After reviewing Gelato dal Cuore (still open, but I had the impression that quality went down and there are less flavors rotating) and Movo (not checked for a long time), it is time for a fresh selection of gelato parlors in Shanghai.
Bonus
In Ruijin 2 Road there is a gelato parlor that has become my favorite. Bonus claims to produce real gelato according to Italian methods. Not sure if it is from scratch, but they have some interesting flavors, such as cheese fig that was great with a scoop of chocolate.
35 RMB (5 USD) for two scoops. It is nice that they have a few bar chairs inside the shop, so in a hot day you can consume your gelato in a air-conditioned environment.
Address: 39 Ruijin Er Lu – 瑞金二路39号.
Il Buco
Il Buco (the hole) is just that, a window to the side of a bar, where to get Salvatore Naselli’s artisanal gelato.
Only 8 flavors are available at any given time.
40 RMB (5.80 USD) for two very generous scoops. Hazelnut and pistachio were excellent.
Address: 20-2 Donghu Lu – 瑞金二路39号.
De Medici
De Medici is located across the Waldorf Astoria, near the Bund, specifically near the intersection in front of the Gutzlaff Signal Tower.
I tried chocolate and hazelnut chocolate. It was just ok. I am pretty sure that their gelato is made with pre-mixed components. Two scoops were 35 RMB (5 USD), but smaller than the previous two parlors.
Address: 17 Yanan Dong Lu – 延安东路17号.
Luneurs Boulanger & Glacier
I also tried the ice cream (not really gelato) from Luneurs, a hipster French bakery opened by some of the staff that used to work for a popular French bakery called Farine that, until it closed amid a scandal, also featured a queue-conjuring ice cream.
I tried their raspberry/strawberry sorbet and their signature chocolate (with dried banana bits) and I really did not like it. Not creamy and low in flavor.
Two scoops for 35 RMB (5 USD) like most places, but it must be acknowledged that their scoop size is the largest among the parlors reviewed on this page.
When you ask where to eat a good pizza in Ningbo, especially in the Southern part of the city, La Pizzeria Echo comes up often as a recommendation. There are two young Chinese gentlemen at the helm of the store. One of them studied engineering in Italy, another one understudied an Italian chef for a few years, before joining forces to open this pizza parlor.
The visit(s)
The pizzeria recently re-located to Taikang Middle Road, opposite to the Academician Park.
The pizza is indeed quite good. It is thin pizza with crispy borders. One issue is that they tend to burn, like in the example below of their namesake Echo pizza:
They also have other dishes, like Italian sandwiches (panini):
For an extra fee, each pizza can be made in a “calzone” (a type of rolled pizza):
Finally a “fried appetizers” basket:
The check(s)
The Echo pizza (with a rich toppings) was 92 RMB or 13.66 USD. The calzone was 10 RMB more. Simpler pizzas are a bit cheaper. Most sandwiches are less than 9 USD.
Overall it is a honest offering and when not burnt the pizza is good.
Where in Ningbo: Middle Taikang Road, opposite of Academician Park.
Bombana is an Italian chef that made it big in Hong Kong: his restaurant in Central has three Michelin stars. From there he has been expanding in Asia: Macau, Beijing (where the restaurant is called Opera), and Shanghai.
I visited a couple of times the Shanghai’s restaurant (two Michelin stars) headed by chef Riccardo to better understand this Italian high cuisine. By the way, “Otto e Mezzo” of course is the title of a famous Fellini’s movie, but references to Fellini seem to end here.
I had my reservation through Dining City (very simple) and I headed to the restaurant on a gloomy Sunday evening. It was a pity, because the restaurant also has a nice terrace and balcony on the sixth floor of a renovated building in the now called Rock Bund district.
The restaurant has an elegant dining room with tables reasonably spaced. To avoid bothering other guests I did not take a picture of the room, but you can check the restaurant’s website.
While I was still looking at the menu, I was served a welcome dish with three nibbles: a geometrically audacious pastry with diced salmon, another pastry with a sort of Russian salad, and half a cherry. I thought the staff was too hasty in delivering the plate or maybe it is their style. Apart from this, the service was spotless and all staff spoke English.
