Review: Serenade

Serenade, a new Italian restaurant, just opened in Sheung Wan.  It’s across from Hollywood Road Park, so you can see trees while you eat – a rare and pleasant sight in this town.

The interior has a somewhat severe aspect to it, having been decorated mostly in grey concrete and muted tones.  The lights are fantastic – plexiglass globes suspended from the ceiling with small light bulbs inside.   A wine rack runs along one wall, and there are seats for around 20 diners in the room.  Further in, a semi-open kitchen is visible, and there is a short bar with a few stools.  The music was relaxing and the overall environment was quite calm.

I can’t remember what the tables look like, but the chairs are bent plywood and comfortable enough for an hour, though probably not much more.

The menu is extensive with 50+ items on it.  I usually get nervous with such large selections (how can you really be good at such a wide variety of dishes?) but it will take a few return visits to learn the best choices.  Admittedly, Pisco is not an expert on Italian cuisine, but it was not apparent if there are any specific regions that inspired the menu (Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmonte, etc).

Pisco and K shared a plate of mussels to start – the mussels were large, plump, and flavorful; hands down it’s the best plate of mussels I’ve had in HK, even beating out Frites due to the consistency of the large mussel size.  The broth was delicious and garlicky, without too much butter.  Yes, we mopped up the broth with the bread.  A clear A grade except for the bread, which, being spongy and flaccid, receives a D.

For mains, both of us ordered the crab linguine.  K originally wanted the linguine alle vongole but they were out of clams (helpful tip to server: the correct pronunciation of ‘vongole’ has three syllables, and does not rhyme with ‘Mongol’).  The linguine comes on a plate that is the size of a 12-inch

record, for those of you who are old enough to have ever seen one.  There is a large Asian pear-sized grapefruit-sized depression in the centre where they place the actual food – see photo.  The pasta was a little overcooked, but certainly edible, and the crab was rich and flavorful.  K remarked that it felt a little flat, and it was true that a shot of lemon juice could have brightened the flavor substantially.  Nonetheless it is a solid effort, adequate in quantity, and I would return to try it again.  Grade: B.

For dessert we split an orange soufflé.  It came out hot, fully inflated, and gently flavored of orange – a competent execution of a non-trivial item.

Orange soufflé

The service is reasonably competent and probably above the normal HK standard.  That said, I do not enjoy the constant requests of “Would you like to try our X dish which is amazing tonight?”  No, thank you, I don’t want another starter, I don’t want a glass of wine, and I don’t want the chocolate dessert.  How about you let me tell you what I want?  I appreciate the need to upsell but my tolerance in this area is quite limited as it detracts from my overall dining experience.

A plate of mussels, two plates of pasta, one soufflé, and a bottle of Pellegrino ran around 570 HKD.

Finally, one note on the name: searching for “serenade hong kong” brings up two other well-known entities of that name (one residential complex, one other restaurant company).  It’s not easy to find online, and the nonexistent website does not help matters at all.  Serenade should consider boosting their online presence as other customers who do not live so close may not bother with the effort to find it.

Ambiance: B+
Food: B
Service: B-
Value: B-
Overall: B

Serenade
Hollywood Road, across from Hollywood Road Park
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
[map]

Review: Amante

Pisco had a light lunch, and his growing hunger kept asking for pasta as darkness fell.  I’ve walked by Amante several times per week since moving to Sheung Wan, and always wondered what it was like.  It seemed a bit pricey, a bit ex-patty… but let’s give it a try.

We decided to sit at one of the two outside tables, since the industrial-strength air-con was running full blast inside.  The tiny outdoor area is a rare al fresco area (for Western joints, let’s say), and as long as you can tolerate an adjacent table full of smokers and the exhaust of passing taxis, you’ll enjoy it.  If you are sensitive to those particular bouquets, you might consider moving away from Hong Kong.

We ordered a starter of mozzarella with tomatoes and basil; the mozzarella was fine, but the tomatoes were a little tasteless.  New Jersey this is not (in so many ways…).  The salad as a whole was fine, if small.

We ordered the two pasta dishes on the menu – spaghettini alle vongole and a seafood linguini.

The linguini was quite good – lots of shrimp, scallops, and squid floating around in a not overly-large bowl of linguini, along with crispy chopped red and yellow peppers.  The linguini had been cooked fifteen seconds past al dente, unfortunately, but quite good nonetheless.  A simple dish, executed competently.

The spaghettini was also good, with a large helping of clams nearly covering the pasta.  The pasta was a bit too salty and a little overcooked, but the portion was sized appropriately and it did the trick.

Aside from teaching the chef how to cook al dente pasta, Pisco has only one suggestion for the fine folks at Amante: for the love of Italy, please stop using the battery-powered pepper mill.  Every time the waiter reached over the table to use it, one thought passed through my mind: “Don’t tase me, bro!”  It is as loud as it is tasteless, so please upgrade to a manual grinder.  Thank you.

One starter, two mains, and a bottle of Pellegrino lifted 440 HKD from my wallet, making this a good bet for the occasional dinner, but probably not a regular outing.

Now, does anyone know where I can find a good carbonara in this town?

Food: B
Ambiance: B (upgrade to B+ without smokers)
Value: C
Service: C- (upgrade to B without the taser)

Amante
80 Bonham Strand East
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
2827-8277
[map]