Shelter Italian Bar & Restaurant (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

It was a sizzling night in the summer and the "3 musketeers" decided to sneak out for a quick dinner. And what better way to spend our night than a restaurant without air conditioning? Well, we would do anything for good food!

Our pick tonight was Shelter Italian Bar & Restaurant, an Italian restaurant specializing in casual Italian fare at Hysan Place. I was excited and really looking forward to some of the classic Italian dishes from Executive Chef Simonetta Garelli. In case you're curious, prior to joining Shelter, Chef Garelli was the chef de cuisine of Giovanni’s at the Sheraton Shanghai Hongqiao Hotel and the executive sous chef of Bene Restaurant at the Sheraton Macao Hotel.



The restaurant is situated in the atrium of the building and it gets a little hot around this kind of year.




Porcini mushroom soup ($98) - what a way to start this dinner. Very rich flavor coming from the porcini mushroom. A very solid start (6.5/10).



Deep fried calamari, spicy tomato mayonnaise, lemon wedge ($148) - a reasonably good dish although the portion could have been a little more generous considering the price tag (4.5/10).



Pan seared Hokkaido scallop, chick peas, bacon bits and salsa verde ($188) - I had the pan seared scallops and this was a classic way to cook them with chick peas and salsa verde. The executive chef has obviously got strong roots to classic Italian cooking and she got a pretty nice dish here (6.5/10). 



Classic layered pasta with Bolognese sauce and parmesan ($178) - layered pasta with Bolognese and parmesan. Lovely combo and very good results (6/10).



Spaghetti carbonara, pork cheek, organic egg ($168) - I personally went with the carbonara. Very good bite especially with the addition of pork cheek (6.5/10).


 
"Aqcuerello" wild mushrooms risotto ($178) - the risotto was nice but the sauce was slightly flavorful and could have been a little more creamy (5/10).



Traditional tiramisu - A small tiramisu before we split the bill.



It was good seeing my buddies again and we shared some laughter over some good hearty Italian food. Although by the time we finished everything, we all needed a shower (with all the sweating) and it was all good.





Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: 718-719 (Open Terrace), 7/F Hysan Place, 500 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Causeway Bay
Tel: +852 2778-8398
Website: Link