The bread basket was a bit underwhelming: white bread with olives, sourdough with sesame and corn bread. The sourdough was almost impossible to chew! Luckily, they also served some Italian grissini that were still warm and very nice.
There was another amuse bouche: a stracchino spuma with peas. The stracchino is an Italian cheese that I had never tried in this preparation that made it incredibly soft. It was a great dish and the peas felt very fresh and full of flavor.
The menu was divided in four sections: appetizers, pasta dishes, mains, and desserts. No appetizer stimulated my interest, but all pasta dishes looked great. I went for the homemade cavatelli (small pasta shells from eggless semolina dough) with seafood. There was king crab meat and two pieces of uni (sea urchin) on top. The dish was excellent.
My main was amadai fillet in a light coconut and shellfish broth with some fresh peas. The cooking fully respected the flavor and texture of the fish that came from Japan. Other mains available were lobster from Brittany, wagyu from Japan, and veal.
I ordered a dessert and before getting there I was offered a palate cleanser in the form of a very elaborated sorbet.
The dessert, called Chocolate Variation, was a small masterpiece. In a perfectlty coreographed presentation, the dish included a round hazelnut “moretto” (a homage to an Italian ice-cream), a scoop of chocolate ice cream, a ball of pistachio rocher (I guess using Ferrero Rocher material to enclose the pistachio) and, finally, two crispy tuilles cannoli with black and white chocolate. That was like a chocolate encyclopedia.
Before leaving, I was offered a final dish with pear jelly, pastry with cream and a “sandwich” with berries.
No wine for me, the still water was a Chinese spring water, Nongfu, that is also the best selling water in China. This came a bit to a surprise, as the water cost me 15 USD, for that money I would have expected some Italian bottled water.
The check
This three-course dinner cost me 1542 RMB or 229.5 USD.
Most appetizers and pasta dishes cost around 50 USD, a main costs around 100 USD and desserts around 30 USD.
All the dishes were perfect (apart from the bread). The ingredients were top of the top, super fresh and genuine. Was this worth the price? I do not think so. After all, these were not particularly innovative dishes, just very well executed dishes. I have no problems spending this kind of money for a meal, but I am seeking something more that I did not get in terms of creativity and surprise.
I do not know all the story, but the restaurant Barolo has a real Italian chef in the kitchen and offers very interesting and authentic Italian dishes. Barolo is a town and wine from Piedmont, a Northern Italian region. It is remarkable and deserves a review since Ningbo does not stand out in terms of non-Chinese food. Here’s the write up of my two visits.
The visit(s)
The restaurant is located in a shopping and entertainment complex called The East Shore, not far away from downtown Ningbo.
One interesting thing about the restaurant is that they always have a lot of specials available (ask for the blackboard) on top of the regular menu. Also, they organize special events time to time. On my first visit they had porchetta and on my second visit they had a number of tuna dishes.
On both of my visits the bread (with some diced tomatoes) was supplemented by a croquette.
The porchetta dish was quite big, suitable for two people to share. It was very good.
Porchetta is a boneless pork roast part of the Italian tradition prepared with garlic, rosemary, fennel, or other herbs.
During the “porchetta night” I also had homemade gnocchi with veal ragout. It was a very delicate dish, from the specials.
The dessert was an homage to the Piedmont tradition, a gianduiotto mousse.
In my second visit I had a tuna tartare with buffalo cheese cream puffs. The cheese was a very good complement.
I tried their ravioli filled with cheese. Another very delicate dish beautifully presented.
The main dish was grilled tuna (rare inside, tataki style) with vegetables and a spinach sauce. Perfect dish, again very professionally presented.
To “cap” the meal I had a bonet, a cake that can be described as a cross-over between creme caramel, blancmange and chocolate pudding that has been prepared in Piedmont for centuries.
The check(s)
The first meal, with two courses and dessert, cost me 414 RMB (62 USD).
