El Madrid de los Austrias is the atmospheric, history-soaked neighbourhood in the centre of Spain's capital city that inspires one of Hong Kong's newest restaurant openings
Bedecked in an exterior of blue-and-white porcelain tiles, Calle Ocho is a hard-to-miss addition to Causeway Bay's Fashion Walk that carves out a space for Hispanophiles to soak up the atmosphere of one of Madrid's most historic neighbourhoods, Los Austrias. Featuring two floors that span 2,500 square feet and 130 seats, it's an ambitious 25th opening for the Pirata Group that evokes the experience of dining in the Spanish capital, with all its grand plazas, hidden squares, and cobblestoned streets.
The interiors are equally charming and evocative, with arched windows, tiled murals (with cheeky nods to recognisable faces from the Pirata ranks), and a wealth of curios and framed art spiriting diners away to the confines of an authentic boqueria. The restaurant also contains a number of private rooms that can be configured for different party sizes.
The menu espouses the virtues of tapas, with an opening selection of 34 tapas dishes and two paellas offering guests a panoply of Iberian flavours. "It's adventurous because where you might be eating a main course in a restaurant, here you can be eating three tapas," says executive chef Victor Caballé Molina.
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