Pici Pasta Bar Lai Chi Kok (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

At first, I was OK with Jelloman's plan to stay home for a relatively simple dinner for my birthday. Yes, it's just going to be another weeknight, right?

But come to think of it, I had McDonald's for lunch already and another subpar meal (when our helper is cooking, you can bet it's going to be subpar barring any miracles) would very likely push me to the limit on my birthday. So, to avoid all that fuzz, I decided to have dinner at our neighborhood pasta bar, Pici instead.

Our server was very kind to offer little nugget a free orange juice to kick off the meal. Not that he was really paying attention though, as he was too concentrated in his cartoon to even notice.

 

Vitello Tonnato – I started every meal at Pici pretty much the same way as always, sliced

veal with tuna mayonnaise and Sicilian capers on top. The flavorful tuna mayo was again doing its job for the near-perfect mouthfeel.

Tuna Tartare – Jelloman's usual way to start off her meal at Pici. The raw tuna was mixed with small cubes of avocado, pickled red onions, and a house dressing made with sweet soy and spices. Not bad but not as tasty as my veal for sure.

Tagliolini truffle – I am guessing that whatever arrives first will eventually become the star of the meal as everyone is starving. And turns out, I was partially right.

The first pasta dish to arrive was the homemade tagliolini. Shaved black truffle, white truffle paste and shallot provided the fresh and eggy pasta with the finishing touch. 

Chitarra King Prawns – While everyone was enjoying the truffled tagliolini, the second pasta arrived. I've had this dish many many times here before and it's always an up-and-down affair. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good.

Tonight, the squid-ink pasta was almost perfect. I love the way it was clinging to the sauce made with seafood bisque and cherry tomatoes, chili and garlic. And the king prawns and diced prawns both added to the nice texture.

Pappardelle beef cheek – The sauce made with beef cheek ragu which has been slow-cooked for 8 hours, onion, carrot and celery wasn't bad but the pappardelle, I thought was a little chewy.

Tiramisu – Pici always has one of the best tiramisu in town. It was the perfect way to wrap up my birthday meal tonight. 

This really doesn't feel like a celebration, especially when the birthday boy ended up settling the bill. But Jelloman insisted that the real celebration already took place a few weeks ago, at Mosu Hong Kong. I almost forgot about that one already.

Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop G03, G/F, D2 Place TWO, 15 Cheung Shun Street, Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Lai Chi Kok
Tel: +852 2557-7227
Website: www.pici.hk

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 5:00pm - 10:00pm daily