The second check was 670 RMB (100 USD) for appetizer, pasta, main and a dessert. The check above shows 720 RMB, but there was a mistake in the price of the main dish and I did not pay that.
Barolo is an excellent restaurant, its food and presentation is up to five-star standards. It could be a restaurant in Shanghai. Unfortunately quality costs and the price point is not cheap.
Where in Ningbo: No. 3-5, The East Shore, Yinzhou District In Chinese: 东岸里广场. Tel: 0574-87078717
Starbucks’ Reserve Roasteries are a new concept store of the Seattle’s coffee brand. At the time of this post (March 2019), there are Reserve Roasteries in New York, Seattle, Milan, Tokyo, Beijing, and Shanghai (one in Chicago is underway).
These cafes are unlike any other Starbucks’ outlet: they are gargantuan spaces filled with experiences and goodies that you do not normally find in your regular Starbucks.
Why the focus on China? China is actually the second largest market for Starbucks in the world and is poised to take over the US as the most important profit center for the company. In China they really cracked the consumer code positioning themselves as a premium brand (it is 20% more expensive than in the US) and finding a place in a tea-centered culture.
The visit
The visit described in this post refers to the Starbucks’ Reserve Roastery opened in Shanghai in December 2017.
It is located in a two-story round building connected to the upscale Taikoo Hui Mall (sorry for the photo… it was a rainy day and the girl really was taking forever to get her picture taken).
The experience began with a little bit of queue. It was a gloomy Saturday afternoon. I only waited 5 minutes (close to my boiling point for this kind of adventure).
Inside it was pretty packed.
One of the most characteristics structures inside was the 40-ton bronze cask where the beans deposit after roasting. However it was not immediately clear how the process worked. The roastery, in my opinion, was more to impress than to educate.
Of course, the focus on the ground floor was the coffee that was available in exotic varieties not normally seen in other Starbucks cafes.
Coffee beans were also for sale.
A lot of branded merchandising was for sale as well.
They also had pizza by the slice and cakes made in collaboration with Princi’s bakery in Milan. A part of the ground floor was dedicated to the baked products. A slice of pizza was 68 RMB (or 10 USD). I tasted one of the desserts and I can say that the idea that this brings Italian food to the mix is laughable. More Olive Garden Italian food.
One the upper floor there was a space dedicated to Teavana, Starbucks’ tea brand that is quite popular in its Chinese shops.
I had a dessert: a sort of profiterole filled with cream. Absolutely unremarkable.
The overall idea behind the Reserve Roastery is summarized by a Starbucks’ executive in an interview with Forbes:
The Roastery is an opportunity to showcase the finest and rarest coffees from around the world. We show the customer the green beans, and share the experience of what happens when a bean is roasted, and serve the freshest coffee, which can be brewed in various flavors. We’re taking innovation to new levels, from the finest bakeries from Milan to stretch cocktails and aperitivos.
The Italian food concept has been recently extended in another new Starbucks store in Shanghai called Starbucks’ Reserve Bakery Cafe, where they also serve brunch and aperitivos (light refreshments and cocktails before dinner part of the Italian tradition).
The check
The dessert was 58 RMB or 8.65 USD. In case you did not get it, everything was jacked up in this place, beginning with the prices. A dessert would cost from 8 to 10 USD and a slice of pizza is above 10 USD. Not to mention the coffee. I am not a coffee drinker so I did not check, but according to online reports, in these Roasteries the price of a cup of coffee is easily double the normal Starbucks’ price.
The Reserve Roastery is not a cafe: it is a self-celebration of a brand. A place for selfies. It does not make any economic sense, but people flock, so they must be right. For me there won’t be other visits.
Where in Shanghai: HKRI Taikoo Hui, 789 Nanjing Xi Lu, by Fengyang Lu In Chinese: 南京西路789号, HKRI 太古汇, 近凤阳路 Website: https://roastery.starbucks.com.cn/en/
Panino Giusto (literally “right sandwich”) is a chain of restaurants specializing in Italian grilled sandwiches (“panini”). It was started in 1979 in Milan and now has stores in half dozen countries. I tried them first in Tokyo years ago. Now I eat from them time to time when I travel to Hong Kong (they have a store in the IFC mall that is also the terminus of the Airport Express train, so it is an easy stop; this review is based on my experience with this branch).
