Castellana Restaurant — Restaurant in Hong Kong Island

Castellana Restaurant is no ordinary Italian cuisine because they specialize in dishes from Piedmont in Italy.

Piedmont cuisine is so different to your usual Italian fare like pizza because of its location and climate.

You won't find olives growing well there hence root vegetables are used and you will find risotto cooked with butter instead of olive oil.

I had the 7 course set which meant I could try more variety and all the courses on the menu were worth trying.

Started with their house made crusty bread:

^^^^^^^^^^

Roasted Pepper with Parmesan Cheese:

This was a nice appetizer to tease the palate.

^^^^^^^^^^

Smoked lake trout:

The first course started well with the smoked lake trout which I found it comforting because I always have that in UK and it is rarely served in Hong Kong unless some restaurant imports it.

The trout was not overly smokey complemented well by the berry gels on top.

^^^^^^^^^^

Fassona beef broth and vegetables:

Next was the soup which was warm soup with beef tartare on the spoon.

The tartare was the finest I have ever had, you begin with the beef tartare, then the soup and finish with the pickles.

I loved it the way the tartare was not over seasoned so that you could taste the beef and the warm soup adjusts your palate with savouryness and then the pickles get you ready for the next course.

^^^^^^^^^^

Risotto with black garlic and river prawns:

As mentioned earlier, many dishes use butter instead like this one so the risotto was very rich but the black garlic was a good element in mellowing out the butter with its sweetness.

^^^^^^^^^^

Carbonara Au Koque:

Homemade taglioni and Vigezzo valley cured ham.

This was no ordinary Carbonara, I loved the way the sauce was poured on when it was served.

The best thing was the cured ham on top which was crispy and thin.

Every mouthful was sinfully delicious with creamy strands of pasta and the saltiness from the cured ham crisps.

^^^^^^^^^^

Corregone Lake fish glazed with black cherry:

Again, this another dreamy moment, delicate fish in an aromatic sweet black cherry sauce.

On the side was rainbow chards which I haven't had in ages, again another vegetable that I always take for granted in UK.

On top there were fresh blackberries and raspberries.

^^^^^^^^^^

Fassona beef:

The last main dish before dessert was the beef which was soft and supple in a bed of silkilicious mash with crumbs.

It was definitely a satisfying main before dessert.

^^^^^^^^^^

Tiramisu:

Dessert was a playful twist of the past, present and future in the form of Tiramisu.

My favourite was the middle one which was sweet and creamy, while the chocolate bonbon had a bitter twist.

There was more to come with hazelnuts and truffle chocolate which was a perfect ending.

I would definitely recommend this place as every course is a surprise and it is helmed by...

We ordered the 7 course chef’s signature menu (HKD$1,980++). For this price, we expected at least a decent meal, but the whole experience was a nightmare. None of the courses that we had were impressive or even come together as a dish, and some of them were even inedible.

When the first course (Ricotta foam) arrived, I tasted each ingredients separately, and concluded that they were not premium at all. The sea urchin was a sushi belt chain quality at best, cavier most definitely one of the lower grade, and the oyster left an after taste for me until the last course

I’m surprised at how salty a lot of the dishes were. The artichoke with bagna cauda sauce was impressively horrible I took one bite and was done with it. There was no flavor it was just salty like the pasta fresca and the tenderloin main course. I wondered if the chef actually tasted any of the dishes at all, and how did any of our food left the kitchen. Furthermore, this is the first time at a fine dining experience that I wished there were less truffle on my food.

Tiramisu is the only thing good about this tasting menu, it really helped you briefly forget about how awful the first 6 courses were.

To charge this much for some terrible food is even more impressive than the food itself, I expect so much more. The only thing we were happy to pay for was the service, which we were very happy with. We would definitely pay more for the food if it was good, but after this meal we honestly felt like it was a waste of money. We could have gone to another fine dining place with a Michelin star and pay half the price of this menu.

Don’t order the chef’s tasting menu if you don’t want to feel like getting rob after a meal. Definitely will not be returning. I read some of the reviews for this place that said it was the best Italian fine dining restaurant in HK, it left me curious if I was at the same restaurant as them(maybe they ordered the regular menu items?).

Nothing but regrets...

Castellana is definitely one of the best Italian fine dining restaurants in HK! This new location is much more spacious and the decor is elegant yet fun and what I can say about the food, everything was just perfect. Here’re some of my absolute favorites of the night:

Artic char tartare - the artic char was so fresh you could almost taste the river! Its salty, smokey, and the citrusy sauce was a perfect addition to cut the richness of the fish. I could eat 2 plates of this!

Asti-style bell pepper - this dish looked a little unassuming but as soon as you take a bite, you’d immediately want to go for second and third until you finish the whole thing! Who knew bell pepper and tuna could complement each other so well!

Buttoni ravioli stuffed blue lobster - who doesn’t like lobster?!? These raviolis were filled with a generous amount of lobster meat. The pasta was al dante and you could taste the sweetness of the lobster in the broth. SO GOOD!

Mont blanc with white truffle - my first time having truffle in dessert and it blew my mind 🤯 the mont blanc itself wasn’t excessively sweet and the truffle did not overpower it, you could still taste the chestnut and the silky smooth whipped cream with the aroma of the truffle filled in your month. Just writing about it makes my mouth watering 🤤

The servers were attentive and knowledgeable about the food. It was definitely one of my best fine dining...