I've been spending a good part of this month in Hong Kong, and I noticed so many Japanese shops had made their way into the city. Even restaurants. One of them being Saizeriya.
Yes, I know there are plenty of saizeriya litter all over Asia, but for those who don't know what Saizeriya is - it's a huge chain restaurant across most of the Japan, serving up really cheap but questionably and subjectively decent Italian food. (yes I know we all have opinions about it but we're not here for that)
The take away here is that it is quite cheap. You can easily order a small plate of pasta for less than 500 yen. They also have unlimited drink bar of teas and soft drinks. They also have cheap pizzas and meat plates that is very budget friendly and honestly taste better than some of the other wannabe Italian restaurants in Japan that charge you huge premium simply for being foreign, exotic and "Italian".
Anyway, here in Hong Kong, the first thing I noticed was that the entire yearly menu is available.
Unlike Japan where certain soups are ONLY available in the Winter or in the Summer, all the soups are available on the menu. In Japan, clam chowder is strictly a fall & winter season thing where as the minestrone is a spring & summer soup.
All the other sides, snacks and overall menu remains the same.
Drink bars are available as well, and their signature cheap wines. A glass of wine is $10HKD which is about 200 yen.
HK has clams instead of the mussles. They also have squid on the menu which Japan doesn't have. And they seem to have more pasta variety. With the meat plates, I've never seen salmon on menu before so perhaps an only Hong Kong thing? Or maybe Japan had it once and took it off the menu... We also have lamb chops.
And yes - we have pineapple pizza!!! YASSSSSSSSS.
Of course I had to order that :D
Now, with the food itself...
My family and I tried a range of foods here, mostly for my sake lol. The first thing I noticed with the wings and spinach side was that it was served in a bigger sized plate. With the wings, you can actually choose between getting only 3 wings or 8 wings. In terms of the taste with the wings - it's still spot on, and very juicy. But less crispy than the ones in Japan. Though I don't think they are going for that because there are plenty of crispy chicken in the Hong Kong market with Popeyes, Jollibee and KFC.
The pasta actually uses rigatoni and not penne. Actually none of the pasta dishes have penne as an option. The arrabbiaita is actually something I ordered frequently in Japan, and the ones in Japan actually taste spicier, though the pasta is much better cooked here in Hong Kong (whether that differs by chain, I don't know).
I enjoyed the food for the cheap price points just as much as I did in Japan. And it's something I would definitely go to again for a more budget friendly non-Chinese meal, for sure. Going to other Chinese fast food restaurants for dinner would cost you around 70-80HKD with a drink included, so depending on what you order/eat, going to saizeriya wouldn't be the most expensive dinner ever.
Unfortunately I didn't partake in the drink bar this time, but it only costs 13HKD to get. Just about 250 yen. Still very affordable!
I also heard that the menu for lunch differs a bit?? I wonder if it's something like in Japan where they offer soup & drink bar and some preset lunch items...
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THE MORNING AFTER:
Motherfucker, that MSG is reeeeeeeeal. I've been drinking water and my teas nonstop. MSG folks. Be wary of saizeriya and their MSG.