The visit
You order, are given a number and then wait. The place at IFC is usually packed on weekends and lunch hour, so prepare to wait. The seating area face the harbour, so it is quite nice.
Here’s a snapshot of the Washington panino: Parma ham, goat cheese, tomato and black olive pate (the pate flavor is quite distinct). This is a typical example of their style: two grilled buns filled with high-quality ingredients. They have many options.
However, personally, I prefer their toasts! They only have a few available, in the picture you can see a “farcito” including Prague ham, Edam cheese and some pickled vegetables. Delicious.
The check
Check for this visit was 248 HKD (or 31.6 USD). The toast or the sandwich alone cost 108 HKD (around 14 USD). Expensive by any stretch of the imagination, but a nice culinary luxury to have time to time.
Where in Hong Kong: See their website for locations. At time of posting, they have a shop at IFC (third floor, just downstairs from Shake Shack) and one at Lee Garden mall in Causewaybay.
I like cheese. That in Shanghai there is an Italian-run shop selling imported cheese and other Italian goodies is a real treat.
La Formaggeria is the retail shop of Bazzale Group, a family owned company originally from Vicenza that, according to their website, has been operating in the milk world since at least 1784, representing the oldest Italian company in the sector, in continuous activity since at least eight generations. Bazzale is a large company (by Italian standards) selling its products in over 54 countries, with production facilities in Italy, Czech Republic, Brazil and China, and employing over 600 people.
The visit
It is a small shop but full of beautiful food. The center-stage is the cheese and cold cuts counter.
They offer tasting of their cheeses. Gran Moravia is their own brand of long-aged hard cheese. Also Verena is a brand of theirs and it is a hard-pressed cheese with a sweet flavor.
They also have other more classic types of hard cheese (Grana Padano and the famed Parmiggiano Reggiano), Roman Pecorino (from sheep milk, mildly spicy), Provolone (also a bit spicy), Asiago, Montasio, pasta filata (stretched-curd), mozzarella, smoked scamorza…
They also have some cold cuts (I tried their speck, made in China, it was ok) and a selection of Italian sweets and wines.
For 20 RMB (3 USD) they can prepare an Italian toast, with cheese and smoked ham (prosciutto cotto). Unfortunately the bread is a bit too sweet for my taste, but otherwise another treat.
The check
For 295 RMB (44 USD) above is pictured my shopping in March 2019. Most cheese was around 50 RMB for a large portion. The provolone was 200 grams. Also had a pack of “Torinesi”, a type of grissini that is a fixture in the bread basket of restaurants in Italy.
Considering that most products are imported, the prices are excellent, much better than the prices of cheese sold in high-end supermarkets, with the advantage of a lot of variety. If you like cheese, this is heaven.
One of the highlights of my January 2019 food weekend in Guangzhou was discovering an artisan gelato maker in a relative remote shopping mall. The shop is using Italian machines and making excellent ice cream leveraging on local ingredients.
The visit
I was taken to the gelato shop by a friend. It would have been virtually impossible to get there alone, as the shop only has a Chinese name and is not easily found on Google and other English-friendly portals.
The shop is located in an interesting shopping mall called Grand Tea Mall that features high-end teas from around China.
The shop has a nice sitting area outside in the middle of the shopping area.
Just looking at the seasonal flavor assortment I immediately got the impression of an artisan production. One of their feature is to always have on offer a few flavors based on tea.
We spoke to one of the owners and the main gelato maker that explained how all the ingredients were fresh and natural (made from scratch) and many phases of the production were even made by hand, producing small batches.
I had their tasting option that provided six medium scoops on cones. An excellent way to seriously sample their offering.
My selection included chocolate, ginger, and green tea.
