For any Hong Kong restaurant with a world-class view of the city skyline, drawing in the crowds comes easy. But only the very special restaurants keep the food critics coming back for more, and that’s exactly the case at GIANDO Italian Restaurant & Bar.
GIANDO’s renowned Italian chef-owner Gianni Caprioli dishes up an unpretentious take on Italian cuisine—and offers his diners an unmatched view. But he says that the focus is always on the food, delivering and preparing simple authentic Italian dishes from premium quality ingredients, most of which he sources direct from Italy.
The restaurant gives way to a minimalist yet classic Italian dining experience, designed to let the food shine and without taking away any of its glory—think plain white table cloths against crude grey tiles. This might seem rather ironic when there’s such an impressive view stealing your attention just inches away from your dining table, but that’s before you get a glimpse of GIANDO’s creations…
Dish after dish comes impressively presented like a piece of contemporary art, bursting with a modern Italian energy that’s been cleverly translated onto each plate. Take the Carpaccio Di Mare for instance. A colourful explosion of red tomatoes, radishes and olives are scattered atop delicate slices of scallops, red shrimp and yellow tail, marinated in a sauce that Caprioli calls “A thousand flavours of the Mediterranean”. Indeed, we came for the view. But we stayed for the phenomenal food.
The wonderful mix of flavours at Giando are demonstrated further in our favourite dishes—the Spaghetti Martelli Ai Ricci Di Mare is vivified with swells of fresh sea urchin and fine bottarga, while the oomph of the Puglia-style burrata lies in each textured bite; a creaminess here, an acidic tang there; a juicy chunk of marinated eggplant then small chewy morsels of dehydrated sun-dried tomatoes.
