A Beautiful and Delicious Mediterranean
Experience
There
aren’t many Mediterranean restaurants around but luckily for us, the few ones
like Moussandra Mediterranean &
Tapas Restaurant have been around since 1996 and is continuing to serve up
authentic Mediterranean dishes to cater to our adventurous palates. Having been
relocated from its original location to Publika at Solaris Dutamas, Moussandra is one of those restaurants
that diners can count on. When a restaurant has stand the test of time in the
F&B industry, you know they are very good, it’s as simple as that!
Moussandra’s owner Alphonse takes pride in
Moussandra. I can certainly see why. It’s a restaurant that really evokes a place
to relax and enjoy a good hearty meal with family, friends or even businesses.
Walking into Moussandra, diners are
greeted warmly by their staff. The family-style ambiance is set with much
warmness of earthy browns and reds to evoke a casual and warm Spaniel home. From
his travels over the years, Alphonse displays his collections of Mediterranean
items at the restaurant. Green vine leaves are also added for some charm as
well as large posters of European artwork.
The
restaurant also has a large private room perfect for functions. That private
room is nicely decorated with a Greek theme. From the Greek status to the
bright blue door and Grecian ornaments, it would certainly be nice to dine in
for any occasion.
Moussandra’s menu features a long list of classic
Mediterranean favorites from tapas to the usual appetizers, pasta, pizza, mains
and desserts. We had a few of everything and kick started our evening dinner
with glasses of Moussandra’s Red Sangria.
Simply a must when dining Mediterranean as Sangria is the perfect wine and
fruit concoction to go with all the rich dishes to come. There is also a white
version at the restaurant.
Tapas
first with a very delectable Chicken
Liver Pate (Terrina De Pollo) kicking of the evening’s meal. It’s a darn
awesome pate. Silky smooth, creamy and rich buttery notes spread on baguette
worked wonders as a starter. I can’t get enough of this pate, simply because I
do happen to enjoy pate. Give this a try before you make any decisions about
this dish because it’s a darn delicious pate!
Garlic Bread is also good here. Quite the unusual
cut, one gets long strips of toasty and crispy baguette fused with lots of
buttery garlic and herb notes.
During
my college days abroad, I have been exposed to a lot of Greek food as my sister
married a Greek. My brother-in-law’s mom would always cook or take us out for
Greek food. So when I saw that Moussandra has Saganaki, I was pretty stoked.
Our order of Egg coated Feta &
Mozzarella Cheese, flamed with Pernod, served with Pita Bread (Saganaki) was
set in flames right before our table!
Saganaki or flaming fried cheese is usually
Greek cheese fried in hot pan and flambéed with alcohol at table side with a big
warming shout of ‘Opa’! I have had Saganaki with Halloumi cheese and flambéed
with Greek Ouzo. The version here uses sheep’s milk feta cheese and mozzarella
with an egg wrap and flambéed with Pernod. As soon as the flames died out, dig
into the melted oozing cheeses with fluffy pita bread. It’s a cheese lover’s
dish plus one gets some tableside flaming actions for some thrill. Cheesy and
great for sharing…
The
next tapas features Lamb Meatballs in
Brown Sauce (Cordero Albondigas En Salsa De Café). Juicy tender meatballs
cooked in a tasty brown sauce is always a favorite on the tapas list. I can’t
quite figure out but when I see meatballs on a menu, I tend to associate it
with comfort food. This one too was deliciously comforting and great as snacks
with wine or beer.
I
think this one is one of the most ordered tapas on the list. Who can resist a
scrumptious Garlic Prawns in Olive Oil
(Gambas Al Ajillo). Moussandra’s is indeed what every garlic prawns should
be. Lots of rich savory and garlicky flavours with succulent sweet prawns is a
sure crowd pleaser. We happily savor this and almost wish for bread to mop up
that flavourful garlicky oil fused with crustacean flavours.
The
next two tapas are vegetarian treats of Pan-fried
Eggplant with Chili & Tomato (Berenjenas Picantes) and Mixed Mushrooms Sauteed with Herbs (Setas
Salteadas). Both are decent with good hits of flavours. The eggplant is
very soft and has soaked up all the piquant tomato sauce. The mushrooms have
earthy and garlicky notes. These two makes a good balance for all the other
heavier meat, seafood and cheese tapas.
Alphonso
recommended the Beef Bacon wrapped Dates
stuffed with Almond (Datiles Con Bacon), saying this one rocks. True
enough, after I tried one, I found myself echoing his words. The salty and
smoky bacon was countered with a burst of sweetness from the dates as soon as
one bites into it. It is such a pleasant bite of flavours and textures. The
sticky sweet dates paired so well with bacon and there was also a hidden
element of surprise of almond inside. A must order unless you don’t take beef!
