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Janine Stein

The Baci experience is everything the Hong Kong Tourist Association has attempted - and failed - to convince us the SAR is: high-chic, cosmopolitan, excellent food. And wonderful service.

 This new Italian restaurant is also at least one of the things the association has attempted, and failed, to convince us Hong Kong is not - a city of scary price tags where a glass of water costs $44 and a plate of pasta $162.

 There is no question the ingredients are among the finest quality available in Hong Kong, or that the dishes are measured against the best international standards, or that a premium is levied for the Lan Kwai Fong location.

 But when a lunch of two starters, two main courses, two desserts, one cappuccino and a few glasses of water costs $900, you know you are in Rockefeller territory.

 And if that is where you want - or can afford - to be, great, because this is a fabulous restaurant.

 Having tried and failed to offer a Mexican menu in various versions, the California group hopes the Italian restaurant will, finally, make a success of an upper-storey space that has not really worked in the past.

 One of the magic passwords to success this time may be the bar, which overlooks the street. This makes it part of the Lan Kwai Fong street buzz in a way Zona Rosa never was. Inside, it is the thin-crust pizza and the melt-ice eyes of chef Mario Carlino that are some of the drawcards.

 Seven pizza choices include some of Hong Kong's most creative toppings. Our choice on one occasion was the Dello Chef (smoked salmon, mozzarella, garlic and spinach, $135). Another lunch time we ordered the Valtellina (tomato sauce, mozzarella, dried beef, arugula and shaved Parmesan, $120).

 Contrary to the drip-all-over-your-chin characteristics of the pizza that American fast-food chains have turned into a craft, everything about the Baci pizzas is delicate and refined.

 There is cheese on the pizza, but not too much cheese. There is enough shaved Parmesan to make you feel as though you are getting your money's worth, but not a great heaving mound. Same with the beef.

 Without exception, the dishes are fresh and alive: nothing looks nuked or like it has been sitting in an airport cargo terminal. The tomatoes in the tomato and mozzarella salad ($88), for instance, taste like tomatoes - an unusual feat in Hong Kong. The dish, which also includes black olives and arugula, bustles with flavour and colour.

 It is the more unusual dishes that stick in the imagination. Mr Carlino does a great job on the starter of air-dried beef rolls filled with goat cheese and arugula ($88). It has an unusual combination of tastes and textures, simply served, that works brilliantly.

 Another example of Baci's focus on combining pure and simple ingredients to dramatic culinary effect is the fried polenta slices with sauteed portobello mushrooms ($75). The three slices of polenta are served in half-moon shapes, topped with carefully sliced mushrooms and a hint of sauce.

 Possibly the best part of eating at Baci is that the dishes do not look like a budding architect's term project. They avoid any hint of someone in the kitchen moulding, sculpting and generally fussing about.

 Our 'house-made' spinach noodles with smoked and fresh salmon and asparagus in pink sauce ($148) did not look like a work of art. It looked like what it was: a lively bowl of fettuccine with asparagus and salmon.

 The lobster ravioli in tomato sauce with chives ($160) was slightly more lavish, although it could have been the giant plate that made it seem so. Again, the undisputed focus was on allowing the food just to be.

 In the end, the magic is in the simple presentation rather than the ego of the chef or the food festival mentality. The magic is also where it counts - in the eating. Flavours and textures are distinctive and separate, and blended with the kind of skill that the adjective-prone - or the public relations people - may call a symphony.

 The oohs and aahs of the sweet-toothed were reserved for the chocolate mousse, described as heavenly. With a characteristic focus on texture, the layers of mousse blend into a chocolate experience richer than Li Ka-shing.

 There is, for the moment, magic, too, in the obviously expensive handbags of the ladies-who-lunch. The place is also packed with tasteful high-fliers - or at least those who still have jobs - and some coiffed living-breathing accessories. This is definitely not somewhere to come on a bad-hair day.

 It is that kind of place - the epitome of sophisticated late-1990s dining. Low concept, high style, nothing in-your-face except a few diners who will move on anyway when the Next Big Thing comes along.

 The only difference is that it may, perhaps, be out of touch with the new economic realities.

Baci, 2/F, 1 Lan Kwai Fong, Central, Tel: 2801-5885, Open: noon-3pm, 6.30pm-midnight, closed Sundays 



Symphony of flavour, at a price