gigantic Italian gourmet market (Eataly). The Batali’s empire is so huge that I am always amazed by his energy and ability to manage them all.Although I haven’t been to his restaurants overseas, I frequented his restaurants, particularly those in Manhattan when I lived there.

Anyone who has lived in the States, especially with in NYC, would not be unfamiliar with Mario Batali. He is not just a famous chef and restaurateur but also has numberous cookbooks and TV shows as well as products and a gigantic Italian gourmet market (Eataly). The Batali’s empire is so huge that I am always amazed by his energy and ability to manage them all.

Although I haven’t been to his restaurants overseas, I frequented his restaurants, particularly those in Manhattan when I lived there. Different Batali’s restaurants present different styles and types of Italian food – Del Posto being a rare Italian haute cuisine establishment, Esca being seafood-centric, Otto and Lupa being causal Italian treats, simple, hearty, and easy to approach and share . My mom's favorite is Del Posto, and I love his first restaurant Babbo the most. I used to visit Lupa or Otta regularly with my colleagues and friends, as the food was consistent, fresh and seasonally driven, and very reasonably priced.

Normally I don’t rush to try new restaurants, as I want to wait till the restaurants work out all the kinks and smoothly operate before I dine there. However, I have been craving for simple good Italian for too long, and I was eager to try Lupa out. So on the first day of its lunch service, I visited with 2 friends, and revisited in 2 days. These were my experiences in the 2 LUNCH visits.

For the first day of Lupa’s lunch service, an impromptu causal lunch of 3 of us turned into full lunch menu tasting! We couldn’t resist but to order up almost everyone on the lunch menu. Currently you must order the buffet of antipasti and desserts, and add soup, primi/pizza , and/or secondi of your choice. These items are mostly available at dinner as well, but priced much higher as a la carte dishes.

There were around 12-13 types of vegetables and pesca antipasti and salad, 4 types of salumi, rosemary and sea salt focaccia, grissini, 5 types of desserts and fruits. (Numbers might vary…) It is actually quite a bargain considered the selections and the generious portion sizes.

I am not a big eater particularly at lunch, so I tried only a few that sounded interesting.

Antipasti buffet:

My picks of antipasti: lingua, fregula, & caponata

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Round 1: various salumi and seafood. I like the lingua (thin sliced ox tongue) with fennel and citrus peels and razor clams with fregula and basil the most. I don’t see much fregula featured in Italian restaurants in Hong Kong so even there weren’t much razor clams I wanted more of this.

For round 2, I had mainly vegetables and I enjoyed the caponata, grilled peppers with anchovies, and cipolla onions and balsamic. I also encored more lingua and razor clams and that’s it for my buffet.

Moving to primi and pizza. Despite just the 3 of us we ordered all 3 pasta available and a pizza

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Pizza Margherita, the simplest and most classic pizza was our choice, just to “test” the water.

Pizza Margherita: Still need improvement

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The Margherita pizza had nice char and bubbles at the cornicione and a chewy and fairly crusty base. However, the center was a bit too soggy for my liking. The wetness was probably due to the fresh tomato sauce which was a bit too watery and bland. The sauce and cheese required more seasoning.

We talked to Chef Allen, the chief chef at Lupa, and he mentioned that they were still getting used to the new oven and adjusting their execution and recipes every day. I think it had potential and it’s the main reason I paid a second visit so quickly after this lunch.

The 3 pastas available at lunch were also simple classic Italian pasta dishes, some of which being signatures in Lupa New York. Bavette Cacio e Pepe is a thin spaghetti-like pasta made with black pepper and Cacio di Roma cheese. This one was well executed with a robust peppery taste and al dente pasta. Very simple but nice!

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Spaghetti alla Carbonara also had a good eggy flavor, with enough seared guanciale that were crispy and fatty. They followed the authentic recipe without the use of cream. The only caveat was that the egg yolk curdled a little when it cooled down. Overall a very good carbonara!

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

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Ricotta Gnocchi with Sausage and Fennel was definitely fluffier and less dense than what I had tried in other Italian restaurants in Hong Kong. However I couldn't taste much fennel or sasuage that went with the cheesy tomato sauce . Good gnocchi but I preferred a sauce with more complexity. (and if they can also give the gnocchi a crispy exterior by pan-searing it, like they do at Babbo and Del Posto…)

Ricotta Gnocchi with Sausage and Fennel

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We were greedy

and ordered 2 mains.

