Doppio Zero, Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan

Doppio Zero (The Pemberton, 22-26 Bonham Strand, Hong Kong, tel : +852 2851 0682), as the restaurant is named means 'double zero' or 00. It is used to denote a highly refined (read also as costlier) grade of flour that is well regarded for use in the making of pasta. This trattoria/bar is located at the basement of The Pemberton down at Sheung Wan and has been quite hyped over talked about in the past couple of years.

The entrance to the restaurant starts with the bar - which looked a lot more rustic than the actual restaurant behind with furnishings that are a little more polished than I would generally associate with the word 'trattoria'. But then again, my impressions of what a trattoria is might have been more rose tinted.

A quick one with the service. Attentive and generally welcoming. But we were on an early dinner with not much crowd.

Bread. Good for olive oil and mopping up sauces.

We started with their truffled fried oysters. Truffle aioli and creamed spinach. Could taste some truffle from the aioli, not really so much of the creamed spinach and the oysters were outstandingly ordinary.

We had the half portions of the pastas which on hindsight was a good thing. It would have been too much food otherwise. This above was their beetroot ravioli. It says red wine braised beetroot on the menu and it's actually pureed as well. Butter, Gorgonzola which I couldn't get at all and poppy seed. I'm particular about Gorgonzola. If the menu says it's there, I need to taste it and enough of it. This tasted like it had none. It was cheese for sure but I'm positive I didn't get that funk. Those poppy seeds are really just there for aesthetics since they hardly contributed to texture.

But otherwise, it's kinda nice.

Their chitarra was suppose to be a signature pasta. Menu stated that sea urchin and crab roe were involved. There was some sea urchin flavour in there to be fair. But otherwise, the roe was more prominent and more salt would have been great. I didn't quite feel for this.

Next up, their grilled USDA ribeye with bone marrow. As much as I like a good steak, this was quite the fat overkill. The meat was fatty and glazed over with that anchovy garlic butter. That's on top of the bone marrow to be had and then the drizzles of olive oil. You see what I mean about overkill? The menu says gremolata. Where's the lemon to cut through all the oil? 

Dessert was a crepe/mille feuille thing with lavender Mascarpone with candied tomatoes. This was actually quite nice. My fear of being overwhelmed by the lavender was unfounded and the flavours were quite balanced. The torched sugary top was a nice touch of bitterness and I liked the tomatoes.