A hit-and-miss Italian job: Raul Dias reviews Cin Cin

At this hip restaurant in BKC, ditch the drinks and desserts and concentrate on the food instead.

Cin Cin claims to be modelled on a typical Venetian bacaro, a noisy pitstop for a quick homestyle meal. The BKC restaurant couldn’t be more unlike one.

The space is well lit, hip, stylish, crammed with BKC corporate types and ladies who lunch. No Italian-chic clichés like terracotta tiles or wood-fired pizza oven. Sadly, no bread basket or olive oil-balsamic beakers either, despite our request.

Even the serving cutlery is supplied reluctantly, after much coaxing. The food is designed for individual portions, we are told, debunking Cin Cin’s ‘family-style dining’ philosophy.

The ricotta-and-parmesan-stuffed cappelletti pasta came doused in an intensely meaty pork ragu.

The focus is on Italian home cooking. Pasta features prominently on the menu, as does risotto and gnocchi. Almost an hour into placing our order, our table finally saw some food.

The ricotta-and-parmesan-stuffed cappelletti pasta doused with an intensely meaty pork ragu was perfect, though we could have done with a more generous portion.

Mushrooms and roasted garlic atop a pliant, not-too-thin crust made the Filipa Goes Foraging pizza a winner.

Intrigued by the name, we called for the Filipa Goes Foraging pizza. The portobello and porcini mushrooms with roasted garlic, atop a pliant, not-too-thin crust made the pizza a winner.

Cin Cin is well lit, hip and stylish, with no Italian-chic clichés like terracotta tiles or wood-fired pizza oven.

The risotto gamberi e agrumi passed the good risotto test with flying colours. It was suitably al dente, with arborio rice spiked with orange zest, succulent prawns with a drizzle of lemon olive oil.

Disappointment emerged once again with dessert. The tre latti con berries was crumbly vanilla sponge and thin, runny milk custard with a sad duo of frozen blueberries.

The tre latti con berries was crumbly vanilla sponge and thin, runny custard with a sad duo of frozen blueberries.

Ditch the drinks and desserts and concentrate on the food, we say.

(HT pays for meals and reviews anonymously)