Trattoria Caffe Monteverdi

Directly above Sai Ying Pun station is a hidden gem of an Italian restaurant that’s a must-visit for Hong Kong’s fans of Mediterranean and European cuisines. Trattoria Caffe Monteverdi is, as its name suggests, an Itailan trattoria-style restaurant (casual, informal and relaxed) and a cafe, but it also traces its roots to late 18th century Milan, and it’s this history the proprietors have sought to reanimate in the heart of Hong Kong. Explore rustic, regional Italian cuisine matched with boutique wines at Trattoria Caffe Monteverdi’s High Street enclave.

Take a look at Trattoria Caffe Monteverdi’s special set dinners!

Ancient family recipes are the trump card at this particularly rusticated Hong Kong Italian restaurant. Recipes here are drawn from Milanese inns and the cookbooks of the proprietor’s grandmother, giving the menu a genuinely folksy feel that is only accentuated by Trattoria Caffe Monteverdi’s warm and welcoming premises, hidden away on Sai Ying Pun’s High Street, just a couple of minutes from the station. Sometimes it feels that Hong Kong doesn’t need any more Italian restaurants, but when such an historically aware example such as this comes along, you know it deserves getting to know.

At Trattoria Caffe Monteverdi, careful attention is paid not only to the wine that’s the best fit to your chosen dish, but the matches made between ingredients. This Italian restaurant in Hong Kong’s Sai Ying Pun carefully annotates each and every dish, taking into account the regional provenance of the recipe and everything from the risotto rice grains (carnaroli, the so-called king of rices, not arborio) to the crucial ingredients and the sauces. Match a Calabrian eggplant sauce with Gragnano pasta, go for the northern Italian apple and smoked mountain ham risotto from Trentino, Umbrian veal cutlets, Campanian sea bass, and be sure to finish with an educational cheeseboard.