Lupa

Food = 5
Service = 4
Ambience = 5
They had a wonderful buffet with salads, soup, antipasti platter, and desserts. We came early and missed the business crowd. I ordered the Tonarelli Crab which I would recommend.
Our server didn’t seem very happy. Didn’t know if he was having a bad day or what.

Lupa is an Italian restaurant located in Central Hong Kong. Although the dining room has white linen table clothes, this is a casual restaurant, very busy, fun, lively, and crowed with a nice atmosphere. The main dining room has high ceilings and floor to ceiling windows on the 3^rd Floor of a downtown building. The pizza is thin crust pizza that is very good (not great but worth having); the pasta is homemade and was delicious, as good as you will get anywhere; the Rib-​Eye was good but not great. The meat had too much fat and the arugula had too much Balsamic Vinegar, however, we paired our meal with a beautiful bottle of Guado al Tasso, and we had a great lunch that was very satisfying. We felt like we were back in New York, which was a nice change. Lupa may be the only restaurant in Hong Kong where the patrons were actually having fun talking to each other while sharing their meal rather then preoccupied on their cell phones.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Lupa for dinner with my wife. We had a disappointing experience. This was particularly the case since we have enjoyed Lupa in NY for years and expected more from a Mario Batali vehicle.
The service was good. But my wife had the tasting menu, which included a seafood lasagne and a pork dish. None of these were particularly fresh. This was a surprise! My own fish was average. There seemed to be some care put into the preparation but the ingredients tasted either lower quality than we expected or as if they had been stored for a while. We didn’t feel very comfortable afterwards.
I enjoy the lunch set up there, so this also fed our surprise.
Mario needs to bring up the quality.
Adam

Always have issues with hardcore commercially driven celebrity chefs. Lupa is Mario Batagli (sp?)‘s Italian restaurant as part of Dining Concept Group’s range of restaurants. Just go for the lunch buffet. Good greens and Italian Antipasti including Salumi, prosciutto, etc.

Was here Tuesday night for dinner. Service was impeccable. Food was good but was nothing outstanding. What I can’t figure out was the place was totally dead. There were MAYBE three other parties dining in the entire restaurant. Hopefully this place can sustain.

With a lively scene, a fun buffet, and atypical décor for a Hong Kong restuarant, Lupa is a great choice in Central. The lunch options (buffet antipasti and dessert with the option of adding main plate: HKD188 pp + HKD60 for a pizza) are well-​priced.
From the antipasti (small but good quality selection), I especially enjoyed the frittata and the cured meats. The olive foccacia was also delicious. The lemon salad dressing was odd (a bit bitter). My pizza was serviceable (nothing earth-​shattering), with a light crust; they were very spare with the sauce and the cheese which was just fine given my large appetizer plate!
The dessert selection was just right — tiny bites of tarts, brownies, plus a large tiramisu.
Seating is a bit cramped and the restaurant can get a bit loud. Do make a reservation ahead.

OK, so I went here again for brunch on Sunday, and I’ve gotta say that the quality of the brunch offerings has improved SUBSTANTIALLY. The breads taste fresher, the food has more flavor, and they actually changed up some of the tired old buffet selections that they had offered previously (no more boring pasta salad — yay!). I’ll come here for more than just the bottomless oysters now. The jazz band during Sunday brunch is a nice touch, too.

This review is specifically for their Sunday brunch. For $ 548 per person, you get free flow drinks including prosecco, wines, bloody Mary, bellinis and beer (excluding champagne which costs another 100 bucks) for 2 hours. The buffet stations have a great selection of raw oysters, meaty crab claws, shrimp, yabbies, and whelk. I ate a delicious poached egg with salmon that was served in a shot glass and perfectly partially cooked. Imagine polenta that they put into a huge parmigiano cheese wheel and the cheese melts into the polenta before serving into a bowl. Then, when you are ready and somehow not completely full, you can order a main course from a great selection of pizzas, pastas, Meats or eggs. But wait, save room for dessert from their buffet bar! All of the above accompanied by live jazz music. Fantastic.

