Issimo at JIA Shanghai

What: Boutique Italian fare

Where: 2F, JIA Hotel, 931 Nanjing Xi Lu, near Taixing Lu. Tel: 3302 4997

Why: For a brunch imported straight from the Apennine Peninsula

Situated in boutique hotel JIA, Salvatore Cuomo’s downtown Italian restaurant Issimo has a fittingly boutique take on brunch. Instead of an all-you-can-wrestle-back-to-your-table buffet, brunch at Issimo begins with a selection of antipasti served at your table.

Waiters walk over platters of breads, margherita and mushroom mini pizza rolls, fried goat cheese, potato croquettes, cured meats and, on our visit, two salads: seafood, and pumpkin and sausage. It’s nice to remain seated, pausing conversation only to choose what you want from the waiters’ platters.

Following the antipasti, two pastas and a risotto make the rounds. The paglia e fiano with lamb ragu tastes like it could have come from Italy via Xinjiang, and while the four cheese risotto is an expedient dish, the seafood ‘candies’ (crab meat in a twist of ravioli) are more interesting.

The main course is served at your table too, and diners choose from one meat, one fish and one vegetarian dish. We were offered veal, a mushroom-filled salmon parcel or asparagus with truffle hollandaise, goat cheese and a poached egg. The salmon and mushroom is full of flavour, and the filo-free wrap is clever. While the poached egg was perfect, the asparagus was a tad overcooked and its complements underwhelming.

Dessert is the one part of Issimo’s brunch that is served buffet style. Next to giant blocks of chocolate, you’ll find crème brulée, daringly salty mousse-filled profiteroles, a rich chocolate cake and plenty of fruit to cut it all with.

At RMB 288 (plus 168 for free flow prosecco), Issimo’s brunch is priced up there with more ambitious and established brunches. Their current set up is new, though, and we look forward to seeing how it develops. A Bloody Mary Station is said to be in the works.