This latest addition to the dining scene of Hong Kong is situated on the ground floor of the Hutchison House and the man behind it is acclaimed chef Marco Gubbiotti from Umbria, Italy. Chef Marco Gubbiotti is known for his enthusiasm to promote Umbrian cuisine as well as being a firm believer in the "slow food" movement.
It's comforting to know that il Milione is just a short walk from the Central station. The very first thing that I came to notice was the design of the restaurant entrance - perfectly like a safe!
After stepping inside, it was a totally different world of its own. First, there was a small bar area right next to the entrance that was absolutely compact and stunning.
But the dining room proved to be even better. Better in terms of design and color tones. The primary colors were black and yellow setting a tone that reminded me of Gold by Harlan Goldstein at Lan Kwai Fong.
The lunch menu was a simple 2-course or 3-course affair. For a restaurant that was still waiting for its official launch, iL Milione sure offered quite an extensive lunch menu. Meat, fish, pasta, salad, pork's rib etc. they had them all.
But it's already almost 2:30 pm when I looked at my watch. Let's not get too picky here. After placing my order, my server brought along a small container full of bread. The key however was that extra virgin olive oil that was shipped in from Italy. Absolutely heaven!
My starter was a marinated fresh salmon served with ginger, fennel and orange salad. The salmon fillets were simply marinated with some new vintage extra virgin olive oil and a little bit of salt and sugar.
To my pleasant surprise, these few slices of salmon had a unexpectedly rich and fatty texture. Seasoning was minimal which was just perfect (7.5/10).
Next up was my main course, a frascarelli egg pasta with puréed vegetables and chanterelle mushrooms. I was not familiar with the term frascarelli before this meal and was fully expecting an ordinary egg pasta but this really caught me by surprise, well in a good way.
After seeing my facial expression with total disbelief, the restaurant manager came and gave me a rather detailed explanation. He explained that this was a dish from Central Italy where the egg pasta was shredded by hand into very fine pieces.
But the taste was nothing like a pasta. It was more like a thick polenta made with flour and served with puréed vegetables and chanterelle mushrooms on top.
Again a pleasant surprise. I have never seen this recipe anywhere else in Hong Kong but it was quite fulfilling (6/10).
Dessert was a no brainer here. I have had way too many tiramisu and fresh fruit platter so the Venezuelan chocolate and extra virgin olive oil cake was the obvious choice.
Just when I was expecting something wild, a very ordinary-looking piece of chocolate soufflé showed up with a small container of custard cream and candied orange.
And there's nothing wild about the taste as well. I couldn't find any olive oil flavor in this and it was nothing more than a standard chocolate lava cake (4.5/10).
A small plate of candy right before the bill.
Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: G16 - 21, G/F Hutchison House, 10 Harcourt Road, Central, Hong Kong
