CIBO
Coffee could very well be a fine dining experience, if one wanted it to
be. When entering the restaurant, you
are greeted warmly and then led to the staircase, where you climb to the second
floor dining room. As you climb the
marble stairs, you see above you an eclectic display of photos of Western film
and music stars.
As
you reach the top of the stairs there are dark curtains, black and red
chandeliers, red velour booths, gray velour chairs and private booths separated
by frosted glass sculpture. The décor
offers an overall pleasing aesthetic. Menus are quickly brought for you to
peruse, and unlike many restaurants in town, one is given to each member of the
party. Then you are given time to look
over and decide what you would like to order without someone standing and
waiting tableside.
The
menu is fairly well laid out and has both Chinese and English, as well as
pictures of several of the dishes. While
CIBO is touted as being a Western Restaurant, "From Italy”, they have several
styles of dishes including Chinese, Taiwan and Hong Kong style.
My "Set Menu” meal began
with a Goat Cheese and ShrimpAppetizer. The plate came out with a stylish presentation of 3 grilled shrimp
arranged around what seemed to be a sweet type "jian bing” or egg pancake. On top of that was arranged a salad of fruit
and goat cheese, and then the whole plate was sprinkled with parmesan cheese.
The shrimp were grilled very nicely and not overcooked and had a nice light
flavor. For my soup I ordered the Pumpkin soup, and my companion ordered the
Cream of Mushroom. Both soups were quite nice, the mushroom soup having slices
of mushroom and the pumpkin being smooth and well blended. Next our Chinese
dish of blanched walnuts with greens came out. Not mentioned on the menu, but
served next, was an intermezzo, which on this occasion happened to be a
delightful orange sorbet.
Next came the main courses, two black pepper beef steaks which were served atop a small pool of black pepper sauce. I ordered mine at 5 (medium) and my companion ordered hers at 6. We both decided the 5 was better, but the beef flavor was very good and not overpowered by the black pepper. Accompanying the steak was a piece of roasted purple sweet potato, a piece of cauliflower, two small sugar snap peas, and two pieces of cold tomato.
For the dessert course, I
ordered Tiramisu. To my very pleasant surprise, it was smoother and creamier
than I anticipated. While still not
quite what one would think of as a Tiramisu in a "Western” restaurant in their
home country, it was definitely an enjoyable taste experience, and I would
probably order it again sometime. After
dessert, I chose a cup of Blue Mountain Coffee to finish my meal and my
companion had ordered a fresh juice, which came together at the end of the
meal. The coffee was quite strong, and
my companion said, too bitter for her, but I thought the flavor was very
acceptable, and I would definitely have enjoyed another cup. The juice was a blend of carrots and several
fruits and was quite flavorful too, my companion described it as "many flavors
happening at once”.
As for service, all I can
say is, I enjoyed the service at CIBO very much. They have the timing down at
CIBO. One course arrives at a time, and
the servers watch quite carefully to see when you have finished a course, so
that they may clear the plates and bring the next. The staff are polite and friendly, and most
speak at least a little English, while some of them can converse very well. If you can speak Chinese, they definitely
prefer that, as they are uncomfortable with their Oral English, which is
another topic for another time.
Overall, CIBO provides a wonderful dining experience in a very nice atmosphere. There was some beautiful instrumental music playing that, with the right imagination, could have transported me to the Italian countryside.
Address: Jing San Lu at the corner of Zheng Si Jie （经三路和政四街）Just North of the Holiday Inn Express
Tel: 0371 – 6592 5559
View Zhengzhou Connections Map: Zhengzhou, Henan, China in a larger map
