I burst out laughing when I heard one of Hong Kong's most respected Italian distributors recommend a meal at Ciao Restaurant.
'Ciao?' I asked. 'Ciao? You mean that overly oreganoed, upmarket version of Italian fast food?' 'That,' she said, 'was the old Ciao. Now it's entirely new. You're in for a surprise.' The surprise was that the 'old' Ciao disappeared 17 months ago. With no publicity, Massimo Muredou took over, bringing with him French-Italian partner and chef, Marc Francois, as well as a century of traditions in the Sardinian restaurant trade.
You can see a remnant of his heritage on the wall. A shadowy, almost mystical photograph of old wine bottles lying in a dark cellar.
'That comes from my grandfather, who had a restaurant in Sardinia almost a century ago. He died at the age of 106,' Muredou said.
If grandad was an original, so are the other Italian pictures and mosaics on the wall of this narrow restaurant. And so is the menu.
The menu of the old Ciao, stocked full of culinary cliches, now features original dishes. Muredou tries to represent most of the areas of Italy (though rarely his Sardinian dishes, which do not sell), as well as new recipes from chef Francois.