Merrow Pasta @ USJ, Subang Jaya

Fresh Pasta Rules!

There are plenty of Italian restaurants on our shore serving pastas but there’s hardly one who serves fresh pastas made from scratch. Most restaurants tend to use the regular pasta for many reasons. Fresh pasta is extra work and doesn’t keep as well as the dry ones too. Texture of fresh pasta is also very different and takes extra effort to ensure that the al dente texture is well controlled during cooking.

Merrow Pasta, located in USJ 10 in Subang, was born because the owner enjoys fresh pasta. Hoping to introduce fresh pasta to our shores, Merrow Pasta offers a solid list of house made fresh pasta daily paired with various classic sauces.

The restaurant has a really lovely décor. The moment one walks in, one feels at ease and in comfort. Lots of wood are set in contrast with black. The whole dining room is set around the open kitchen and so one actually catches live action cooking as well as the aromas that waft through the air. A minor setback here is that the open kitchen does set a smoky ventilation for the restaurant. However, we were assured that the restaurant is now considering to seal up the open kitchen with glass soon to provide a better comfort to diners.

Since we were there during Christmas season, the whole restaurant had really lovely festive décor. There is also a wall filled with many photos of the patrons that dine in Merrow Pasta.

The menu is indeed decent with quite a few pasta classics as well as some appetizers, salad, soup, main course and desserts.

We quenched our thirst with Refreshing Green (RM9.90), Cappuccino (RM9.80) and Macha Green Tea Latte (RM10.30). All coffee and tea are from Caffe Richard.

To kick off our meal, we decided to try their house signature Smoked Salmon Salad (RM19.60). It wasn’t what I expected but nevertheless, this one is very good. It’s quite a sizeable portion with smoked salmon rolled with crisp greens, warm beef bacon potato salad and egg. The potato salad was delicious, reminding me of German potato salad. It was tangy and quite tart with soft potatoes and beef bacon bits in mustard dill dressing. The tartness of the dressing did overpower the salmon but since I like the potato salad, I didn’t mind this pairing.

The Fruitti Di Mare Fritto (RM17.80) had crispy and lightly battered squids and prawns served with Tartar sauce. The appetizer was also decent and well cooked. We enjoyed this despite having to peel the large prawns with the sauce.

I always love soup so when I saw that Merrow Pasta had soup, I wanted to try the Fresh Seafood Soup (RM19.80). At sight, the soup looked wonderful with its gorgeous hue of orange and medley of seafood. At taste, the soup was even better. Rich with a moreish and tangy seafood essence, the tomato based seafood soup was delicious. There were also generous seafood of clams, mussels, squid, crab and prawns in the soup.

Pasta time and we were told that the Carbonara (RM19.60) is one of their best seller. The pasta looked enticing at sight with the poached egg. Well sauced, the spaghetti had generous turkey ham slices and was finished with herbs and black pepper. It is very rich with the heavy cream and poached egg with molten egg yolk. Overall this was decent but not my favorite. The pasta was good as it had the al dente texture that I enjoy.

The Marinara (RM20.80) tasted quite similar to the seafood soup earlier except this was thicker. Lots of mussels, squid, clam and prawn again in this pasta, making it really value-for-money. The pasta was cooked well again here but I personally felt the sauce was a tad weak here. It’s not bad but I prefer a heavier tomato flavour so it’s more of a personal preference since my other friends enjoy this dish.

What I enjoy a lot was the Con Salsa Al Nero (RM27.60). The squid ink sauce had delicious garlicky and wine flavours with a surprising hit of chili heat. The bonito flakes also gave the pasta a rich umami flavour. The plump and tender squid was also yummy with the al dente pasta.

The Smoked Duck in Teriyaki Dry Chili Sauce (RM19.60) was also scrumptious in my books. The spiced up teriyaki sauce had a nice balance of sweet and savory with a bit of heat. The smoke duck added a nice flavours and texture to the pasta.

The dish that actually came out on top of my list that evening was the Lasagne Al Forno (RM24.80). Served in a cast iron pan, the lasagna was piping hot and oozing with much cheesy lusciousness. The pasta sheet was soft and provided a beautiful tender blanket for the beefy tomato sauce and creamy cheesy béchamel sauce. Each bite is heavenly yum. An excellent dish that I would order again…

As it was the festive season month, we decided to enjoy desserts. Chocolate Pasta (RM19.60) had us curious and so we went with an order of this. Basically inspired by mille feuille, this one had a chocolate pasta baked till crispy and layered with whipped cream, strawberries and berry coulis. Pretty unique way of eating pasta!

The Lave Cake with Ice Cream (RM18.80) was sinful and sublime. Gorgeous molten chocolatey center with a crisp cakey outer layer, the chocolate was dark and luscious. Paired with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and berries, this dessert was classic and so yum…

The Orange Creme Brulee (RM13.80) was not too bad. It had a really lovely cream that was nicely set but it lacked the crusty crunch of the caramelized top. Nevertheless the crème brulee had a nice subtle citrusy note that was refreshing and sweet.

Some hits and some misses here but Merrow Pasta still scores brownie points for making their own fresh pasta daily. The highlight of the pasta for me was definitely that awesome Lasagna and Con Salsa Al Nero. Merrow Pasta’s ambiance is also great for parties and gathering.

MERROW PASTA

No.67, Jalan USJ 10/1A,

Taipan Business Centre,

47610 Subang Jaya

Tel: +603-8081 6767

Facebook: www.facebook.com/merrowpastacafe/

Business Hours: 11.00am to 10.00pm daily

Epicuro @ USJ, Taipan Subang

Porky Brunch at Epicuro New Branch in Subang!

