Clever noodle: Prego at the Landmark

Marco Maggio has a thing about ingredients. We were almost expecting him to exclaim “mamma mia” when asked about the difficulty of getting real buffalo caprese in Shenzhen. What really got his goat, however, was when we enquired about an uptown rival. “Did you know that they use Chinese rice in their risotto dishes?” he snorted.

It cannot be easy making your mark as the new executive chef of the Landmark’s signature Italian restaurant, Prego, in Shenzhen when you have come from a restaurant as well-known as Hong Kong’s Aqua. But Maggio has had a good start, judging by how popular the restaurant is becoming on the Shenzhen haute cuisine scene. His meals are put together with passion and creativity, and the results speak – or rather, taste – for themselves.

We had a great meal there, even despite the fact that our photographer took so long shooting the elaborately designed platters. The veal wrapped in a cabbage leaf was tender, and the tortelli pasta had just enough spice to leave a tingling impression rather than a burning one. Dessert was probably the highlight, with a combination of double-baked chocolate mousse, inverted black chocolate foam, and passion fruit and chocolate sorbet on a platter (picture above). It would have been enough to make a weight-watching devotee crumble.

The wine selection is extensive throughout the hotel, thanks to the director of food and beverage, Joseph Lee, a 20-year veteran of San Francisco. Décor is nothing fancy, but then, that is what you might expect from a place that puts its heart into its food.