A friendly greeting goes a long way in a restaurant, and the one we had from Jules, the waiter at La Brata in Central, was as welcoming as it gets. We were told to “sit anywhere” – only one table was occupied when we arrived (another group came later), and the two of us made ourselves comfortable at a table for four.

We were very hungry and tempted to order a starter, pizza, two pasta dishes and a main, but Jules warned us that the portions were large. We should have figured this out from the menu: the burrata cheese came in a 300 gram portion; antipasti could be ordered on a half-metre or metre-long platter. Only the pizza seemed to be a reasonable size.

Burrata Italia (HK$228, US$29) could easily have fed four. Jules explained that it normally came with one large burrata, but they were out of it so they served us two 150 gram cheeses each, along with what have been at least the equivalent weight of tomatoes. The burrata was soft, the tomatoes – several types – were sweet, and Jules put two bottles of extra-virgin olive oil on the table, so we could drizzle it over the ingredients ourselves and see which we preferred.

Piccante pizza (HK$118) had great toppings of tomato, mozzarella, n’djua and pecorino. The pizza itself wasn’t our favourite style, though; we prefer a base that’s airier and chewier, while this one used the same focaccia dough that came with the burrata.

All the pasta is made in-house. I ordered a special of strozzapreti with bottarga and sea urchin (HK$198): thick, short toothsome twisted strands that captured the intense seafood sauce. My guest, after a discussion with the friendly chef about his “style” of gnocchi, asked if he could order the gnocchi bolognese (HK$138) with strozzapreti instead. He then complained that the sauce wasn’t reduced enough – although that didn’t stop him from eating the entire portion, even though it was almost twice the normal amount (180 grams, rather than 100 grams; the chef said 100 grams seems too paltry).