I
love the Greek Spanakopita. When my sister’s mother-in-law first made it for
me, I thought it was such a great pastry. Using phyllo pastry brushed with
melted butter and stuffed with a filling of spinach, cheese, eggs and cream, it
was baked till golden and crisp. It’s been a while since I had this and when
the dish arrived, it was so aromatic that everyone raved about it immediately.
Beautifully coiled and baked, the Spanakopita was indeed tasty with lots of
spinach filling. My only gripe is that I wished for more feta cheese as I
cannot seemed to taste the cheese in this one, which I did feedback. It is
still worthy of an order as the Spinach
Pie with Feta Cheese (Spanakopita) here is well made and makes great tapas
for sharing.
Lamb Dolmades (Dolmades de Cordero) is another Greek dish that is
well-known in the cuisine. I was also surprise to find this dish on the menu
and can’t wait to try this. The lamb dolmades is served cold with tangy pickled
vine leaves wrapped with a minced lamb and rice filling. It is usually cooked
in stock with lemons so one gets a vibrant fresh citrusy note to balance the
heavy lamb flavours. Moussandra serves their lamb dolmades with a creamy red
pepper sauce.
Mains
arrived and we had two pizzas of Pizza
Primavera and Pizza de Salmon. Pizza
Primavera has lots of grilled eggplant, roasted sweet peppers, spinach and
anchovies paired with oozing melted mozzarella cheese and herbs while Pizza de
Salmon has salmon and mushrooms with cream on a tomato sauce and cheese pizza.
It’s a thin-crust version here, making the pizza just right and not overly
heavy from too much bread base.
We
also tried two pasta dishes of Prawns
Aglio e Olio and Linguine Al Pesto.
At Moussandra, one gets to choose between the regular pasta or the freshly made
pasta. Do check with the wait staff if you prefer soft and tender fresh pasta
opposed to the al dente dry pasta. Though the Prawns Aglio e Olio was good, I
preferred the Linguine Al Pesto for its bold rich flavours of fresh herbs,
strong cheesy notes with garlic and buttery pine nuts.
Souvlaki
is a classic Greek fast food of meats marinated Greek flavours and grilled over
hot coals. At Moussandra, one can opt for their various souvlaki featuring
beef, chicken, lamb or a mixed. We had their Mixed Souvlaki, a long skewer of the three meats well-seasoned and
chargrilled. The bbq is Greek Salad, Roasted Capsicum Sauce, Tzatziki &
Pita Bread. Flavoured with hints of spices, garlic and lightly sauced up with
rich barbeque sauce, the souvlaki here is delicious. I enjoyed the familiar
flavours of tender souvlaki and thought it was well prepared by the team at
Moussandra.
More
Greek dishes followed and we had another favorite Greek dish of mine of Lamb Moussaka. Similar to lasagna
except this one has a layer of potato instead of pasta and minced lamb is more
often used than beef. The creamy and decadent layers of cheesy béchamel sauce
with rich tangy tomato lamb sauce is sinful and pure comfort flavours. Great
for sharing but if you happen to love rich cheesy sauces, then go all out for
this on your own!
One
of their best sellers on the menu is their Paella. A popular Spanish rice dish
cooked on the typical paella pan, it’s a well-balanced single dish meal varies
within the areas in Spain. Moussandra offers three variations of the paella of
seafood with meat, meat alone and a vegetarian one.
We had their Paella Valenciana, a gorgeously saffron
rice studded with lots of seafood, chicken and chicken sausages with vegetables
and spices. The rice was indeed very flavourful from all the seafood and
chicken. It was a crowd favorite that evening as well as we happily savored the
rice despite being quite full from all the tapas and other main dishes.
Moussandra
has quite a few desserts on their menu but two of their best sellers were Rum & Raisin Ice Cream (Helado del Ron
y de la Pasa) and Vanilla Creme
Brulee.
Made
in house, the Rum & Raisin Ice Cream
is such a treat. It’s got solid notes of strong rum in luscious cream and well
studded with rum soaked raisins. Heavenly…
The
Vanilla Crème Brulee proved to be so
good, no one wanted to share this dessert. We had extra orders of the gorgeous
thick baked cream set beneath caramelized sugar. A light tap on the caramelized
sugar to crack it revealed silky smooth thick cream nicely sweetened. Such a
perfect way to end a delicious Mediterranean meal!
MOUSSANDRA
MEDITERRANEAN & TAPAS RESTAURANT
A1-1-8 1,, Jalan Dutamas
1,
Solaris Dutamas,
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +60 3-6206 4999
Website: www.moussandra.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/moussandra
Business Hours:
Lunch 12:00 PM – 2:30 PM
| Dinner 6:00 PM – 10:30 PM
Closed on Tuesdays
