If the number of foreigners in the store can reflect whether a Western restaurant is authentic, then Azzurro is definitely one of the most authentic Western restaurants in Shenzhen. Opened in July 2016, it shares the same parent company as the popular SHARK Restaurant & Bar next door. Although Azzurro has only been established for a short time, it has already won a number of media awards, including "Top 10 New Restaurants in Shenzhen 2016", "Traditional Cuisine Restaurant of the Year 2016" and "Italian Restaurant of the Year 2017" by That's PRD.
Azzurro specializes in traditional Italian cuisine, the chef is named Diego Di Costanzo, from the Italian province of Naples, born in a family of restaurants, since the age of 14 in the hotel, has been in charge of Switzerland, Austria, Germany and other places, invited by Riccardo, director of Azzurro's parent company Huihe Group, to Shenzhen. Azzurro is one of the few restaurants in Shenzhen that makes homemade cheese, including buffalo mozzarella, rigouda cheese, brada cheese, etc., which are all homemade by the chef, not only that, but also Italian pasta dishes such as potato dumplings, wide noodles, super wide noodles, and short noodles are also handmade. However, it should be reminded that the pasta here is normally on the hard side, which is the Italian favorite "Al Dente", if you have special taste needs, remember to remind the waiter when ordering.
Among the appetizers, the homemade traditional buffalo cheese salad is especially worth trying. Sliced buffalo cheese with fresh tomato slices, sprinkled with olive oil and basil leaves, tender and refreshing. The restaurant offers two types of imported oysters, the Irish Emerald Oyster and the French Normandy Oyster, the former of which is fatty and refreshing, and the latter which is fresh and pure.
Diego specializes in southern Italian cuisine, which is best known for its seafood, with a variety of "boiled fish" as the main course. Azzurro offers sea bass, red silk fish, sea carp and turbot, and you can enjoy the sweetness of the fish by simply boiling it with spices. For the pasta, we recommend the meat sauce lasagna, which is freshly made with beef and pork, with tomato sauce and cheese. The wine list is mostly Italian red and white wines, with classic Prosecco, Barbera D'Alba and Barolo. There is also a small bar in the restaurant, so customers can think of almost everything.
Azzurro, which means blue in Italian, is also the color of Italian sports teams, and the decoration of the restaurant is basically based on this blue, even the water glasses on the table are blue, and the overall appearance is more comfortable. The dining area is divided into two parts, inside and outside, there are no private rooms, the outdoor dining area is smoking, and the toilet is shared with the SHARK next door, located in the SHARK, which can be reached by a small connecting door. The distance between the tables is slightly closer, there is more noise, and the dining is not private enough. Azzurro's service is also unsatisfactory and unprofessional, with waiters picking up their plates when they look at their phones during a meal, when in fact there is still unfinished food on the plates. The good news is that Azzurro doesn't charge a separate service fee.