Following after its successful outlet of Epicuro in Uptown Damansara, Yugin and team has now opened their second outlet of Epicuro in USJ, Taipan area in Subang Jaya. We visited this new branch when it was only a few weeks old for brunch and also got a taste of some of the new dishes to be feature in their menu.

Words has gotten out pretty quick and the new branch was pretty filled up when we arrived. The restaurant was decorated differently from its original outlet but kept to simple, modern and a minimalist décor, sharing the same similarity to its original outlet in concept. The themed here was neutral and bright with spots of tiles on wall and bar to give the whole place a modern retro ambiance. This outlet also seats more with 60 pax as well.

The menu had a lot of repeats from its original outlet but we were assured that more new dishes are coming soon as they were still tweaking the menu. Though choices are not plenty, the ones available are sufficiently satisfying and scrumptious enough to warrant a return as always.

Cappuccino (RM10) is always a good start in the morning to get some adrenalin going…

Health conscious folks can opt for the healthy Crush Pure Fruit Smoothies that comes in Banana Pineapple, Citrus Goji-Ra, Jackfruit Twist, Super Spinach, Mango Fresh and Gua-Pel. I tried their Super Spinach and love how refreshing, thick and smooth the beverage was.

To kick off our brunch, we had their Big Breakfast with Scrambled Egg (RM26.90). A platter of hearty porky bacon, pork BBQ sausages, crispy hash browns, scrambled egg, sautéed cherry tomatoes and mushrooms and toast. Each element was well cooked, an effort that showed on the dish. The bacon was also not over crisp and had a good bite while the scrambled egg is creamy soft and delicious. One can also opt for Sunny side up egg if scrambled is not to your fancy.

Another wise option for brunch is Epicuro’s Waffle Brunch (RM18.90)! Yugin has nailed his waffle recipe to a T. Golden crisp waffle with a lightly chewy and tender inside is perfect with savory breakfast treats of bacon, pork BBQ sausage, Sunny side up egg and some greens. The light sweetness of the waffles goes so well with all the salty and savory ingredients, rendering an unforgettable brunch sensation for me.

Pasta is another wise choice at Epicuro as I had previously raved about how good their pastas are. At this outlet, one simply must try their Prawn Aglio Olio with Sauteed Spinach (RM24.90) and Mixed Mushroom & Bacon Aglio Olio (RM23.90).

Prawn Aglio Olio with Sauteed Spinach is a sublime treat of juicy sweet prawns jazzing up the classic aglio olio. Epicuro’s version also had cherry tomatoes, lots of herbs and a liberal sprinkling of crushed red pepper flakes and garlic. Flavours are big in this one and we all really enjoyed this a lot.

Another version of aglio olio but this round catered to bacon lovers is the Mixed Mushroom & Bacon Aglio Olio. This one is earthy with all the assorted mushrooms and bacon crisps sautéed with lots of added herbs and the usual suspects. The pasta here has a solid al dente bite too. At Epicuro, foodies like me will always be pleased as the pasta here are well-studded with lots bacons and other ingredients besides just pasta.

Kids and adults will also adored the Fish and Chips (RM19.90). Two thick pieces of crumbed fish are gorgeously crispy and golden with a moist inside. Served with the fish are spicy stick fries that turned out to be such a hit with us, so much so, we had to order this as additional side serving. It may not be the classic version but we are certainly enjoying this version a lot.

Our star of our brunch turned out to be Epicuro’s new item of Seared Pork Shoulder Loin. Now the first outlet already won our hearts with their creamy pork chops but we are still glad that Yugin is now offering another recipe of his famous technique for succulent and tender pork chops. This one uses pork shoulder loin and is pan seared till just right. The salty and moreish pork shoulder is divine in flavours and textures. A side of seared onions and potatoes together with steamed broccoli, carrot and radish gave the dish a healthy boost. Make sure to ask about this dish as it is still fairly new!

As said earlier, we can’t help but to order a side of Spicy Stick Fries (RM7.90)!

We thought a good brunch should deserve a sweet ending. So we had the Waffles with Homemade Ice Cream (RM15.90). Perfect waffles here again and this was made even better with Yugin’s homemade chocolate ice cream. The chocolate ice cream is also utter delicious as it has intense dark and rich bittersweet chocolate. Waffles are simply a Must-Order!

A new dessert of Homemade Raspberry Sorbet came with a surprise. Homemade, the Raspberry sorbet is intensely tangy and sweet with a burst of raspberry flavour. The additional crunch crushed biscuits, chocolate bits and chocolate sauce took the sorbet to new heights. Not on the menu yet but again, do ask as you may never know if Yugin has made a batch of this…

Tiramisu (with Alcohol) is one of Epicuro’s signature items. We never failed to order this at every visit to Epicuro. The one here is laced intensely with alcohol, making this dessert so addictive and sinful.

Looks like Epicuro USJ Taipan is going to do really well! Crowds are already in, the menu is still as stronger as ever and growing and diners are assured of scrumptious dishes that is pretty consistent on our many visits. With brunch now added, diners can enjoy Epicuro from breakfast to lunch or dinner. Go early as they tend to filled up pretty quick, especially the weekends!

EPICURO USJ

2A Jalan USJ 10/1J

Taipan Business Centre

47620 Subang Jaya

Tel: 03-80811182 (reservations available only on weekdays)

Facebook: www.facebook.com/epicuro.usj

Business Hours:

Opening hours: 10am-11pm (Tuesday till Sunday)

Closed on Mondays