Our work relocated to new digs in Pacific Place several years ago. Although it was a longer bus ride for me in the morning, I was quite happy to move away from the hustle and bustle of Central and closer to the wide ranging lunch options in Wanchai. My last work place was in Citibank Plaza - and if you've ever been there, you'll know what a big contrast it is. Luckily for me, some close friends have gradually ended up in this end of town for work so there's never a shortage of lunch buddies.
In particular, Star Street is a little oasis, full of gorgeous cafes and restaurants. Spuntini is a new addition to the Star Street family of restaurants, "part deli, part wine bar and part café". Its website sounded promising: "Two-starred Michelin chef Moreno Cedroni is known throughout the world for his simple yet delicious creations, and Spuntini is the first restaurant in Hong Kong to introduce his unique brand of Italian products to greater China."
Unfortunately, Spuntini leans towards being an good example of what I consider one of the biggest shortcomings of Hong Kong dining scene: good food, crap service. Well, perhaps in this case that is a bit harsh, but there were certainly enough WTFs to make us wonder about returning. It all began with the waiter taking our order for lunch.
Firstly, the lunch menu includes a range of set lunch items (soup, plus a main course of pasta, rissotto, roast of the day and tea/coffee) ranging from 90 to 120 HKD. On the back is the a la carte menu which includes a full list of antipastos which you could order separately, or a 2/3/4 item antipasto platter. After we had ordered individual lunch sets, D thought it would be good idea to try some anti-pasta as well. So the conversation goes something like this:
Us: "Hi we'd also like the olives and eggplants as a double item antipasto to share." (We thought the full size portions would probably be too big to share on top of our lunch sets).
Waiter: "Oh sorry we are out of olives today."
Us: "You are? Err ... no olives?" (At an Italian deli, hmm) "Ok that's fine. How about the mozarella with tomatoes to replace the olives, to go with the eggplant instead. Still the same two items share."
Waiter: "Ok." (10 secs later) "Oh sorry actually you can't have the mozarella with tomatoes as part of the 2 item platter, it can be only ordered on its own."
Us: (Errr but isn't it listed on the anti-pasto menu?) "Err ... ok, then how about the grilled peppers."
Waiter: "Ok. Oh wait sorry we are out of grilled peppers today as well."
Us: "Right". So we then went through list and finally managed to find something which (1) was available and (2) was not prohibited from being part of the 2 item antipasto menu.
Then S said, "I'm sure I saw olives in the deli window, what is the waiter on about?".
Sure enough there was a huge bowl of kalamata olives in the window. The waiter replied "No those aren't olives". I replied that they sure look like olives to me. Waiter "Well they aren't the same olives, the ones in the antipasto plate are mixed olives".
Right. All we wanted were olives at an Italian deli so we ordered them anyway. Maybe the difficulty in getting to these olives were a sign because when the platter came, we counted 6 olives, with two small pieces of eggplant ($38). The olives were really too salty.
We were then given a small amuse bouche, which I thought was a lovely touch until I tasted it. It was a badly executed fusion concoction: vietnamese rice paper roll wrap over spaggetti and some vegs. It was all rather bland and chewy.
The soup accompanying the set lunch was a minestrone soup which came served in a jar. Cute, and reminded us of some rustic french restaurants, but a little out of place at Spuntini.
The mains, thank goodness were good. My seafood rissotto was generously proportioned with grilled scallops and prawns and the rissotto rice done just right. D's roast chicken looked pretty decent and S said she had never had a more beefy lasagne before ("I have to dig around to find the pasta!").
The dessert was the highlight of the meal: the tiramisu (one of two desserts available) and it tasted and looked beautiful.
Then came the time to order the set tea/coffee. Camomile tea? That's extra 10 HKD. Latte? Same surcharge. When they say tea/coffee included, they mean only the standard red tea and plain black coffee.
Spuntini
Shop A, G/F, 4-6 St. Francis Street, Wanchai
(852) 2528 1060
Verdict: 2.5 out of 5 stars.
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