Paper Moon Hong Kong - Italian food and pizza in Harbour City

This is post #44, part of my #50PostsIn50Days personal challenge to document my first 100 days in Hong Kong. Other posts in this series may be found at the bottom of the original post.

Paper Moon originates from Milan but has locations all around the world. In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Italian pizza restaurant opened a new location at the new Ocean Terminal wing in Tsim Sha Tsui.

The views from the restaurant are stunning. You get the best of Hong Kong's glitzy skyline. Because we were unable to secure a reservation for a table last minute, we had to sit at the bar, which faces away from those tall windows with the magnificent views.

Our meal was mixed, at best.

Pizza was the best part. We ordered the Pizza Porcini e Tartufo, a vegetarian pizza topped with porcini sushrooms, mozzarella, rocket (arugula), and generous shavings of black truffles ($238). The pizza was big enough to share. It had pleasant mushroom and truffle flavors as well as a nice, chewy crust made in an authentic 1.4-tonne Ambrogi pizza oven (flown in directly from Italy!).
Unfortunately, the rest of the meal had various levels of disappointment. My friend and I decided to share the Risotto alla Certosina, which the menu said was served with "prawn, baby cuttlefish, baby octopus, scallop and mussels" ($238 HKD). It wasn't until we received the dish that we found out it also was made with lobster, to which my friend is allergic.

The restaurant offered to give us something else, but we felt bad wasting, so we agreed to keep the risotto. I regretted this later, after tasting the risotto. I didn't think it was very flavorful. Unfortunately, since my friend was allergic to this dish, I felt like I had to limit eating the pizza (which tasted better), since that was all he could eat.

For dessert we tried the tiramisu, which was recommended by the restaurant. Unfortunately, we were not impressed. It was unremarkable, dominated by marscapone cheese and missing a deep, rich espresso flavor.

There are so many good restaurants in Hong Kong, so I won't be coming back to visit anytime soon. The food's not bad. It's just sort of boring, lackluster, and doesn't really stand out in a place like Hong Kong. I consider it a place that makes mediocre food in a trendy location with magnificent views. They do make a bunch of different cocktails, so it might be a good place to hang out for drinks. I wouldn't call this a food destination, though.

Paper Moon Hong Kong
Shop OTE301, Level 3,
Ocean Terminal, Harbour City,
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

+852 2156 2256