The Point – Casual Italian Fare in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Tang Lung Street in Causeway Bay is becoming more and more of a foodie destination, with more than 20 restaurants packed into the 180-meter lane. But now, instead of just hotpot and seafood joints, celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Harlan Goldstein have chosen it for their newest ventures in Hong Kong.It’s here that Angela Chang, a finance and fashion professional turned restaurateur, opened her pizza and pasta all-day dining spot, The Point. The airy space has high ceilings and is cased in large windows outlined by dark steel bars, giving it the feel of a converted warehouse. The homey, streamlined design is mostly vanilla with a few eclectic touches like occasionally mismatched chairs. A Broadway-style lighted sign across the ceiling proclaims “The Point” with a backwards N, apparently on purpose. “It’s a design thing,” we were told!

Still in its soft opening, The Point serves lunch and dinner, with the midday rush seeing a huge influx of people, many of which are there for the take-away pizzas and salads. Dinner is a more relaxed affair but by 8pm on Thursday every table was full, resulting in a white noise that drowns out the background tunes.

The philosophy of the restaurant is “gourmet food for everyday people,” or high quality ingredients, prepared simply, with high enough volume to keep the prices low. The turnover can be quick thanks to a volcanic oven that cooks the pizza at 900 degrees in a mere three minutes. The menu is full of safe crowd-pleasers with entrees starting at $118 and topping out at the $208 steak.

We kicked off with two pizzas, the Forest and the Roman. The Roman had parma ham orbiting thinly sliced figs, topped with rocket. In a case of gorgeous design trumping function, a bit of reorganisation was necessary to get each topping in every bite. My date, who has previously accused me of “making origami” out of my food, offered a resigned side-eye…

The Forest is a diet-busting carb-on-carb combo of mushrooms, sliced potatoes, fat cloves of roasted garlic and truffle cream. It’s delicious, as long as you love garlic as much as I do, but the dish could use an acid or a crunch to break up the decadent flavours and textures.

The vongole pasta arrived next with perfectly cooked al dente linguini and huge French clams. The delicate white wine and herb sauce had a serious kick. This dish is often served with dried chillies or red pepper flakes, but The Point’s was laced with shreds of fresh red chillies that gave it an exciting pop.

Next up were the roast salmon and the spring chicken. They came with the same side dishes – delectable roast plum tomatoes with vegetables and somewhat undercooked potatoes. The salmon, however, was cooked to perfection and topped with its own skin that was crisped to cracker consistency. This was a nice contrast with the creamy white wine, truffle and herb sauce that accompanied it.

The roast spring chicken was lightly seasoned and served with a black pepper jus. With the chicken a bit overcooked and the potatoes a bit undercooked, it was unfortunately our least favourite dish, especially compared to the perfect salmon.

We wrapped up the meal with the lava cake, made with dark Belgian chocolate and sustainable, fair trade Bolaven coffee hazelnut lattes, with the beans coming from an organic farm in Laos dedicated to local development. The combination of the two made the appropriately decadent punctuation mark to a rich meal that sent us both into food comas shortly thereafter.

The Point is the perfect spot for quality food at reasonable prices in a great location, tucked away from the main crowds of Causeway Bay. While the dishes aren’t that unique (not quite special enough to impress a first date!), it’s a great place for a casual feast with a small group, as there’s something to please everyone. Already a popular destination, The Point is only likely to get more crowded after it leaves its soft open and begins serving breakfast, so beat the crowds by checking it out sooner than later!

The Point, G/F, 52 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, 2947 3866, www.facebook.com/thepointhkg