When Mario Batali first hit in town we went to Lupa 3 times in one month by different requests from the corporate floor. I went back for lunch this time, after 2 years.
The proscuitto, ricotta cheese, proper cold cut. I did chose a main, for some. I got a Ceci e Baccala’, sautéed Codfish Filet with warm Chick Pea Salad and Crispy Leeks. Rather plain. But after the rough bites of the sausages, this is a bit civilised. My friend’s safe Penne All’Arrabbiata is also ordinary.
Maybe we are too spoiled with the Italian scene here in Hong Kong. I can only salute to the New York Italian in NYC. It is about the whole team. You cannot just ship it. Nor copy.

I find it rare that an entire restaurant can take an entire floor dab smack in the middle of Central. Then I learned that it is owned by one of those celebrity chefs who open a restaurant in the city but they never really cook the meals in said restaurant (except for opening night) for which they have acclaim for because they are always busy jet-​setting. Frankly, I think they create more restaurants than innovative dishes. But, then again, I digress.
I was invited by a good friend to dine here, and seeing as I’ve never tried it nor heard of it, I just went with the flow. Immediately, upon entering, I was impressed by the size. It’s a really massive restaurant (almost 800 square meters aka A WHOLE FLOOR). The floor is checkered and the booths are undeniably leather. The vertical garden is a nice touch. The windows are huge, perfect for people-​watching. But with such an elegant restaurant, why bother watching? I love restaurants with floor to ceiling windows, it just feels more airy.
The staff were amiable and the servers took their time to explain the different dishes from the menu. Because of that, we asked more than we should just to know about the other dishes — it took the server a good twenty minutes to explain everything we asked.
The a la carte menu consists of starters, raw meat and fish (carpaccio), cured meats (affettati), pizzas and salads, pastas, mains and sides. They also offer a tasting menu and a multi-​course menu for those who’d rather let the chef decide what to eat. We tried the tagliatelle prosciutto cooked al dente. The bolognese sauce was zesty and sweet and perfectly complemented the
salty prosciutto. Next up we had salted sea bream which was a bit overcooked, leaving the flesh tasteless. I had big expectations for this dish but it simply fell short.
Dinner prices are not for the faint of heart but at least the lunch prices are friendlier. I might not come back here for dinner in the near future but I’m sure coming back for the huge open terrace.

Dining Concepts has a few restaurants — 28 in total I think — and Lupa is one of my favourites. Honestly, I’ve only been to three others so I’m not in the best position to judge!
Lupa promises class before you even enter the building. From the ground floor to the third floor there is nothing but modernity and cleanliness, the latter being very important in my books. It also speaks money, so if you’re on a budget this is a place to avoid.
My visit consisted of afternoon drinks with a friend. We sat outside in their terrace area surrounded by looming skyscrapers and others slacking off from work early. It’s a great little cubby often overlooked by most, but once explored is often returned to. I enjoyed it especially because it was my friend’s round. During our stay I did manage to have a little stroll in doors and was quite surprised by size of it all. I imagined what it would look like during a party with easily over four hundred people in all areas combined.
On top of all that, the professionalism of the staff made me feel like I was actually a semi, quasi, important person for once in my life. The service was quick and friendly, even though we occupied the table for an hour on only a single drink each.
The location, décor, service, and overall standard of Lupa puts it in good stead competing against the other bars and restaurants in the area. One massive bonus to it is that it’s at the bottom of the LKF hill! no more sweating just before an hot date or night out!

I recently came to Lupa for a friends bridal shower. A bunch of girls decided to come here for drinks. It is a great ambiance kind of place. The main reason while this restaurant is worth mentioning is because of it’s chef. The famous Mario Batali has more than one Lupa restaurants and they are known for it’s stunning Italian cuisine. Though I only came here for drinks with some friends, I remembered coming here before for dinner as well. They have a great outdoor patio that has comfortable lounge chairs and heat lamps for when it’s cold in the winter. Will definitely be coming back to lounge outside one of these days.
For Drinks I ordered the Whiskey Sour. It was a good cocktail. Not my favourite but good enough to order a second.
When I came here to dine, I remember ordering the parma ham and arugula pizza. I also remember that I thought it was pretty decent. It’s big enough to share for two people so you might want to order something else to share as well so you have more variety. Since I am a huge Salmon fan, I also ordered the Salmon for Anti-​pasti. It was your normal Salmon and sour cream spread. Very fresh and just the right amount for a little taste before the entrée comes. Not super authentic Italian but a great place to chill for large groups.