Paisano's Central

I'm not really known to jump on bandwagons.  In fact, my first instinct when a mob of people tell me something is really spectacular is to find a way to disagree. Naturally, then, when I heard the hype about legendary Sai Kung pizza joint Paisano's coming to a location within stumbling distance of LKF, part of me really wanted to hate it with the fiery passion of a thousand red hot burning suns. Or at least be able to say in my most contemptuous voice "eh...it's ok...you know Hong Kong pizza...never very good" while shrugging disappointedly.

But FINE I admit it, OK? It IS really good.  So the disagreeable part of me was pissed, and the other part of me was overjoyed, and sang songs of praise to the heavens, for a new era of pizza had dawned on central Hong Kong, and just as the prophets had forewarned, it was indeed a delicious new era.

But you've already read all that crap about how good it is in Timeout and HK Mag so let me just tell you a couple of things you may not have heard already:

1. I don't love the sauce.  Please see me after class for more details.

2. I am just as crazy about giant pizza slices as the next gal, but the size of these slices is unambiguously, positively, categorically and outrageously ridiculous, some might even say preposterous, and almost as unnecessarily absurd as this completely excessive string of words describing the size. 

3.  Seriously though, I asked them to cut them in half the second time.  This isn't a too much of a good thing is a bad thing situation, it's just impossible to eat.  Especially if you eat it standing in the street outside the store - as God intended for you to eat it.

4.  I'm a firm believer that pizza slice vendors should remain open past 11 pm.  All night long would be preferable.

5.  I hope they start delivering soon as advertised. And I hope they know how to deliver pizza. As in, while it's still hot.

Crust: 9

Toppings: 7 (good cheese levels but the sauce is just ok)
VFM: 8
Ambiance: N/A

Overall: 9

Paisano's

9 Lyndhurst Terrace

Central, Hong Kong

2544 4445

Cul-De-Sac

Tucked away on Wing Wah lane down an alley from Lan Kwai Fong, Cul-De-Sac is one of Hong Kong's few late night food shops that doesn't serve exclusively noodles and fish balls.  I know I sound like a broken record here but although you could do better, you could also do much worse for pizza and/or late night food here in the Kong.  Cul-De-Sac also has a variety of other late night favorites like poutine and a good beer selection. However, if you're at Cul-De-Sac I would be willing to bet you probably don't need any more beer.

Crust:  A bit crackery, but generally inoffensive. 6

Sauce:  I hate it when the sauce gets baked into the crust, and this stuff doesn't really have much flavor.  2

Toppings: Basic, but ok.  Good cheese levels.  6

Ambiance: Alleys are nice, but not really to eat in.  4

Overall:  5

Cul-De-Sac

GF Block A Winner Building
Wing Wah Lane
Central

Peak Bar

Ever been wandering around Soho with a group of friends and no one will make a decision so you just end up going to an obvious place that's easy to find that's not that awesome but yet not that terrible?  If you were looking for drinks you probably ended up at Staunton's. If you were hungry you probably ended up at Peak Bar.

Why is it called Peak Bar even though it's not on the Peak?  Unclear.

Peak Bar actually has a pretty legit-looking pizza oven, which results in a tasty crust, especially compared to most other pizza joints in the area.  And just because I saw a cockroach crawling down the wall there once doesn't mean that there are lots of cockroaches.  Remember, if you see one cockroach there are actually zero other cockroaches where that one came from.  

The sauce is pretty good and I like their use of extremely melty cheese.  Therefore, if you are in the mood for eating a decent pizza while watching people stand on an escalator Peak Bar could be a good fit for you.  Don't worry about the cockroach thing...it's Hong Kong and you've probably already eaten many cockroaches since you got here.

Crust: 7

Sauce: 6

Toppings: 6

Ambiance: 7

VFM: 6

Overall: 6

Peak Bar

9-13 Shelley Street

Central
2140 6877

Barolo

As I walked into Barolo I saw no one.  This is usually not a good sign, however as it is my duty to faithfully search out and report on the good, the bad and the ugly of HK pizza, I tried it anyway.

Unfortunately, I'd definitely have to put this in either the godawful category or the godawful category.  That's a combination of bad and ugly I think.

Crust: 3

Sauce: 2

Toppings: 2

Ambiance: 5 - Good people watching on Hollywood Road

VFM: 4 

Overall:  3

Barolo
30 Hollywood Road

2810 1600

Pizza Milano

It is axiomatic to state that there are very few good outdoor dining options in Hong Kong.  I suppose this could have something to do with the heat, humidity, pollution, lack of sidewalk space, cockroaches, high floor area ratio and a general propensity of this city's residents to prefer air conditioned areas to the outdoors.  The relatively unknown Pizza Milano is one of the few rooftop restaurants in Central.  It doesn't really have a view per se, but there's nothing like that grand old Hong Kong feeling of being completely surrounded by hundreds of buildings to make up for the lack of view.  Am I right?

