I am looking for the Italian culinary in Hong Kong which is not offering their menu in a 'mass-production' way. To have an Italian night without pizza and spaghetti or linguini, and even not risotto or tortellini, luckily I was introduced to Gianni's Trattoria Italiana - a Puglia-Cuisine-featured restaurant in Soho, Central. The 70's Chef, Gianni, brought the authentic South Italy flavor back to 2013, and Puglia where the Chef is born and grows up, becomes the main cuisine origin of this special Italian restaurant.

The upper location leaves the restaurant far away from the noise in this crowded block. The restaurant is quite simple decorated leaded by a home-culinary concept. If I were alone, I would prefer the table along the top-down window to enjoy the interesting street view of Soho area.

We had two kinds of welcome breads and we were highly recommended with the home-made black vinegar, which was thicker and sweeter. To be served with flat bread is perfect. The fried bread was quite cute. The fried dough was soft and salty, but inside there was honeycomb dough in a beautiful natural wheat-aroma.

Puglia Farmer Bread served with Sicily Cherry Tomato and Roquet $58

Puglia cuisine is famous of its olive oil production, and the simple cooking concept with fresh-health and rearing. Tomato is one of fresh ingredients largely used in Puglia cuisine. The fresh chopped tomatoes were placed on the top of dark brown breads. The bite was very moisture in olive oil absorbed by the denser bread and juicy in tomatoes.

Flavored Seafood Salad with Cattle Fish, Crab, Octopus and Shrimps $148

South Italian culinary of course cannot live with seafoods. The small grilled seafood platter was olive-oil rich in taste, and the cold pieces were fresh and chewy; in the mouth, they were like alive.

Smoked Hard Italian Cheese with Parma Ham served in a clay pot $118

Cheese is another famous item in Puglia area, and to serve in clay pot is the best way of home-cuisine concept. The golden and milky cheese was quietly lying in the pot with thin slices of ham on the top. The clay pot gave the mild but higher heating to the ham which tasted juicy and gave out its smoked aroma to the melted cheese. Highly recommend to take this dish as it's still hot, otherwise you need to prepare a pair of strong teeth because the cheese turns hard very quickly as it cools down.

Home-made South Italian ear-shaped pasta with Cauliflower and Pancetta $168

Ear-shape pasta is Puglia culinary special, and of course every people come to Gianni's will be served by Chef. Gianni with the home-made South Italian flavor. The dish combined two features of Puglia Cuisine, lighter-flavored and pasta in special shape. The 'ear' gave a thicker and firmer chewing texture and the pasta sauce is more like soup flavored by fried garlic. Overall, I would not say the flavor was light because the soup, in fact, was quite salty but in terms of cheesy, it was lighter for sure than most of pasta dishes I have had in Italian restaurants.

Veal Scaloppine served with Masala Wine (or Ham) $228

Thinly sliced (Scaloppine) of young cattle (Veal), my tongue was spoiled by the extreme tenderness and juiciness. The dish was specially colored by Masala Wine, a wine originated from Sicily, Italy. Well, I thought the wine aroma was faded away. To be specially mentioned, is the grilled potato cubes. They are perfected flavored even better than the veal, and I was given a changing texture from the mouth-melting surface till the slightly crispy and hard central. 

Profitterol Choccolate $70

Vanilla or Chocolate Tartufo $70

The special desserts among the three, was Tartofu. A typical Italian ice cream (not gelato) coated with a powder layer of chocolate or vanilla.

Gianni's Trattoria Italiana

1/F, 51 Elgin Street

Soho, Central

Hong Kong

+852 2525 1838

info@giannitrattoria.com

Mon to Sun. 12nn - 2.30pm & 6pm - 11.30pm

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感謝 Menty Yu 提供以上資料

Menty Yu的網誌: http://mentyinhk.blogspot.hk/

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