Al Dente (Wan Chai) is a small cozy Italian joint with the most hospitable and friendly staff I have ever met. Regardless of the fact if you are a first timer or regular, the manager is always outside greeting you with the biggest smile and always takes a minute or so out of his time to chat with you. Since I started up Hong Kong Bites I have been itching to come back here so I'd be able share their food with you people on the interwebs. I've been here maybe 6 or 7 times in the past four months and I am never, ever, disappointing with the food and service. I always come here for dinner and I always end up getting their dinner set menu, which is HKD 228 + 10% service for a 4 course dinner. Not bad eh? They are not the kind of place that does unnecessary frou-fou with their plating, I think the food is simple, cooked well and just speaks for itself. That is why I love it.
In your 4-course dinner they start you with some homemade bread with the balsamic vinegar and olive oil. You have the choice to pick one appetizer and main. If you go with pasta as your main, you can choose any one on the al-carte menu! I thought that was pretty cool when I first got here.
This time around I ordered their mini-antipasto and lamb fillet (I highly recommend this one). The portion for the antipasto is pretty decent for one person. I know restaurants that would serve the same portion for a whole table. It had smoked salmon, parma ham, salami, buffalo mozzarella, fetta cheese, olives (they were hidden underneath), some pickled yellow peppers and grilled veggies (zucchini, eggplant and artichoke). Great start to dinner.
On to the main course, grilled lamb fillets, which is always cooked perfectly. Never over or under done, if I ask for medium it comes medium. Its juicy, succulent and all sorts of good. Their grilled lamb comes with a mint sauce kind of gravy and if you don't know already, mint sauce and lamb are the PERFECT COMBO! Compliments the lamb so well. Veggies, without fail, are cooked well and have rosemary on them too :) (Another great combo with the lamb). The the potato mash is super smooth (sorry if you can't see it, it's underneath the veg).
My partner ordered their grilled steak with pepper sauce, and it was cooked to a perfect medium (so hard to find places that know how to grill a steak to your preference that aren't ridiculously expensive). Also, there was barely any fat around the steak, another bonus because places within the same price range tend to have lots of fat left on the steak because they haven't bothered to trim or render it.
Today for dessert they had the banoffee pie with ice cream. It usually rotates between the banoffee pie or tiramisu. Sometimes they have both, so make sure to ask! My partner told me that they serve apple crumble too (and I LOVE apple crumble), but when I asked the manager if they had any today he said it finished up at lunch. So there I was busy eating my dessert and to my surprise he comes with two plates of poached apples with cinnamon, raisins and ice-cream (in addition to our two plates of desserts) on the house! I think they ran out of crumble and had some apples left, but I still thought it was really nice of him to bring it out for us.
(apples and cinnamon..om nom nom)
If you are to ever visit Al Dente in Wan Chai, as I said before, expect great tasting perfectly cooked food, the friendliest staff and lovely service. Do let me know about your experience at the restaurant in the comment section below :)
Al Dente
153 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai
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