cookingwiththehamster
- Oct 1, 2021

Hong Ni

You know the super free-range Chinese trattorias that an Italian would never enter (blatantly wrong)? Where do you eat divinely and spend very little? Here, Hong Ni is just one of them.

Located in the heart of China Town area, Hong Ni restaurant looks anonymous and hidden from the outside. If you don't know it, it will surely not attract your attention.

Inside it is spartan, chaotic, with baskets of fresh vegetables and raw fish everywhere. The first impact is certainly unsettling but, trust me, go ahead and take a seat. Looking around you will realize that here the customers are only Chinese: observing the dishes they order you will notice that they eat apparently simple meals, a bit like those they would eat at home.

The menu is very wide, so I decide to get advice from the only guy in the room, very kind, who speaks Italian (for this reason alone I like Hong Ni). Therefore, pork ribs stewed with special sauce (sweet and succulent, the meat is so soft that it detaches itself from the bones), homemade noodles with garlic sauce (a real pleasure!) and delicious fragrant croquettes of prawns and corn to dip in the sour sauce are served.

Here the house specialties are mainly grilled skewers and Chinese fondue. The dishes are very generous, so I opt for a few skewers of chicken, lamb and beef. They are all delicious, I would have eaten a hundred!

The last page of the menu is dedicated to fresh vegetables: choose the type you like and it will be cooked stewed or as you prefer. I opted for the delicious heartless vegetable (it's really called that because the inside of the stem of the plant is empty), but you will also find, in the vast choice, chrysanthemum, Chinese zucchini, Chinese lettuce, sweet potato, Chinese melon or okra.

I also wanted to try crayfish (here they serve them both raw and cooked in the pot with garlic), a real rarity, but I was too full to continue.

My opinion on Hong Ni is absolutely positive: come in good company, the dishes to try are many and really abundant. Perfect for both lunch and dinner, obviously for a casual meal.