Read full review
2012-01-23
86 views
Piccolo Pizzeria & Bar could have been just like many small scale Pizzerie in town and hoping to make a living by dishing out lame pizzas at a premium price, but I was still really glad that I had decided to click the all important "ATTEND" button for this event which was organized by foodie Ryu_Ng, which was way before I have even arrived back to Hong Kong from Australia. When I arrived as the last person after suffering some major delays, Mr R came to greet me and introduced himself an
Piccolo Pizzeria & Bar could have been just like many small scale Pizzerie in town and hoping to make a living by dishing out lame pizzas at a premium price, but I was still really glad that I had decided to click the all important "ATTEND" button for this event which was organized by foodie Ryu_Ng, which was way before I have even arrived back to Hong Kong from Australia. When I arrived as the last person after suffering some major delays, Mr R came to greet me and introduced himself and my initial reaction was who was this new foodie that I haven't even met before It turned out he was actually the host of the night of this event and also the Sommelier of the Michelin 1 Starred CEPAGE restaurant, as well being the general manager of a few pizzerie and fine dining restaurants owned by the Les Amis Group in Singapore. Woops, didn't even know this was a tasting event... .
2009 Bott Geyl, Riesling Les Elements - $335The night started off with an entry level dry Riesling wine from Alsace of France, which is quite clean tasting and chalky minerally, with an acidity which hints of lime and lemon zest which was quite balanced, and obviously even dryer than the 'trocken' German rieslings but sweeter than the lot of new world rieslings which are more fruit driven. I like this style of wine personally, so may be I am a little biased ~ 8/10
.
Pizza 11 Inches, Four Cheeses - $130 Topped with 4 cheeses of Mozzarella, Taleggio, Scarmoza (smoked type) and blue cheese Gorgonzola. The base here is deliberately aimed at the Roman Style pizza, which is normally more thinner and crispier. The pizza dough here is made from Australian high quality wheat which are milled into flour in Malaysia, after very careful selection by the Manager/Sommelier after sessions of blind tasting. The pizza dough was actually quite alright - being decently crispy and tenacious at the same time without being too brittle or crisp, also carrying an evenly baked and slightly charred bottom with good wheaty taste. Not biscuity at all, and unlike all Roman rather than Napoli or Sicily style, the latter two said to resonate more with Hong Kong customers due to untrained palates and preferences. The Brick Oven here is designed to be able to heat pizze upwards of 320C to 400C, an ideal range just without the woodfire. The four cheesees to me were decent but knowing that 3 out of the 4 cheese are naturally strongish I somehow they were a little bit weakened. Personal bias perhaps, but I expect strong and cowy or smoky cheese flavours when I see Taleggio, Smoked Scarmoza and Gorgonzola by default. ~ 7/10
.
Vegetariana - $130Made with Zucchini, Eggplant, Artichoke (spelling mistake here as Artichoxe), Peppers and Black Olives. This was baked perfectly with an obviously present mozzarella cheese, and although I think this might be slightly over-priced, was one of the best pizzas presented on the night with perfect cooking timing and fresh quality vegetables ~ 9/10
.
2010 Triennes Rosé - $300Predominantly made from Cinsault grapes, also with Syrah, White Grenache as well as Merlot, with the absence of Pinot Noir, this to me was a really convincing Rose wine actually - as more Rose wine claims to be all girly and soft, but deep under can be quite alcoholic and warm and not as mellow as it pretends to be. The one served tonight was balanced and florally aromatic, a soft expression of what are usually red wine grapes. Highly recommended if you like Rose ~ 9/10
.
Prosciutto di Parma - Prosciutto Ham with Shaved Parmesan and Rocket - $130The ham is served as raw 'crudo' style, which means it is only placed on top of the already baked pizza base after the baking is done. A foodie complained that there was a little too much arugula rocket leaves to detract from the taste, whereas others were convinced this was appreciated. This polarity shows food preference can be plus or minus subjective, but when half the customers thought they were aligned with one way or another, this must mean the restaurant is doing something right . And just to throw spanners into the work, I thought the rocket leaves amount was ok but a bit plain, perhaps needing more seasoning or an extral drizzle of a floral olive oil. The ham was decent. ~ 7.5/10
.
