Which kind of restaurant could best match an art-themed hotel? The Italian one is perhaps a good answer.

Porcini (which means mushroom in Italian), a 60-seat restaurant located on the first floor of the Radisson Hotel Pudong Century Park, serves creative Italian dishes far beyond mushrooms.

The interior decoration of the dining room is minimal and slick. Furniture and ornaments are usually a combination of white, black and red, in harmony with the rest of the hotel. Big oil paintings on the wall and the red sculpture of an athlete outside the window remind diners that they are in an artistic commercial complex.

Dishes served in Porcini are as delicate as the ambiance and in generous portions. Pancetta wrapped prawns with warm cannellini bean salad and plum tomato and mozzarella salad with olive oil, two appetizers I sampled, were impressive and represented two different styles.

The former, containing two rich shrimps wrapped with pancetta sliced rolls, tasted fleshy, warm and a bit salty. The shrimp meat had properly absorbed the flavour of the pork with which it was cooked three times, in the oven and pan.

The latter looked and tasted more natural and cool. Sliced tomatoes and mozzarella cheese of the same thickness were placed alternately on the plate, served with basil leaf, olive oil and cracked black pepper. The presentation,which appeared like a mini columned pagoda, was lovely. The ingredients assured the dish had a mild flavour.

According to Wayne Sun, vice-executive chef of the hotel, the plum tomato and cheese salad is a typical Italian dish but in Porcini, its presentation and preparation is a bit different here.

"In traditional Italian cuisine, the ingredients are not piled up but dispersed on the dish," he said.

The chick pea soup with crispy pancetta, sweet sausage and chives followed the salad, with an attractively three-dimensional presentation. But the flavour was less impressive despite a seemingly complicated preparation.

The soup tasted heavy and glutinous with its pork stock, dried chick peas, white onion and celery blended with egg and cream to make a mousse. The pancetta was crispy, as promised by the dish name, so was the chive toast.

Pan roasted sea bass with asparagus and wild mushroom emulsion was the longest main course I have ever seen, served on a rectangular marble board. The sea bass fillets, which had been sauteed to a golden-brown colour, tender and rich, with a crispy crust. The portion was large enough for two people to share. Compared to the fillets, other ingredients like asparagus and mushroom were less pleasing.

Dessert, another Italian delicacy, was cannoli with candied citrus fruits and ricotta cheese. But the preparation differed from the traditional version and was more time-consuming, according to Huang.

The cannoli was not tender and not very sweet. It was a pastry filled with a mixture of ricotta cheese, pastry cream, candied mango peel, candied cranberry and chocolate pearls. I still prefer to finish a perfect Western dinner with a soft and rich cheese cake.

The average cost per person at Porcini is about 150 yuan (US$19).

Porcini Italian
Location: 1F, Radisson Hotel Pudong Century Park, No.1199 Yingchun Road
Tel: 021-51300000