Associazione Chianti

HK$1000 per person

Step inside the glossy façade at Associazione Chianti, situated smack dab in the centre of the quietly thriving Ship Street restaurant thoroughfare, and be instantaneously transported to a warm and welcoming neighbourhood mainstay, where the setting, colours, smells, and flavours evoke all the emotion and atmosphere of a Tuscan trattoria. The ingredients-forward menu highlights simple, authentic classics. Start the night right with the restaurant’s fresh-out-of-the-oven bacon-speckled rolls. A large-format Bistecca alla Fiorentina cut from meltin-your-mouth grass-fed Black Angus sourced from Idaho is the clear star of the show, but don’t sleep on Chianti’s other shareable mains—the Pollo al Burro Omaggio a Sostanza is a chicken breast pan-fried in a luxurious puddle of brown butter, a dish created in homage to the legendary Trattoria Sostanza in Florence. Ease into the golden hour with a platter of Italian cured meats, a crisp and barely- but perfectly-dressed chicory salad, and a soulful vegetable minestrone, then linger afterwards over generous portions of glorious pavlova and endless bottles of wine—the restaurant’s proprietary eponymous Associazione Chianti is a good bet and a delicious all-rounder. It’s the place to go for simple, authentic, ingredients-forward Tuscan dishes served with flair and passion.

15 Ship Street, Wan Chai, Hong Kong associazionechianti.com