Ristorante Puny @ Portofino, Italy

Cuisine: Italian

Map: Ristorante Puny @ Portofino, Italy

Price: EUR30 per person without alcohol (what we paid for)

Visited: 11 October 2014

Food: 7/10

Atmosphere: 9/10

Value for money: 5/10

Services: 5/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

Portofino, at Liguria region of Italy, is indeed a dream destination for many travellers. It sure is a busy little village and harbour but can be beautiful and breathtaking during nice weather days. During our trip, we drove to Portofino from Piedmont just to stop by this famous destination. It was only a few hours that we were there but surely enough to get the feel of this place.

During lunch hour, we popped by one of the restaurant that seems to be well-known in the cyber world: Ristorante Puny. We did some research before going and this little does seem to get praised a lot and we did not hesitate to give a try. For location wise, it is sure a guarantee for fantastic spot and view. I believe it would be really romantic for a date night out dinner. Seats are organised at store front to face the harbour. We were lucky to be seated right at the front row as we were the very first to arrive. It was not really a bright weather day but nice enough to dine there. Staffs were rather cold as we felt. Nevertheless, the old man owner did take thing very actively, advising from the back row himself.

Ristorante Puny @ Portofino, Italy

al fresco seats

waterfront view of Portofino

simple basket of bread

For the dish, we had Pappardelle Portofino (8/10) and Pesce al Sale (7/10). Pappardelle Portofino was definitely a very nice tomato based pasta. A really simple looking dish but tasted wonderfully. The creamy texture and rich flavour sauce went fabulously with large pappardelle. Next was Pesce al Sale which is basically baked sea bass with salt. Nothing much fancy here but fresh sea bass baked with salt served with olive oil. Satisfaction was there for me. Fresh fish baked just right with tender texture. The rest was just salty taste on the palate and aroma of olive oil. I do like it.

Well, Ristorante Puny is not a cheap place at all but a good experience al fresco, especially when visiting with your love one. The view is remarkable. Not cheap but I would still say recommendation to anyone who is going to visit Portofino.

Pappardelle Portofino (EUR20)

Pesce al Sale (EUR30)

a lady staff dissembling the fish

Ristorante Puny @ Portofino, Italy
5 Piazza Martiri dell'Olivetta
Portofino 16034
Genoa
Italy

Open Hours: daily except Thursday 12:30pm - 02:30pm for lunch and 07:30pm - 10:30pm for dinner

Tel: +39 0185 268 037

Ristorante Silvio @ Bellagio, Como, Italy

Cuisine: Italian

Map: Ristorante Silvio @ Bellagio, Como, Italy

Price: EUR33 per person (what we paid for)

Visited: 5 October 2014

Food: 7/10

Atmosphere: 8/10

Value for money: 8/10

Services: 6/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

Bellagio is without doubt a very beautiful small town in the Province of Como. Being so famous does of course come with difficulty to spot non-tourist kind of restaurants. We were no exception and were in the search of good restaurant. At the time of our visit, I have to say we were lucky enough to discover this fabulous restaurant which is just a few kilometres from the centre of Bellagio. It is Ristorante Silvio which is a part of hotel Albergo Silvio.

Ristorante Silvio is located right by Lake Como on the West side of Bellagio and facing Tremezzo. The dining room is spacious with around 20 tables. There are also outdoor seats for al fresco dining on a good weather day too. In fact, windows in the dining can be lifted down which is splendid. At the time of our arrival, there were only a few tables around but the place was packed with local within 30 minutes. At this point, we were at least sure that we had been in the right restaurant.

Ristorante Silvio @ Bellagio, Como, Italy

moderate size dining room at the time of opening

It was crowded when we walked out

alfresco here at Ristorante Silvio should be fabulous too

nice view from the dining room

Ristorante Silvio is well-known for its fish dish and local cuisine. It is believed that fish are caught fresh daily here. Scanning through the menu, it is parted into 4 main sections as usual: starter, first course, second course, and dessert. Unsurprisingly, most of dishes are fish menu. Pricing was the surprise, it is kept in line with most of local restaurants and we would say that it is a good value accounting its location and quality. For wine list, it is ranged from table wine to the high end side. The list is not extensive but at its modest choice. for me, Corvo Bianco 2013 from Sicily did its job pretty nicely with fish dishes. The fruity aroma character with crispiness did the job rather well. This is a decent table wine definitely.

the menu

rather nice bread

Corvo Bianco Terre Siciliane IGT 2013

a nice corner with greet

For us, the first two dishes were Homemade Stuffed Ravioli with Savetta Fish and Butter (8/10) and Homemade Tagliolini with Fresh Lake Fish Ragout (8/10). The ravioli was excellent. Texture was great. I just love the word al dente really. It is a word that comes with deliciousness. The filling was smooth fish mousse. Cooked with butter, herbs, and topped with sage. Delicacy in local style, it is. For tagliolini with fish ragout, this was somewhat strange. I normally would see ragout of lamb or beef. But it was fish in such a case. Just by looking, you would not believe it was fish. Having tasted, I still hardly think it was fish. Hardly any trace of fishy scent. This is a fabulous ragout dish in Silvio style. A must try dish, I would say.

Homemade Stuffed Ravioli with Savetta Fish and Butter (EUR9)

Homemade Tagliolini with Fresh Lake Fish Ragout (EUR8.5)

For the main courses, the first one was Fried Pike with Onion Cream (6/10). An enjoyable fish dish with a little firm texture of pike pairing with savoury onion cream and lemon. I would not say this dish is as wow as those aforementioned pastas but still a good one to enjoy. The second one was Boneless Grilled Lavarello (7/10). Lavarello is a local lake fish. The texture was low in fattiness. Firm but not hard. Somewhat thin fillet. This was fresh and delicious. Simple grilled fish with lemon was sure enough and satisfy. For both dishes, there were potatoes and zucchini along side to accompany.

