It started about 18 months ago with French restaurant Le Fouchon. The move up and out of Lan Kwai Fong continued with Casa Lisboa and Nepal, and gained strength with Cafe Gypsy and a couple of bars, including The Globe on Hollywood Road.
Now the escalator community in lower Mid-Levels has a double-storey Italian cafe, Club Casa Nova, complete with a cosy candle-lit courtyard, and a European takeout, O'Wien, that serves, among other dishes, fabulous spinach pies with feta cheese.
Club Casa Nova, on Elgin Street, is owned by Jean-Paul Gauci, who opened Portuguese restaurant, Casa Lisboa, on Staunton Street early last year.
The dishes at Casa Nova are as lavish as the menu size is constrained. They include beef carpaccio with white truffle oil and parmesan ($58), or with foie gras and roasted tomatoes ($88) and caviar and ricotta bruschetta ($128).
Pasta dishes include gnocchi with raisins and fontina cheese ($128) and fettuccine with cream porcini ($148). Champagne is $110 by the glass, and the Italian wine list begins at $218 for a bottle of Mastri Vernacoli Trentino Pino Grigio 1995.
The restaurant is only open for dinner at the moment, and the top floor is available for private parties. Call 2869-1218 for reservations.
On Staunton Street, O'Wien prepares Austrian, Finnish and Greek takeaways, but there are also a couple of stools for quick bites.