Pancetta - With Local Egg, Pancetta Bacon & Tomato$130Spelt and printed wrongly as Panchetta on the menu, perhaps because the shop is confused between Porchetta and Pancetta, two vastly different things also derived from a pig although to be fair, both can be either rounded or squarish in shape, which further adds to the confusion, alebit there is a clear distinction between the two in meat and taste. Sometimes just a letter or 2 missing can mean different things when it comes to terminology, so it might sound a bit harsh, but accuracy in spelling and recipe often provides a clue as to how the recipe is intending to become. This was quite Italian in final outcome and aromatically smoky with the round pancetta bacon, but the latter was slightly under charred and lacking that distinct smoky flavour (also found in Guanciale pork jowl). I really like this and it was almost like a breakfast item, but ultimately it was missing that really salty, porky or smoky HAM factor in the equation, though not really far from it. ~ 7.5/10
.
Aglio Olio - $110The Sommelier/Manager said this recipe is derived from their Singaporean Pizza shops' recipe, and took them about 13 goes before they were satisfied with the end result. A little exaggerated, but the end result really speaks for itself. Despite using just a normal commercial dry pasta by Barilla, the garlic was first fried to the perfect aromatic stage without being burnt, then quality olive oil and red chili were added to make this an amazingly fragrant Aglio Olio spaghetti. I have never had fond memories of such a simple and often over-poweringly garlicky or olive oil based dish, but I have got to say this was PERFECTLY balanced and executed. Simply one of the biggest misnomers which came unexpected, and amazing. ~ 9/10
.
Minestrone Soup - $45This compared to the traditional Italian version was a little light and acidic, without enough herbal flavours from either celery or herbs influence. A little too toned down. I like them really RUSTIC and with a bit more pasta, peas, overnight bread or cheese thrown in, more like a thick vegetarian stew. This was a little too Hong Kong like and not overly Italian, but it is hard to judge isn't it Everyone has their own interpretations and even counting in myself and despite being open-minded, I still adhere to my own preference in the end, only because I vividly remember the true Italian Taste. Oh well. ~ 6/10
.
2006 Est-Quest, Cotes du Rhone - This wine selection really reflects the expertise of the Sommelier-run-pizzeria here and already of Michelin 1 Starred status Cepage. Produced by André Brunel, This unfiltered wine is produced close to or near the Chateauneuf-du-Pape region yet it carries without the CdP status due to non-compliance with the AOC codes for a true certified CdP. Grapes are hand picked and stems are carefully removed as explained by our host R, and instead of being a typical Grenache Syrah Mourvedre based wine, this is of a 75% Grenache, 15% Cinsault and 10% Syrah GCS wine which is more atypical of the 13 varieties of grapes permitted though just outside of the region it is marked at. The wine is also supported by a well known French noble family. At around the mid $2xx a pop, this was truly top wine available at an unassailable price point. If there is 1 rare wine that I will really appreciate and recommend tonight, this will truly be it - but it isn't yet on the menu. ~ 9/10
.
Penne Carbonara - Pancetta & Egg in Light Cream - $130Spelt wrongly again as Panchetta on the menu by the 2nd time rather than Pancetta as pointed out by a foodie, discounting the spelling flaw and 2ndly the the addition of cream in the recipe was never meant to be truly authentically Roman style Carbonara which never allows any cream, this was great in taste despite not being traditional in recipe. The pancetta was not frangrant enough compare to a true Guanciale ham which is really the true soul to a Carbonara dish, but it was the reduced white wine stock from reducing a full bottle to merely a portion of its original size which gave this dish enough wine acidity to cut through the greasiness. I really liked this dish, and others ordered this as a Spaghetti rather than as a hollowed Penne tube, which the latter obviously performed better. Despite the presence of the unnecessary cream base when compared to the original cream-less recipe, I am going to judge here using taste rather than adhering to traditional expectations as this was of the rare occasions when it performed above its original intentions, despite not using hand made pastas. A really impressive pasta from what was meant to be a simple recipe ~ 9/10
.
Panna cotta - This was quite runny for a Panna Cotta but appreciated, with many Papua New Guinea vanilla seeds present and a slightly runny panna cotta base, topped with decent berries coulis and fruits. This kind of true panna cotta is hard to find in Hong Kong actually as the real version is meant to be quite runny rather than being all gelatin set, hence it's interpretation of being like a cream ~ 9/10
....
Post