Well, we have to say that we really this restaurant. Nice view. Good food. Good wine. Not overly priced. What else should I demand more???????

Fried Pike with Onion Cream (EUR17)

Boneless Grilled Lavarello (EUR16)

Ristorante Silvio @ Bellagio, Como, Italy

12 Via Carcano
Bellagio
Como 22021
Italy

Open Hours: daily from 12:30pm for lunch and from 07:30pm for dinner

Tel: +39 031 95 03 22
Web: http://www.bellagiosilvio.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/HotelRestaurantSilvio

Sushi Hana @ Bangkok Square, Rama 3 Road, Bangkok - ซูชิฮานะ @ บางกอกสแควร์ ถนนพระราม 3 กรุงเทพฯ

Cuisine: Japanese (sushi)

Map: Sushi Hana @ Bangkok Square, Rama 3 Road, Bangkok - ซูชิฮานะ @ บางกอกสแควร์ ถนนพระราม 3 กรุงเทพฯ

Price: THB700 per person without alcohol (what we paid for)

Visited: 22 February 2014

Food: 4/10

Atmosphere: 5/10

Value for money: 3/10

Services: 4/10
Scale: [ 1=poor ----- 5=average/standard ----- 10=outstanding/exceptional ]

At the time of writing, it was around the end of 1st quarter of 2014. Sushi Hana was recently launched in early February. By chance, it is located near where we live so we decided to give it a try immediately upon having heard of its presence (there was also 20% off for launching period). The community where it is sited is called "Bangkok Square" which is on Rama 3 Road. The place is not large which is probably capable of accommodating around 40 guests. The sushi counter is, however, rather spacious for its size, with around 12 seats. There are a number of sushi chef working at the counter.

Sushi Hana @ Bangkok Square, Rama 3 Road, Bangkok

sushi counter

the place is rather small

The place is of course specialise in sushi. What interesting was the wasabi thing. Here they give you a fresh wasabi to grate yourself instead of using packed wasabi like in many other places. Nevertheless, we could not find how it was more special. Anyway, we started out dinner with akami sashimi - ปลาทูน่าสด (4/10). Well, this was not that good quality tuna. It lacked off firm texture that should balanced with natural fattiness. At least, it was acceptable and not icy like not quite well defrosted. For tuna tartufo sauce salad - สลัดปลาทูน่าซอสเห็ดทัฟเฟอร์ (4/10), it was simply akami sashimi with the sauce that tasted like ponzu. Despite the sauce was called tartufo sauce, we could not tell the presence of any sort of mushroom at all.

complementary appetiser

freshly grated wasabi

akami sashimi - ปลาทูน่าสด (THB310)

tuna tartufo sauce salad - สลัดปลาทูน่าซอสเห็ดทัฟเฟอร์ (THB280)

Moving on to sushi, we ordered a la carte this time instead of set menu. Our selections for the night was: itoyori nigiri - ข้าวปั้นปลาอิโตโยริ (3/10), aji nigiri - ข้าวปั้นปลาทู (5/10), salmon toro aburi nigiri - ข้าวปั้นปลาแซลมอนช่วงท้องเผา (3/10), chutoro nigiri - ข้าวปั้นปลาทูน่าช่วงท้องมันน้อย (2/10), and negi tuna - ข้าวปั้นหน้าทูน่าสับ (3/10).

Honestly, I could not see great quality of ingredients from Sushi Hana. It was simply just ok. Chefs' skill was as well still far from being called highly regarded. For rice, the texture was not bad but still lacked of sour from vinegar. The overall impression of sushi here, I would say aji was simply better than the others. It was fresh and had the tenderness but some chewy texture. Just the natural sweetness that could not be found. Itoyori was a weird one for us, so we gave it a try. I do not prefer it that much. It was somewhat plain and flat. By the way, itoyori is threadfin bream.

The not so pleasant part was salmon toro aburi, chutoro, and negi tuna. The chutoro was surely not the chutoro. Where was the fattiness and melt in mouth kind of thing. I simply thought it was akami. Negi tuna, on the other hand, was not well flavoured and the seaweed was not at all crisp. For salmon, I never quite get the way some restaurant put mayonnaise on top of aburi sushi like salmon aburi. It is just overwhelming and break the balance of flavour.

Well, I don't think I would go back again to Sushi Hana. They need to be more professional on what they are doing perhaps: ingredients, technique, and etc. I am not saying it is bad but it is just ok to have for a meal that is simply just a meal. Confuse eh?

sushi selection

itoyori nigiri - ข้าวปั้นปลาอิโตโยริ (THB40)

aji nigiri - ข้าวปั้นปลาทู (THB40)

salmon toro aburi nigiri - ข้าวปั้นปลาแซลมอนช่วงท้องเผา (THB90)

chutoro nigiri - ข้าวปั้นปลาทูน่าช่วงท้องมันน้อย (THB250)

negi tuna - ข้าวปั้นหน้าทูน่าสับ (THB60)

Sushi Hana @ Bangkok Square, Rama 3 Road, Bangkok - ซูชิฮานะ @ บางกอกสแควร์ ถนนพระราม 3 กรุงเทพฯ

Bangkok Square
Rama 3 Road
Bang Phongphang, Yannawa
Bangkok 10120
Thailand

Open Hours: daily 11:30am - 02:00pm for lunch and 05:00pm - 10:00pm for dinner

Tel: +66 (0) 2295 2380
FB: https://www.facebook.com/SushiHanaThailand