Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Osteria

This Italian restaurant is located in Holiday Inn Golden Mile, offering authentic style homemade pizza and other pasta. Coming tonight in the midst of typhoon signal no. 3, the first one for HK this summer, we were greeted warmly and seated at the middle of the restaurant.

A cozy, relaxing ambiance, the tables are not exactly spacious but good enough for the two of us. The restaurant offers a dinner menu which seems to be a good deal. However, as we want to try a few signature dishes we opted for a la carte instead. They have also a tuna promotion and we opted for a few dishes too.

For starter we had the Carpaccio di Tonno, Caviale, Finocchi Croccanti, Maionese et Tartufo ($258). Very beautifully plated in a ring shape, the tuna carpaccio is added with some caviar, crispy fennel, and truffle mayonnaise. The caviar added a bit of salty savory to the fish, and the mayonnaise has a nice truffle note to blend everything together. A good appetizer.

Next we had the Ravioli Ripieni alla Mousse di Tonno, Broccoli Saltati, Calamari ($258). The black ink ravioli is filled with tuna mousse, with some small broocoli, squid, and sun-dried tomatoes. The texture of the ravioli is good, with a nice chewy bite and the fillings nicely seasoned, with a bit of spiciness which made the ravioli even more appetizing. The squid is tender and not rubbery, and the tomatoes providing a bit of sweet and sourness to make the dish more complex. Another good dish.

Each of us decided to order a soup, with me going for Zuppa di Pesce ($138). This traditional seafood soup in spicy tomato broth is very good, served steaming hot, with a rich tomato taste integrated perfectly with the seafood broth. It was one of the best tasting soup I had for a while, no-frill, authentic and bring about a sense of comfort. The touch of spicy is spot on too. The portion is also very big, and drinking it all can fill one pretty quickly. My only critic is the server messing the plate a bit and damaged the presentation but overall the taste is phenomenal. 

My wife had the Il Classico Minestrone alla Genovese ($118). The classic minestrone from Genova with basil pesto is green in colour, with a lot of vegetable so making the soup super filling. With the big portion I would not be surprised that for many people finishing this soup will mean there is no room for other dishes.

Trying the pizza from the stone oven, we ordered the Pizza, Speck, Scamorza, Funghi, Tartufo Nero Fresco ($248). The white pizza has smoked ham, scamorza cheese, mushroom, and black truffle. The crust is nice, with crisp edge and a good bite of the right balance of chewiness. The toppings are great, with the ham and mushroom each bringing their flavors to complement with the rich black truffle note. A very good pizza and prompted me to want to come again to try another of their pizza.

Already very full, I opted for a simple dessert, Sgroppino di Prosecco al Limone ($88). The glass of prosecco wine is smoothly blended with lemon sorbet, with the nice acidity of the lemon sorbet a good match with the prosecco, leveraging the bubbly wine to give further refreshing and vibrancy to the dessert. A creative one to serve the sorbet instead of just a scoop with garnish.

The overall service is good, with the staff friendly and attentive. All the dishes are quite big in portion and with the bill of $1218 it is good value for money too. If you like a decent, no-frill Italian meal this place is a good choice.