Va Bene Italian Restaurant - Hong Kong: Va Bene is located in the middle of Central's Lan Kwai Fong nightlife district. It is a quaint and stylish Italian restaurant in Hong Kong with an upscale crowd frequented by bankers, expats, and businessmen. The design is elegant but simple with scenes of Italy painted on the walls, low and dim lighting for an intimate setting, and a sky-blue ceiling with a mural of floating clouds. Their menu is quite extensive, offering everything from typical traditional Italian fare to more exotic and innovative dishes. They also have a good selection of Italian wines.

We had dinner at Va Bene on a weekday and while the place was packed, it had a light and casual air. We were seated immediately and given the menus. We had to choose from twelve mouth-watering appetizers such as Buffalo Mozzarella with vine-ripened tomatoes and basil, Parma Ham with melon, Seafood Salad with candied orange, rocket leaves and celery, and Tuscany-style Tomato and Bread soup to mention a few.

It was difficult to choose a dish per course, as each sounded better than the last. For example, they offered eight types of pastas ranging from Spinach Ravioli with ricotta cheese to Homemade Potato Gnocchi, and Spaghetti alle Vongole (fresh clams, garlic and olive oil) to Homemade Pappardelle with Lamb Ragout. Reading through all of them was a dizzying pleasure.

Five kinds of delicious sounding pizzas were also offered including the basic Margherita, which we ordered, and a Spicy Calabria sausage, artichokes and red onion. They also had a good selection of fish and main meat dishes including Grilled Salmon, Pan-fried Sea Bass, Grilled Swordfish, Baked Cod fish, Baked Chicken, Roasted Rack of Lamb, Slice Grilled Beef Striploin, Veal cutlet Milanese-style, and Roast Veal chops.

For starters we decided to have the Beef Carpaccio with black truffle puree, rocket leaves and fresh Parmesan. The raw meat melted in our mouths and blended perfectly with the richness of the truffle, the crispness of the leaves, and the sharpness of the Parmesan.

Off their daily specials menu, we had the Cream of Carrot soup with braised onion—one of the best soups I have ever come across. I never imagined a simple carrot soup could taste this good! While the Margherita pizza was oh-so-delicious and just as satisfying, as good as any I have had in Napoli.

For my main course I had Homemade Tagliolini with butter sauce and shavings of black summer truffle, which was also off their daily special menu. My partner had the Casoncelli alla Bergamasca e tartufo nero - fresh pasta pockets filled with meat ragout in sage, butter, bacon and black truffle. Both pasta dishes were superior in taste and presentation, and had I not known better I would have thought I was at some local restaurant in the heart of Tuscany. As much as we wanted to order a meat dish, the portions of the pasta were more than enough for a complete dinner and we were more than satisfied with our orders.

But we did find room for a desert of chocolate flan, and just like all the previous dishes, it was divine! Service throughout dinner was phenomenal and we couldn’t ask for anything more. Va Bene Italian Hong Kong Restaurant was a wonderfully indulgent experience. I would go back there in a heartbeat and highly recommend it. Bombastic!

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What I liked: Delicious and authentic Italian food, phenomenal service

What I didn’t like: Busy location

Rating: Bombastic

Address and Telephone Number:
Va Bene Italian Restaurant
Address: 17-22 Lan Kwai Fong
Hong Kong
Telephone: 852-28455577

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