Restaurant review: Carbone, Lan Kwai Fong - New York Italian
Big flavours and monster portions make this a New York Italian classic
At Carbone, you get the very best of American service: friendly but not over-familiar (no "Hi, my name is Bob and I'll be your waiter tonight"), generous portions (which could be a drawback if you want to try lots of dishes; we ordered too much) and warm, convivial ambience.
It's a branch of the New York original, and the designers did a good job of replicating an old-fashioned New York Italian restaurant, replete with waiters in suits with shiny, wide lapels (designed by Zac Posen), tableside service for some dishes, and great music played just a little too loud.
I'm positive I was spotted (it was discreet, but there were too many people seeing us out of the restaurant to say goodbye), but I listened carefully to the service being offered at the tables around us, and it was just as warm and friendly.
While we tried to decide what to order (it wasn't easy), my guest and I munched on crusty garlic bread, a chunk of aged pecorino and thin slices of soppressata. We shared everything, and the food came at a good pace.
Our first course was octopus pizzaiolo (HK$188): a delicious dish of well-charred, tender and meaty octopus chunks with roasted peppers and small potatoes. The spaghetti carbonara (HK$168) had a little too much spring onion, which overwhelmed the creamy sauce.
Mario's meatballs (HK$168) were some of the best I've had — three large spheres of moist, soft, well-flavoured minced beef in a light tomato sauce.
Veal parmesan (HK$548) was a thick piece of tender, lightly breaded and pan-fried meat with tomato sauce, mozzarella and fried basil leaves.
Dessert — made tableside — was an indulgent, generous mix of Thai bananas sautéed with butter and flambéed with lots of rum, then served over banana cake, amaretto ice cream and crushed amaretto cookies (HK$128).
