The latest venture by JIA Hotels founder Yenn Wong, 208 Duecento Otto—named for its street number—brings creative, contemporary Italian cooking to the ever-gentrifying Sheung Wan neighborhood. In the buzzing ground-floor bar, patrons can nibble on authentic antipasto dishes and simple pizzas from an oven shipped over from Naples. Upstairs, in a dining room decked out in dark timber and blue-and-white tiling, rustic classics like beef carpaccio and heirloom tomatoes with mozzarella share menu space with New York chef Vinny Lauria’s more innovative offerings, including poached prawns with grapefruit gazpacho and a saffron-basil brodetto of langoustines and cockles. The dry-rubbed rib eye comes with a candylike glaze that dances on the palate, while the potatoes, dressed in a Prosecco reduction, offer a whole new take on the humble spud.—Nicholas Walton

(208 Hollywood Rd., Sheung Wan; 852/2549-0208; 208.com.hk)