5/F The Loop, 33 Wellington Street, Central Tel: 2521 5188 Open: Monday-Saturday noon-3pm, nightly 6pm-11pm Cuisine: The name card says it's 'Tokyo style', the menu reads more like Italian with Japanese influences and the chef is Japanese. After tasting the food, my guest described it as western-style comfort food for Japanese - which seems apt. Price: It came to about HK$250 for two courses per person without drinks and before adding a service charge, but what we ordered could have easily fed four. Ambience: Not much effort has been put into the decor other than to build brick arches in strange places. The only other guests that night were three Japanese businessmen who seemed to be having a good time. Pros: Portions are huge, the wine list is impressive and they serve tap water without question. Cons: The service. My guest ordered a fresh lemon soda but was served a cola drink with lemon slices. He explained in detail the simple drink he wanted - fresh lemon juice with fizzy water - but the waitress said she could only serve bottled water with a side plate of fresh lemon slices so he could make the drink himself, which he did. The waitress also didn't bother to warn us about the portion sizes so we ordered too much food. The prosciutto and rucola pizza (HK$98) had a bland crust topped with a tasteless tomato sauce and generous amounts of cheese and prosciutto. The soft-shell crab pasta with garlic parsley sauce (HK$128) was too salty. We might have had better luck with the Japanese-influenced Italian cold pasta dishes such as octopus and avocado with wasabi sauce or salmon with salmon roe. Recommended dishes: The main courses were better than the starters. The best dish of the night was grilled salmon head (HK$128) - a huge portion that was meaty, moist and well charred in places. Grilled seafood (HK$168, above) had a good selection, including tiny octopus, calamari rings and prawns, although some of the seafood was overcooked and tough. What else? The wine list has an interesting selection of Italian wines at reasonable prices, including the second wines of 'super Tuscans' (such as Ornellaia and Sassicaia) for HK$598.
