Cuisine: Italian
Michelin stars: 1
Address: The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, Level 102, International Commerce Ctr. 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Phone Number: +852 2263 2270
Website: http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/HongKong/Dining/tosca
Date visited: lunch on weekend
photo from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ritz-Carlton,_Hong_Kong#/media/File:The_Ritz-Carlton_Hong_Kong_Tosca.jpg
The Ritz Carlton Hong Kong in Central had always used to be a favorite of ours before it moved to its current location. We were huge fans of their Italian restaurant at the time, called Toscana, which was run by the one and only, Umberto Bombana. Bombana was the first and still the only chef to have a michelin 3 starred Italian restaurant outside of Italy (our review of his restaurant in Hong Kong coming soon!). After Bombana left Toscana to open his own restaurant, The Drawing Room and Otto e Mezzo, in 2008, The Ritz Carlton Hotel also moved to Kowloon side, in the ICC building. It is now the highest hotel in the world, its first floor situated on the 102nd floor of the building. After Bombana left, Toscana’s food quality dropped tremendously and even when it moved to Kowloon side and became Tosca, we still weren’t convinced it was worth another try. Until recently when Tosca invited michelin 2 starred chef Pino Lavarra and earned a michelin star itself did we decide to give it another chance.
We went for lunch on a weekend and when we made the reservation we were informed that only set lunch is available and ordering a la carte was not an option. Well honestly, we thought that just kinda sucked. Set lunches in Hong Kong are typically fast, simple and cheap, catered for the working community, therefore we didn’t think it would be worth it. However, when we arrived we were pleasantly surprised to find out that the set lunch menu is catered for us foodies. It is composed of a selection of the Chef’s favorites and Tosca’s specialities from the dinner menu, but at half the price.
First course was an organic langoustine with a crab and ricotta cheese cookie, bone marrow, black truffle puree and pea puree. Our whole family is just a tad (only a little bit) obsessed with langoustine so we all ordered the same dish. The langoustine was very well cooked, tender, 爽口(sorry english readers but we promise theres no english translation) and the crab cookie was very well conceptualized and executed. Even the biscuit that sandwiched the crab meat was very crisp and flavorful. The flavor of the biscuit reminded us of the Edo biscuit that was always a childhood favorite so that brought back many memories. The bone marrow was a bit pointless and didn’t add much to the dish, but the pea puree was very nice. This was probably one of the top 5 langoustine dishes we’ve had so far, which says a lot considering how picky we are about langoustines. 9/10
Next up, I ordered a quail ravioli with a smoked potato soup. The ravioli was very al dente and the filling was flavorful with nice texture. The potato soup was the star of the dish because it was extremely smooth and creamy but not too filling at the same time. The subtle smokiness wasn't overpowering but added interesting flavor to the dish. And there were some roasted hazelnuts which gave a nice contrast in textures. 8/10
Calvin ordered a homemade fusilli with chicken ragout and tomato. We were intrigued with how they would do a chicken tomato sauce well because it seemed very ordinary and is not commonly seen on menus. However we were pleasantly surprised and impressed with how they executed it. It was not exactly how we expected a ragout to be in the sense that it seemed to be more like minced chicken rather than a shredded chicken but it was so ordinary yet so good. The homemade fusili also had a very nice texture and bite (hello al dente), which is super important in a pasta dish. It was basically a pasta bolognese but escalated and executed brilliantly. It always seems to be difficult to pull off Italian fine dining because Italian food is more commonly seen as rustic and homey, but this dish was a perfect example of how Tosca nailed Italian fine dining. 9/10
Our dad ordered a green spaghetti alla chitarra (no worries if you have no clue what that means cuz we didn’t either). It was basically a thinly sliced filet of swordfish wrapped around a bundle of spinach spaghetti. Interesting concept, executed extremely poorly. Fish was tough, spaghetti was overcooked and tasteless, and the whole dish in general was just bland. It seems like a dish that you would see at a buffet that’s been sitting for hours.
If our meal ended there, we would’ve been perfectly satisfied (with the exception of our dad's dish), but unfortunately mains didn’t live up to the expectations we had after our antipasti and primi.
I ordered a herb crusted lamb, which was cooked okay, meat was decently tender but flavors were completely missing.
Calvin ordered a tuna steak in ventresca sauce with a caper and it just wasn’t good. The fish was bland, had a weird texture, and the caper was just weird. Especially with a comparison like the tuna steak at Yamazato in Amsterdam, this was not even close.
Price Value:
Number of diners: 4
Total price (HKD): 2000
Price per head:
HKD: $500
USD: $65
Tosca’s “degustation” came with 3 courses, and at the price of $428, it sure was cheap considering the size and the quality of (some of) the dishes. The portions of the dishes were extremely generous for a “business lunch”, and considering it was dinner quality, dayum it was good!
4.5/5
Taste:
We couldn’t say that the taste was phenomenal, because it had some highs but also some lows but was quite creative so we do give them credit for that.
12.5/15
Service:
In general a very comfortable, relaxing, and welcoming experience.
9/10
Atmosphere:
The Ritz-Carlton really nailed the design of their hotel. Eating a meal on the 103rd floor is already impressive and gives a killer view, but having a ceiling as high as theirs really brought it to the next level. It made the entire restaurant much more spacious and comfortable. Unfortunately the tables were situated closer to each other than we would have wanted.
8.5/10
Presentation:
Nothing special, but still nice.
8.5/10
Technique:
The homemade fusilli was perfect, the ravioli was cooked very well and we do give them credit for trying to stuff the swordfish with spaghetti. The langoustines were cooked well (which is not easy) and they nailed the crab cookie.
4/5
Total Score: 42.5/50
Fuchelin: 2 stars
Final Remarks:
This is one of the very few restaurants that we think deserve a higher star rating than it has. It may be because it only had one michelin star that we went in without expecting too much. We have to admit, there were some disappointing aspects in some dishes, but they really nailed some dishes and excelled in the other aspects like service and technique. So we think that Tosca could actually deserve two michelin stars especially if they just polish up their mains! We went for the three course meal and decided to skip dessert (which was nice of them because it is rarely possible to skip dessert in a set menu) so we can’t quite comment on that aspect but we’re sure we will be back so stay tuned! :)