Competition in Hong Kong's restaurant market is quite fierce; just by looking into the soho area, we are not that surprised to see the turn-over speed of new restaurants. At the old Nico's place, now there's the fresh new red brand, Linguini Fini, which is moved from Wellington Street and finishes its renovation. This restaurant keeps high popularity and reputation among locals and expats since its opening by its 100% handmade pasta, modern dining concept lead by their Italian-American chef, and through recent visit, I learnt more ideas about farm-grown except 'just a place to fill up the stomach'.
Instead of changing the whole space layout, I see more soft changes in the restaurant to be matched with the causal and simple modern style. A cheerful and young feeling is brought out by the restaurant's main color-tone which warms up every one. The dining area is designed smartly to express the fun and the environmental-caring concept which is another key concept that the owner and the chef are willing to express. We were seated around the long wooden bench table and on the colorful wasted-oil-drum. There are a little garden with a lot of greens at the backyard, where is also a mini fresh food waste composting station.
Lunch time is featured in semi-buffet plus selected main course style which is quite fit to the needs of people who are working around Central. 2-3 types of ham and cheese, grilled or fresh-mixed salads seasoned by olive oil and vinegar, etc; don't expect a huge selection of starters, but you will be satisfied by its qualified ingredients and flavor.
Bronx Pizza
The New York style 18'' pizza is the new item with the renovation. It wowed us a lot not only by its huge size, but the attractive pizza top. Special meatball with the kitchen-producted pepperoni were 'printed' on the egg-yellow cheese & bloody tomato sauce layer; fresh herbs and thin slices of mozzarella balanced the flavor as well as the colorful looking. It's thin pizza but not in a super crispy and crunchy way; the heavy cheese and the heat made the huge triangle slice of pizza moisture and melted. It's an intensive taste; mild by the sauce meanwhile appetite-stimulating by the cheesy aroma and spicy sense.
Fragrant Grass Linguini with Parm Fonduta (back) & Fettucine Funghi (front)
I became fettucine-lover since my first try in Rome, and I would like to give a 8/10 mark to Linguini Fini's Fettucine Funghi. I have successfully found the right chewiness and eggy aroma from their pasta; the losing 2 points would be counted to the heavy oily taste as my personal judgement. The milky-green color pasta, Fragrant Grass Linguini with parm Fonduta, was ranked as the top 2nd among the 4 pasta dishes we have tried that day. It's a really creamy texture all around the al-dente pasta, a light 'essential' of herb flavor mixed into the creamy-cheesy sauce completely and we could not have too much but tried our best to have more bites, just because of its deliciousness.
Radiatore alla Vodka
Top 1 coming :P
The Chef plays a game with traditional Italian pasta by adding spicy nduja laced cream sauce; by using this Italian pork spread (nduja) and leveraging the spices of it, the dish impressed us at our first bite immediately; it made your brain memorize this new special taste once your tongue absorbed those 'bio-chemical signals'.
Apple Caramel Pie
Chocolate Banana Cake
The adding desserts were obviously in a New York style - big size, big taste! The apple pie was the rawest one I have seen in Hong Kong, with largely chopped apple. I love the thin and hard texture of pie with a strong butter aroma. The cake, was not that good-looking to be honest, but to a sweet-lover/chocolate-lover, it is definitely a 'eye-killer'. It tasted just like its melting look, very chocolate & banana in the very fresh way; the banana layer was so fresh that it was like I was having a bite of banana while drinking cold thick chocolate.
* No service charge
* Lunch around $150 per head
* Dinner around $350 per head
* Weekday Happy Hour (5pm - 7pm): All-You-Can-Eat chicken wings & Free-flow PBR (beer)
49 Elgin Street
Soho
Central
Hong Kong
+852 2387 6338
info@linguinifini.com
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