Braised Pork Shoulder with Averna and Cucumber

Braised Pork Shoulder w Averna & Cucumber

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. The main course pork shoulder used Italian Averna (an Italian liquer) and ginger which gave it an Asian flavor resembling Chinese black vinegar. Unfortunately the pork shoulder meat was too lean and the exterior meat was stringy, possibly caused by deep-frying. Chef said he is trying to source pork knees which are fattier and more juicey locally to substitute as it was his original attempted recipe with pork knees

The Averna used for the braised pork shoulder. Thanks Chef Allen for a taste of it!
(I didn't get drunk even though it was of 32% alcohol

)

Averna for the sauce - very nice~

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Lamb Braciole with olives and cannellini beans

Lamb Braciole with olives and cannellini beans

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The lamb braciole was quite fatty this time with gelatinous and tender meat, rolled with cheese and crispy breadcrumbs. The olive flavor was very prominent, so good for those who like olives. The crispy and crunchy textural contrast of the breadcrumbs outside and the pine nuts inside was simply fantastic. The cannellini beans were also tender.

Although the lamb was definitely over salted during this visit, this issue was fixed in the second visit.

We were too full to enjoy the dessert buffet so I just had one bite of a few, including cinnamon amaretti cookies, chocolate bread pudding, Bombolini with cream filling.

Dessert buffet - too full to try...

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On our 2nd visit, there was no lingua at the buffet so simply cheese including gorgonzola dolce, 2 types of pecorino, ricotta salata. More razor clams with fregula and basil and caponata for me.

No Lingua this time, but more cheese

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I ordered a fresh lemon soda as I couldn’t drink at lunch and it was very refreshing. The olive oil they use here is Lorenza No.1, (I was hoping they use DaVero which they use in Babbo in NYC).

Fresh Lemon Soda, Lorenza No.1 Olive Oil

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My biggest prize was the pizza. MY (note: mine, don't know about others') Funghi Taleggio pizza was very delicious!

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Pizza Funghi Taleggio

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Pie crust was chewy without being too hard and the cornicione had crusty bubbles.

For the upskirt I like it to be crustier and with more char, but this was pretty good. The cornicione with puffed bubbles was still chewy but crustier than last time. When it cooled down it was much chewier...

A plethora of aromatic shrooms, crunchy and juicy! They went wonderfully with taleggio, one of my favorite melting cheese. Much better than the Margherita last time! It could still do with a little more crusty texture. It’s not exactly Napoletana-styled pizza I say, more like Batali’s own style, but quite close. Please keep improving!

My friend ordered the Lamb Braciole with Olives and Cannellini Beans which I had last time. Not overly salted this time, but the lamb was leaner than before. I like the previous fattier lamb more.

Not big on the desserts so just amaretti cookies and peanut butter cookies. More taleggio (because I real like it

) and rosemary focaccia and moscato to end the meal.

Overall I was happy with my two lunch visits, especially given the reasonable price. It is not up to the standard of Lupa New York yet, and not everything is perfect. More consistency in execution of the main dishes and pizza would improve the overall performance immensely. Chef Allen also told us that the team is trying to get better and more diverse sourcing of ingredients for a more enchanting menu. I am going to dinner in a few days to try out more dishes exclusive to the dinner menu. I believe giving it some time, Lupa will be an excellent causal Italian restaurant and a great addition to Hong Kong’s Italian culinary scene.

題外話/補充資料： Currently if you sit in the main dining room of Lupa, the buffet of antipasti and desserts must be ordered at lunch - $168, you can: - add soup for an extra $30 - add primi/pizza for an extra $50 - and/or secondi for an extra $90 Dinner is mainly a la carte dishes. There is no pizza available in the main dining room at dinner service. La Terrazza is the outdoor area of Lupa where you can order simple antipasti, pizza and drinks. Pasta and main dishes are not available outdoor, and it's not open for lunch time.

(以上食評乃用戶個人意見 , 並不代表OpenRice之觀點。)

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2012-04-05

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