Strawberry yogurt and two types of tea.
All flavors provided were very dense and provided clear-defined flavors.
They had Italian beverages from San Pellegrino too, in particular one of my favorite, Chinotto, a type of natural cola from Italy.
The check
The price point was very reasonable, with my feast costing just 65 RMB (or just below 10 USD).
I highly recommend this gelato shop that is well worth the trip from other parts of Guangzhou.
Where in Guangzhou: You won’t find the address on the English web. My tip is the following:
Take the exit D at the Pazhou stop of metro line 8. The Grand Tea Mall is juts around the corner.
Or you can use the following address: 1000 Xingang E Rd, Haizhu Qu, Guangzhou In Chinese: 广东省广州市海珠区新港东路1000号
While not artisan gelato, Osterberg is an interesting departure from the international ice cream chains that dominate Ho Chi Minh City: it hails from Denmark and it is a family business. In Vietnam the business is managed by Cathrine, who makes all the recipes herself and has a background in Food Science from the University of Copenhagen. The ice cream is freshly made in Ho Chi Minh City with modern equipment.
The visit
In Ho Chi Minh City they have a small ice cream shop in District 2.
They offer a nice assortment of flavors inspired both by their Nordic origins and by the fresh ingredients available in Vietnam. This means flavors such as liquorice, elderflower, buckthorn and blackcurrant (recommended!) on the one side and red dragonfruit, soursop, jackfruit, and lychee on the other.
My personal favorite is their chocolate sorbet (in general I find their sorbets – basically ice cream without the milk – better than regular ice cream flavors). The chocolate flavor emerges so neatly.
I particularly like their ice-blended option: around two scoops of ice cream are blended with milk and ice: the resulting beverage has the right density for me and retains the original flavor.
UPDATE (July 2019): They discontinued the ice blend option for lack of demand. Travesty!
The check
A single scoop, like in the cup pictured in the previous section, is 55,000 VND (2,4 USD). The ice blend was 75,000 VND (3,2 USD).
If you are in district 2, Osterberg is an ice cream experience that I recommend (well, a lot less now that they discontinued the ice blend).
My assessment is that Ho Chi Minh City is full of Italian restaurants, but Italian food is very scarce. In my February 2019 trip I noticed that places serving questionable pasta mushroomed around the city. A new trend maybe? What is certain is that authentic Italian food is still hard to come by. On the luxury side I keep recommending R&J, but you cannot splurge every day. Hence, finding a mid-range restaurant serving authentic Italian food warrants a review.
The visit
The restaurant is called La Forchetta and is located in Phu My Hung, in the Southern part of Saigon. It is run by an experienced Italian chef and his son. It could be best described as a one-man show.
The restaurant occupies part of the ground floor of a Phy My Hung hotel. Most of the tables are on an open veranda and an air-conditioned dining room is also available. I personally prefer dining in the veranda, even if sometimes mosquitoes can be a bit annoying.
For a small restaurant, the menu is impressively extensive. All Italian classics are there and much more: a long list of pastas, pizzas, meat and seafood mains.
A bread basket is always included in the price.
In one visit I had squid ink raviolis filled with sea bass and coming with a dressing of crab meat. They were handmade by the chef. It was a delicious pasta dish, difficult to find in Italian restaurants abroad.
Then I had an Italian cutlet. While the original Italian cutlet is made with veal as this kind of meat is difficult to come by in Vietnam, this was a generous portion of chicken cutlet.
On a second visit I had a cold meat platter. Very large, it had two types of salamis, hams, bacon, baloney.
Finally I had a dish of spaghetti with sausage, sprouts (usually is nuts, but they were finished on that day, during lunar new year), and cheese.
All the dishes were absolutely authentic and very tasty.
The check
My first meal cost me 370,000 VND (16 USD). The second one cost a little bit more (around 20 USD because of the cold meat platter, check not pictured). I see these prices as very reasonable considering the generous portions and the quality of the offering.
If you are after authentic homemade Italian food in Ho Chi Minh City, La Forchetta is worth a detour.
