Authentic Sicilian taste in Happy Valley@Locanda dell' Angelo

When it comes to Happy Valley, people always think of the racecourse or the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital.  But now, "Locanda dell' Angelo" will be a name that I will remember.

Last Thursday night, my boyfriend worked in Happy Valley  till 8pm so it brought about our first date in Happy Valley. I openriced and we decided to give a try in this small Italian restaurant.

While we were studying the menu, the bread basket was delivered. It included three types of bread: baguette, olive , and multi seeds bread. All were served warm, crispy  outside and  soft inside. I especially like the multi seeds one for its wonderful texture! The staff told us that all the bread was made under the chef's secret recipes so you can only try it here. 

For appetizer, we had faced dilemma in choosing between Marinated Norwegian salmon and the Pan-fried Mediterrean Octopus.  Turnt out we had made a smart choice in choosing the latter one. Mediterrean Octopus was pan-fried with chorizo, dry Red Peperoni and baby Spinach and It is the most tender and succulent octopus I've ever had! I was so curious to know the key but  it's again the chef's secret recipe. With no doubt, it is a dish that you can't miss if you dine at Locanda dell' Angelo. The freshness from the octopus complemented well with the savoriness from chroizo, Everything was perfectly seasoned, promoting the flavor to another level of tastiness. 

As a cheese lover, I also ordered Burrata Cheese which is a typical Italian appetizer. The  cheese was creamy and buttery, accompanied with baby lettuce  and three different kinds of fresh tomatoes. Olive oil gave the cheese a smoother texture whereas the addition of anchovies gave a salty taste that made this ordinary appetizer stand out from others. 

Pasta is an important element in Italian cuisine and we had ordered the Fusilli Mancini with salty egg, Guanciale and seasonal green Asparagus. Fusilli Mancini was nicely al-dente. The salty egg yolk taste was rather light  to my suprise but it still enriched the flavour of the whole dish. The few thin slices of Guanciale(Pork cheek) topped on the Fusilli mancini were yummy. They have stronger flavor than iberico ham yet they are so fatty that they almost melt on my tongue.

As the signature dish of Locanda dell' Angelo, the Sea Urchin risotto definitely deserves a thumb-up. The risotto was perfectly cooked, neither too soft nor too hard. In a perfect italian style! The sea water taste was also stronger as the chef had cooked the rice together with fresh urchin so every rice has absorbed the essence and freshness of the urchin, which made the sea urchin risotto here stand out from those in other restaurants. It is equally satisfying as the Pan-fried Mediterrean Octopus. Bravo!

My boyfriend is a meat lover so he ordered the Roasted baby lamb chop as well. Although it was not too impressive compared with the sea urchin risotto and the pan-fried octopus, there was no doubt that the lamb chop was also cooked up to standard. The baby lamb chop was super tender and succulent with slightly crispy outside.  But we personally would like the  unique flavor of the lamb be more profound (whereas I know most HK people do not). Side dishes were caramalized Shallots and vegetables which were not commonly seen to pair with lamb. To my surprise, they were wonderfully matched with the meat. The sweetness of the caramalized shallots balanced well with the fattiness of the lamb.

For dessert, we had ordered Cannoli, a traditional dessert in Sicily. It was a tube-shaped pastry shell  filled with sweet creamy ricotta filling dust with powdered sugar. Although it was my first time to try this lovely dessert, it still gave me no disappointment  and I had already fallen in love in it! The shell was very crispy and the filling was mildly sweet and savory. Candied cherries and lemon slices on top enriched the flavour, making this Cannoli tasted even better than it looked. The soothing chocolate sorbet was so rich that its own cocoa bitterness complemented amazingly with the sweetness of the Cannoli. 

With the equally lovely homemade petit fours, Perfect end for this authentic Sicilian meal!

This is one of my favourite Italian restaurants in Hong Kong and I will definitely come back for it.