As a child, Saturday lunch meant spaghetti bolognaise - spaghetti coated in a tomato and minced beef sauce and sprinkled with parmesan cheese - to me and my family.
We would sit around the large kitchen table, twirling and slurping the spaghetti. It became rather like a race, three children competing with parents to wind the strands around their forks.
Today, posh Italian restaurants in Hong Kong tend not to serve this dish but it can still be found in restaurants serving more traditional fare.
The Spaghetti House should at least know how to cook spaghetti which, as all Italian chefs will tell you, should be al dente or 'to the tooth', with just enough body for there to be resistance when you bite into it.
Unfortunately, the restaurant overdoes the cooking and the result is mushy and pasty. Its ragu - the sauce - is quite strongly flavoured, and the meat is tender but there is a synthetic edge to it. Worse still, it does not even offer the requisite grated parmesan.
La Trattoria in The Landmark prides itself on the authenticity of its Italian cuisine. Its pasta is cooked perfectly, with just the right amount of bite, but the sauce has tough bits of beef gristle which rather mars its buoyant flavour. Good parmesan cheese, though.
Rigoletto in Wan Chai is one of the oldest Italian restaurants in town and its spaghetti bolognaise is one of the best in town. The chef uses a mixture of veal and beef in his ragu; he is particular about not overdoing the frying of the minced meat in the sauce.