Hong Kong - Trattoria Queen Hollywood

As you may know, Japanese and Italian are two of my favourite cuisines of all time. When you combine the two, scrumptious things happen. Trattoria Queen Hollywood serves exactly that: delicious Italian cuisine influenced by Japanese flavours and ingredients. It's a small cozy restaurant, with about 15 seats on the main floor. The kitchen is semi-open, so customers can see their food being prepared and plated. The menu is quite small, but I think that's a great way to focus on a few signature dishes and make them perfect. 

Amuse bouche: Pork pate with a sprig of dill sandwiched between two rice paper crisps

Japanese Vegetable Bagna Cauda: Bagna cauda literally means "hot bath" in Italian, and is a warm dip for vegetables typically found in Piedmont, Italy. Here, seasonal Japanese vegetables were provided. 

This dish was served similar to a fondue. You dip the vegetables into the warm homemade sauce made of anchovies, garlic, olive oil and butter. I loved the stark contrast of the cold sweet and crunchy vegetables against the warm salty anchovy.

The sauce was served in an oil burner to keep warm.

Spaghetti Vongole with clams, mussels, squid and dried mullet roe: This dish was made using Dassai, a top quality Japanese sake, instead of traditional white wine. The seafood was extremely fresh and plump. The sauce was light and briny, not like your usual sweet and creamy Japanese style pasta. The dried mullet roe added depth and umami.

Pike Eel Agnolotti in a Mushroom sauce with Summer Truffle: Agnolotti is a type of pasta from Piedmont that is similar to ravioli, but square, smaller and thinner. This homemade pasta was filled with Pike eel and tossed in a mushroom sauce and a variety of fresh mushrooms. The eel had an almost meat-y flavour and texture, which paired really well with the earthy mushrooms. The sauce was fresh and light, elevated by the fragrant truffles.

Homemade Panna Cotta and Chocolate Cheesecake with Yamazaki Whisky sauce: Possibly one of the best panna cottas I've had! The smooth texture was just spot on. The creamy panna cotta practically dissolved in my mouth. The whisky sauce was sweet and had the distinct fruity aroma and bitter aftertaste of Japanese whisky. This went well with the rich dark chocolate brownie (it said cheesecake on the menu but it was fudgy and chewy like a brownie).

Verdict: I can't wait to come back again. I'm a huge fan of Japanese Italian food and Trattoria Queen really hit the spot. They use high quality ingredients and strive to highlight those ingredients, not drown them in a lot of cream which can happen in Japanese-Italian cuisine. They also offer complex flavours and you can tell the dishes were thought through and executed well. The restaurant itself is cozy and comfortable, and the service was attentive. 

I recommend: Japanese Vegetable Bagna Cauda, Spaghetti Vongole, Panna Cotta

Trattoria Queen Hollywood
Address: G/F, 258 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan
Phone: 2559-6077

Caesar Salad with Parmesan Croutons

I try to make “healthy” things from time to time to keep the monster of gluttony inside me at bay. I usually make a salad as a starter for dinner, something simple like cherry tomatoes and arugula with balsamic and olive oil. But tonight I felt like splurging and making something I loved eating when I was young and still do: Caesar salad with crunchy croutons and bacon bits. It was the only salad I ate as a child. That creamy tangy dressing pretty much covered any vegetable taste (yay!) and there was bacon! I still remember my dad had this plastic container of bacon bits in the kitchen and we would sneak a handful like candy now and then.

Regardless of how delicious the salad is, it isn’t healthy to have Caesar dressing from a bottle and bacon when you are cooking at home and can make better choices. So I found a recipe online and tweaked it to make my own Caesar dressing. Much healthier and just as delicious! You can still have a whole bowl of this salad and not feel like you had a full meal. You can omit the Parmesan, but I think a little bit won’t hurt!

Recipe

Ingredients

Romaine lettuce, cut into 1-inch chunks

Croutons:

Bread, cut into small cubes (the recipe called for crusty bread, but I just used plain old white bread)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoon Parmesan, shredded

Dressing:

Olive oil

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Splash of Worcestershire sauce

1 small can of anchovies, chopped

½ clove of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Salt

Pepper

Parmesan, shaved

Method

1. For the croutons, heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the bread on low heat until golden and crispy. Add the Parmesan on top. When the cheese has melted, remove the bread and drain on kitchen towels.
2. For the dressing, blend the egg yolks, mustard, Worcestershire sauce. Then slowly drizzle in the oil, whisking constantly, until the sauce is of a mayonnaise consistency. Then mix in the anchovies, garlic and lemon. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Mix the dressing with the lettuce, and top with the croutons and more shaved Parmesan.