BluHouse at Rosewood Hong Kong (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I have been keeping tabs on some of the new restaurant openings in town including BluHouse at Rosewood Hong Kong and a couple others. They have been on my radar screen for quite some time but due to the recent surge of COVID-19 cases, I had to postpone a few of them (such as Agora and HAKU IFC). But this one I decided to keep for our Father's Day celebration since Jelloman couldn't come up with anything good.

I have to admit, my first experience with BluHouse wasn't a particularly good one. Even before we set foot in the new seaside restaurant, I was contacted by the staff there on a number of occasions asking me for a deposit (which I did) and a pre-order list. After I did exactly what was told, I was then informed that they accidentally charged me $3,000 instead of simply holding onto the funds. Following a simple apology, they would ask for my permission to keep that (wrong) transaction on the books and refund me the difference after the meal. Now, that suggestion raised a few eyebrows! With still 2 weeks to go, what's the point for them not to contact the credit card company and just void the incorrect transaction all together I ask?

Anyways, that was a total mess and I really don't want to go into details. All I could say is that, the staff involved was really inexperienced and I also think there was a lack of training and direction from the supervisors (why not immediately right the wrong?).

Enough said about my first impression, time to shift back to our dining experience. At BluHouse, they have put a lot of emphasis on their traditional Italian bar, which I thought was really impressive. 

The venue itself is really spacious, maybe even more so than their Spanish cousin, Bayfare Social upstairs.

There are different stations highlighted by the dessert corner, boasting a wide selection of Italian sweets.

The Pizza Al Taglio station serves eight kinds of Roman-style pizzas by the slice. Too bad we didn't have room to try any of them.

Of course, what would a seaside restaurant be without a few corner seats inside and on the terrace area overlooking the harbour, right?

Fiori di zucca – Not exactly what I envisioned (I thought I could see the zucchini flower). The stuffed zucchini flower was "rolled" into a battered ball with smoked Provola cheese. Not bad.

Suppli’ [Al Telefono] – Crispy Roman-style tomato risotto rice balls.

These came with a bit of Fior Di Latte, a semi-soft, fresh cheese made in the style of Italian mozzarella in the middle which worked well with the tomato risotto. 

Carciofini – Roasted artichokes with extra virgin olive oil. A little too much acidity.

Trippa alla Romana – After a few pedestrian starters, finally something that was worth fighting for, stewed beef tripe!

The beef tripe, drizzled in San Marzano tomato sauce, was just perfectly tender. Also love the Pecorino cheese, basil and hint of fresh mint for the extra flavors.

Lasagna alla Bolognese – Who doesn't like traditional Lasagna Bolognese raise your hand!? A very hearty dish!

Pollo allo spiedo – Rotisserie chicken served with potatoes. And they're using free-range yellow chicken, brined for 6 hours and roasted over an open flame; so not surprisingly, the flesh was really tender and juicy.

Costine di maiale alla Genovese – Slow-cooked pork ribs with white onion and carrot. Decent.

Porchetta – Roasted pork served warm with the same potatoes we got from our rosemary chicken. I thought the meat was pretty nice and tender. The supposingly-crispy skin was disappointing though. Nothing close to our Chinese suckling pig!

Tiramisu – I asked our server to suggest two desserts for us as we only had room for two and she promptly picked these two. The tiramisu was really foamy and it's just done right like one from the traditional recipe.

Chocolate truffle – I was worried that it's going to be too sweet.

But not the case at all. Very rich and decadent.

Vanilla Gelato – Little nugget was so happy to get a scoop of vanilla gelato for dessert. I thought the gelato here was all housemade but it turned out to be from Venchi's.

I thought we didn't order much but the bill came in a lot higher than what we've all anticipated. But good news was that someone else was paying the bill this afternoon.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$$

Address: G/F, Rosewood Hong Kong, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui / East Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 3891-8732

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 10:30pm daily