Thought so.  Now on to the pizza.  I'm delighted to say it was actually pretty good.  I might even come back for it even if they didn't have a rooftop beer garden.  The crust was thin but not too crunchy, and I'm a sucker for golden delicious air bubbles, as shown here:

As the toppings, sauce etc. were not particularly remarkable other than that there was an adequate amount of cheese which I appreciate, the only thing I have left to say about this place is that the service teetered ominously on the precipice of horrendous. [I should get a part time job writing high school vocabulary review worksheets, yes?]  At one point, we had to call the restaurant on a cell phone to ask them to deliver a San Miguel we ordered twenty minutes previously. It was delivered within 30 seconds after that, but still.  No one should have to go through that much effort for a beer as crappy as San Miguel.

Crust: 9

Sauce: 7

Toppings: 8

Ambiance:  7 (this is the average of a 9 for the rooftop beer garden and 5 for the spotty service)

VFM: 7

Overall: 8

Pizza Milano

9/F, Cheung Hing Commercial Building

No. 37-43 Cochrane Street (directly to the west of the Lyndhurst Terrace Pizza Express, next to 7-11. The entrance is on Gage Street)

Central

2581 2848

For more on rooftop terraces in the Kong, see here.

Brivo

If I changed my rating to letter-based instead of number-based I'd really have to do the exact opposite of going out on a limb and give this one a big fat O for ordinary, meaning that it has the same rating as approximately 94% of the pizzas in the Kong.  I'm so T for tired of ordinary pizza that I can't even think of much to say about this place other than that you could do worse.  And that if you like a really crispy thin crust you might like this place. 

Crust: 6
Sauce: 5
Toppings: 6
Ambiance: 6
VFM: 6
Overall: 5

Brivo

36B Staunton Street

2899 2244

Posto Pubblico

I don't think I've ever felt compelled to say this about a Hong Kong pizza before so allow me to say it now:

HOLY CAMOLY THAT WAS SOME GOOD EFFING PIZZA SAUCE.

I guess most Hong Kong pizza sauce is not THAT bad, it just tastes like tomato paste, is never present in sufficient quantity, is too salty, is all too often baked in to the crust and generally only detracts from rather than adds to almost every pizza I have ever had here.

But just look at this sauce glistening in the candlelight! Basking on top of the pizza in all of its tomatoey glory!!!

Posto Pubblico has one or two flavors per day that are featured on a chalkboard in the bar.  The above, Grandma's Pie, is their specialty and features homemade mozzarella and Sicilian-style pizza crust.  It comes by the slice (half of this) for HKD35.
Its a cute place with a nice ambiance but I have to say I don't appreciate being made to sit in the dark and the humidity on a "patio" which would be more aptly named the garbage dragging area when I had a reservation for a week.
Still, I really liked this pizza and so I would give this an 8, with a possible upgrade to a 9 pending my next visit.

Crust: 8
Sauce: 10
Toppings: 8
Ambiance: 7
VFM: 8
Overall: 8

Posto Pubblico

28 Elgin Street

2577 7160

Pizza Express

Have you ever been to the gym?  Have you ever been to the gym, with the intention of getting a salad afterwards, and then on your way home smelled the pizzalicious aroma of fresh Pizza Express...and then had to go there and order a pizza and a glass of wine or two and basically counteract everything you did at the gym times three?

Yeah, me neither.

Pizza Express is the restaurant you never want to suggest but always agree to instantaneously.  The feeling is similar to when you're traveling in another country and you're secretly happy when someone else suggests McDonald's for breakfast (the alternative being a walk around for two hours random point at a menu could be fish or intestines or rice surprise yet full of cultural experience breakfast).

Its a lot like McDonald's in that its predictable, tastes the same at pretty much every location and uses its political influence to increase its profits at the expense of people's health and the social conditions of its workers.

Just kidding!

Honestly though, it really is the most predictable pie in town if you are looking for a decent option while out in Soho, Stanley, TST, Taikoo Shing, Wan Chai...etc etc.  The crust is reliably crispy and you have a choice of Roman, Neopolitan or wheat crust.  I think wheat crust is for hippies and the other two taste pretty much the same but I usually go for Roman.

The sauce is zippy and the toppings are usually fresh.  I'm pretty sure they recently got rid of my favorite pizza flavor (Sloppy Giusseppe...see top pic) and replaced it with something called Chicago that involves barbecued meat and cheddar cheese only which may or may not illustrate an extreme lack of judgment on Pizza Express's part but I still think these guys are worth a shot.

