I had a Galentines date at Carna by Dario Cecchini with my gal pals May and Beulah on the night of Chinese New Year. Technically it could have been called a CNY celebration as well, but it wasn’t at a Chinese restaurant, so it doesn’t seem quite right. And besides, May and I had come prepared for it to be a Galentines event, bringing cards, candies, and chocolates.
It was also Beulah’s early birthday celebration. Her birthday is still on the 28th but she is jetting off to the Philippines before then.
May chose the restaurant. She said it was quite new and she wanted to try it, so could we possibly dress up? We said yes. I was thrilled to have an occasion to wear the Chicwish tulle skirt that I had just bought from Amazon some weeks ago.
Carna was a bit tricky to find. It has its own entrance outside of Mondrian, which leads to a lift. The moment you alight, you are greeted with a fab view of the harbour outside the glass pane right beside the lift. Then as you walk inside, you are greeted with a table full of candles and an offer of a free drink. I opted for the grapefruit drink, which turned out to be too bitter.
But that was the only thing I did not like at the restaurant. Everything else was great. It had an elegant ambiance, friendly attentive servers, and delicious food. We ordered a burratta appetizer and 3 kinds of steaks for sharing, which ended up being too much. We should have just ordered 2 because one of us – May – doesn’t eat much. 😅 I loved the crunchy texture that they included with the burrata. Our favourite was the kobe beef.
Since it was Valentines, we talked about love stories. Though I already knew May’s love story from our last dinner, I had not heard Beulah’s before. It was fun to feel giddy about the kilig moments from their courtship. We talked too much and ate too slow; our food turned cold. We asked the server if it could please be reheated, which was happily obliged.
For dessert, May wanted to order 3 different kinds, but we said “Are you sure?!? You didn’t even finish your steak!” So I said we should do maximum of 2.
When the server arrived, we ordered the tiramisu and something else, and she pointed out that the tiramisu – clearly marked “for sharing” on the menu – was a big one and would be good enough for 3, so we said we’ll just have the 1 dessert, actually. So glad we did because it was so big indeed!
May had asked them to put a birthday greeting on the plate as well, which was a great touch! We sang the happy birthday song, and Beulah closed her eyes, made a wish, and asked if she should blow out the candle. We said yes. She did, then we realized maybe we should have taken a group pic with it first. The server gamely re-lit the candle and took our pictures. See what I mean about great service?
Since it was Chinese New Year, the restaurant was quite empty, probably because everyone else was off having Chinese New Year gatherings at home or trying to watch the CNY parade outside. We loved having the place practically to ourselves.
We ended up asking Beulah’s friends – who are on vacation from the Philippines and was milling around doing touristy stuff elsewhere nearby – to come up and join us for drinks just before the restaurant closed.
Carna by Dario Cecchini
📍 39/F, Mondrian, 8A Hart Ave, Tsim Sha Tsui
📞 3550 0388
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