They're also a good (though slightly expensive) option for delivery because the crust stays tasty reheated. If you don't know why I am talking about reheating delivery pizza then you've obviously never ordered a pizza in this Special Administrative Region.

Crust: 8
Toppings: 8
Sauce: 7
VFM: 5
Ambiance: 5
Overall: 7

Pizza Express

Soho Square
21 Lyndhurst Terrace
Central

Phone 2850 7898
Also located in Festival Walk/Kowloon Tong, Stanley, Taikoo Shing, Tsim Tsa Tsui, Wan Chai and Xintiandi

Wagyu

There are two kinds of people in this world, my friends.  Those who go to Wagyu for steak, and those who go to Wagyu for pizza.  Last time I checked this blog was not called Best Steak in Hong Kong so hopefully that will inform your guess as to what kind of person I am.  The picture of a pizza on a table at Wagyu could also be a hint.

I have a friend who swears this is the best pizza in town.  And her last name is Slice so she does have 'za cred.  I have to say I think its pretty good but I'm not quite ready to throw it in the best of bin yet for a few reasons mainly related to the fact that this pizza tasted like it came straight from the Morton's salt test kitchen. That and the crust was a little soggy in the middle.  If you can't take the toppings get out of the kitchen, ya know what I mean?  That said, the toppings are fresh and delicious and its a fun atmosphere...especially if you have your party shoes on and are headed out to the join the masses on the mean streets of Wyndham later on...as a corollary to this observation I should also note that its probably not the best place to take your grandma for a heart-to-heart debate on the virtues of crochet vs. knitting.  Try the steak pizza (not pictured). Its a keeper.

Crust:6

Sauce: 7

Toppings: 8

Ambiance: 9

VFM: 6

Overall: 8

Wagyu

G/F, the Centrium

60 Wyndham Street

2525-8805

Daddyo's

Daddyos is an understated, tiny lil pizza joint on Staunton Street with a somewhat lame name that claims to serve New York pizza and other American favorites. While what they have going isn't exactly New York style I do think what's they've got going is good.

With only about 20 seats, I wouldn't recommend bringing your extended family here on a Saturday night (especially if you are a Duggar). On the other hand, the small size means (a) the entire place smells of fabulous pizza deliciousness, (b) there can never be many pizzas ahead of you so service is quick and (c) your waitress is never out of shouting distance if service isn't quick. While we're on the topic of ambiance, this place has very little, unfortunately...I do give them extra points for having Connect 4 and Uno available, however.

As I've been here many times before this visit was quick and dirty...we skipped the salad and just went for a Pizza Mexicana, which I highly recommend. Since Mexican-related food that is, as they say, sabrosa, is in my experience impossible to obtain outside of the NAFTA free trade zone, that this pizza is in fact sabrosa makes me feliz.

We went with the "crispy New York" crust (which, as I mentioned, has nothing to do with New York pizza). Wheat crust is also available, but, eff that. The crust is crispy and thin and bubbly and light. I actually really like it, however if you let the pizza get cold or if you have a Hong Kong delivery service deliver it to your house (aka, if you hire someone to pick up your pizza and drive it around Hong Kong on a motorbike for 2 hours until its cold and covered in condensed humidity), the crust deteriorates into a chewy disaster. As Snoop would say, best to drop/eat it like/while its hot, or whatever.

The toppings at Daddyos are always fresh and tasty. In particular, the beef on the Mexicana has a delightful nutmeggy flavor that sort of reminds me of Greek moussaka (speaking of which - the Classic Greek pizza is also, as they say, εύγευστος). Also, the folks at Daddyos DO NOT skimp on cheese, which as you know is a common Hong Kong pizza shortcoming. The sauce amount is good - not too much, not too little. I thought it tasted a little too sweet on this visit and that it generally has the consistency of a can of tomato paste. My dining companion, on the other hand, said that although it was a bit sweeter than a classic American pie sauce, it was still delicious and the consistency was good. Agree to disagree?

Their menu has a good range of pizzas, including pre-conceived so-called specialty pizzas and do-it-yourself toppings. The specialty pizzas include both classic American favorites as well of disgusting sounding concoctions which I would not be caught dead eating such as Spicy Thai with Shrimp, Thousand Island Seafood and Clam Chowder (yes, seriously). For non-pizza options, Daddyos offers poutine (its a Canadian invention involving french fries with gravy, eh), salads, wings, onion rings, ribs, etc. I've never tried any of them except salad, and even if I did, this blog is about pizza, so once again, eff it. I should also note while we're on the topic of non-pizza that the drink list is quite limited - featuring only four beers, soda/juice and one type of red wine.

All in all, I think Daddyos is a great everyday pizza place that's dependable for a delicious weeknight 'za while you're traveling up the escalator.

Crust: 8

Sauce: 5

Toppings: 7

Ambiance: 5

VFM: 7

Overall: 7

Daddyos Pizza

29 Staunton Street

Tel: 2526-8668

Vivo

For 28 years of my life, I had never met a pizza I didn't like. This was before I went to Vivo in Soho.

This overly pretentious yuppy magnet was rumored to have classic neopolitan pizza, so I thought I'd give it a try. As I've been trying to put this dining experience out of my mind so that the nightmares will stop, I'm not sure what I ordered. It had something to do with mushrooms, ten times more truffle oil than should be on any food in the universe I don't care what food it is, and garlic.

Oh, pizza from Vivo, how do I hate you?

Let me count the ways:

Crust: Three words for you...salty, thin, not much better tasting than 3 month old hardtack. Ok that was three concepts, but saying "three concepts for you" is lame. 0/10

Sauce: I don't think there was any, but as I mentioned the amount of truffle oil on this p.o.s. was insane. If I had a truffle oil allergy, I would have been dead just smelling this thing. N/A

Toppings: See previous comments re truffle oil. The mushrooms were good but as I don't think its very hard to procure decent tasting mushrooms I give no credit for this. 4/10

Ambiance: I do no speak Italian and we are not in Italy. Therefore please don't send out your too bold of a pinstrip suited man to speak to me in Italian before my meal. I must say though, that the decor in this place is nice - its dark without feeling like a basement gangster steak house and has hip lighting and shrubbery on the walls (a must). 8/10

VFM: Although the pizza was priced at about what you would expect for an Elgin Street place the wine list was egregiously expensive. I saw wines on this list that I've bought for USD10 at Surdyk's in Minneapolis for USD60 at this place. 2/10

I've never eaten anything else on the menu at Vivo however I absolutely cannot recommend this restaurant to any pizza lover with a soul.

Overall Pizzaliciousness: 0/10

Vivo
41-43 Elgin Street
Tel: 3106 2526

Cafe O

Cafe O isn't really anything special for a pizza date night - its more like a cafe than anything else.  This isn't really your typical "pie" either (can you call a square pizza a pie?)...first of all its square, and the toppings are a little different that your typical Dominos (think pumpkin, pesto, smoked salmon, salami and my favorite - the red onion jam), although they have some typical faves as well.  If you're not into squares you can also get your pizza in rectangular format and order it by the yard!!! Actually its a meter, but we all know that a meter is just a poor man's yard anyway.

Today I wanted to try something different picked up a square (small) pesto pizza.  It was good but not the best I've ever had from Cafe O as I felt the pesto cheese combo was a little too oily.  Not that I should really complain since other HK pizza joints frequently skimp on the dairy.  Next time you go to Cafe O try out the red onion jam - I know it sounds gross but trust me, you'll be pleasantly surprised. I like it with salami.

The crust at Cafe O is thin and crispy and available in both white and wheat variety.  I don't give it my highest rating however since sometimes the corners get a little burnt.  Maybe this isn't the crust's fault but I don't have a rating for "shape"...

This pizza's missing a piece since I gave a slice to my doorman on the way in.  He said it was pretty good. That's how I feel about it too.

Crust: 5

Sauce: 5

Toppings: 8

Ambiance:  5 (they have nice macs available if you're waiting for takeout but its kind of too bright to stay there)

Overall:6

La Piazetta

I always wanted to go to La Piazetta (in the alley behind Kinwick Center off Shelley Street) - because it looked like a cute European style outdoor cafe.  Actually, it was less like a European cafe and more like sitting in a cockroach-infested alley in Hong Kong.   We first sat at the last table (closest to Pure Fitness which was at the time being jackhammered although it was 9 pm on a Friday), however once the cockroach count reached five we decided to move closer to the lights/the inside of the restaurant, which thankfully was located next to the man in jeans and a vest playing John Denver's Country Roads on a stand up electronic keyboard.

So although this place had a lot going for it the pizza was pretty sub-standard.  There was not enough of the [way too watery] sauce and the cheese count was pathetic (clearly made by Asians).  All in all a pretty crap experience.  

Crust: 5

Sauce: 2

Toppings: 4

Ambiance: 2

Overall: 3

It wasn't all bad, however. #1, they had cans of some Italian beer called Nasturro Azzuro, which seems like it could be pretty cool (although maybe it is like Italian PBR?).  #2, we saw the weirdest hairdo/sunglass combination known to man.  If anyone can explain to me what in the hell this woman is thinking I will give you $5.