Silver Spoon Trattoria, Bandar Menjalara: New Dishes To Please

Back at Silver Spoon for New Dishes…

I have always had a soft spot for Silver Spoon Trattoria. Simply because of its great food and also it was the very first restaurant that I have blogged about when I started this food journey. I have lost the number of times I have dined here with my family since a few years ago. We simply love the dishes here prepared with such finesse and simplicity and not to mention the well-affordable prices here set in a lovely trattoria style ambience.

A recent dinner with another foodie brought back more memories of my all my meals at Silver Spoon. We were back for a sneak peak at some of their new dishes that evening. The ambience was just a good as I had remembered it, smart casual dining injected with an Italian charm. Private room is also available and can accommodate up 20 to 30 pax. There is also a wine cellar featuring Silver Spoon’s collection of reds and whites.

We kicked off the evening with some refreshing mocktails before dinner to settle in. A fresh and juicy Green Granny, creamy fruity Silver Spoon Special and a tangy refreshing October Sea Breeze plus another really fruity special with lots of berries. There are plenty more of these mocktails from the bar and from what I have tasted so far from the 3, they are deliciously fresh and fruity. Mocktails price are RM15 each and above.

Dinner kicked off with a home style Lamb Stew (RM14). Served just as it is, its almost like a rich bisque full of melt-in-the-mouth lamb chunks braised with root vegetables in a soothing rich gravy. The aroma was beautiful, rich and filled with subtle spices. A little twist of crispy fried shallots and coriander makes the stew even better. I would have loved to savor this with a little bread. Comfort food sums up this dish!

I was told that this pasta dish is truly unique and aptly named Spicy Twin Duck Spaghetti (RM24). Crowned with crispy smoked duck and slices of crispy roast duck and grilled eggplant, the pasta has a base of earthy mushroom flavors. The pasta is cooked with porcini stock, rendering a scrumptious smoky and woody mushroom flavors pairing well with the duck and eggplant. Hints of spicy chilies are just perfect in the dish. We really enjoyed the crispy smoked duck pieces which we thought was a brilliant creation by the chef at Silver Spoon. I cannot rave enough about this dish as the flavors and texture is unique with each bite making me crave for more.

Our second pasta of Creamy Mustard Grain Fettucine (RM25) was nicely presented with a rose of smoked salmon. My first thought was it would be really overpowering with a mustard sauce. Surprisingly I really enjoyed this pasta. Using whole grain mustard, the creamy sauce was really flavorful and subtle. I also loved that it has bits of popping whole grain mustard textures and the sauce cut through the richness of the salty smoked salmon very well. Another clever creation at Silver Spoon as who would have thought to pair mustard with smoked salmon and pasta!

Our main course was a dainty Spring Chicken (RM39) stuffed with chestnut stuffing. Served whole, the size is small and perfect for a personal enjoyment. Cutting up the spring chicken, the stuffing was revealed and had lots of small dices of chestnut, root vegetables, mushroom and fresh herbs. It’s hearty and comfort food, reminding me of Christmas with its warmness. The bird is tender and juicy while flavors are on a lighter end. On the side, there are also roast vegetables and creamy mushroom gravy.

We also couldn’t resist pizza since I know that Silver Spoon serves up some of the best pizzas around here. Our Mushroom Pizza with Truffle Oil & Feta (RM26) had a gorgeous aroma. Simple ingredients of mushrooms, herbs, cheese and a light tomato sauce with truffle oil sums up the pizza. The pizza dough is light soft with a nice crust. This is also available on the lunch menu.

Silver Spoon is famous for its Tiramisu (RM15). This one is laced up with quite a bit of liqueur and the mascarpone filling is light and creamy with a strong hint of coffee and cocoa as well. For me, ending my meal at Silver Spoon always has to be this dessert.

I would also highly recommend Silver Spoon’s risotto as I had raved so much about it during my previous times dining there. It is a great trattoria for regular and special dining with its Italian style cuisine and trattoria ambience!

SILVER SPOON TRATTORIA

No.2, 1^st Floor, Wisma Menjalara

Jalan 7A/62A, Bandar Menjalara

52200, Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 603 6277 0445

Website: http://www.silversp.com.my/index01.html

Facebook: www.facebook.com/silverspoon.kl

Business Hours: 11.30am to 3pm & 6pm to 11pm

Mediteca, Fraser Place: An Italian Christmas Menu

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day Set Dinner Menu

Glad to be back at Mediteca for an Italian Christmas feast! From my previous visits, I have had such a wonderful Mediterranean experience that I was really looking forward to another meal at Mediteca. A first for me, I was curious about an Italian Christmas menu. Chef Riccardo Ferrarotti, inspired from Southern Europe cuisine, has specially prepared the dishes from his family’s recipe that he has been enjoying each Christmas since young.

Mediteca is perfect for a holiday cheer with its warm soft lighting and ambience. All set for the holidays, the warm ambience has Christmas tree glowing in one corner and more festive décor is dressed subtly throughout the restaurant.

Mediteca has a Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Set Menu for RM158++ per person for a four course meal plus coffee or tea and a glass of Prosecco. Kids below 12 years & below gets a complimentary meal.

Complimentary warm Italian bread and grissini is served with a glass of Prosecco in the set dinner.

Dinner starts with Capunet from The Chef. Capunet, a Tuscan stuffed cabbage leave roll, is what Chef Riccardo and his family enjoy for most festive meals. He remembers fondly how his mother would prepare this dish and wanted guests to experience his beautiful memories of this holiday dish.

He uses savoy cabbage and wrapped it with minced meat and cheese béchamel sauce before baking it. The capunet is served with a garlic and anchovy emulsion. The roll yields at the cut of a fork, oozing with soft juiciness. Sweet cabbage with savory filling and a creamy goodness, the aroma of this dish is very tantalizing. I adored the garlic and anchony emulsion, strangely subtle and moreish.

Our next course was a Croatian Omelette playfully served in a can and a side of rocket salad on a wooden board. It was pretty great with the presentation as it plays on the Christmas mood of opening a present to see what’s inside.

The omelette flavors are delicate while the texture is delightful. Forking into the fluffy eggy omelette, I had also taste bits of bouncy octopus, fresh peas, fontal cheese and herbs. This course is really light, delicate and shows off the egg flavors to its max. Contrasting beautifully is the side rocket salad which was lightly dressed in a tangy dressing to lift up the flavors of the omelette.

The next course is the ultimate dish for me. I have never tasted gnocchi so light and fluffy that it simply melts upon contact on my tongue. Seirass Ricotta Gnocchi is out-of-this-world. Chef Riccardo uses a mixture of ricotta cheese and without any potato which is what most gnocchi are made of. The little thumb size pillows are so fluffy and cheesy. Cooked in a vegetable stock, the ricotta gnocchi is finished off in a buttery thyme sauce and herbs before being crowned with black potato, or more often known as black truffles. A truly comforting dish made so well that it takes indulgence to new heights with something so simple.

I simply cannot stop myself from polishing off this dish wholeheartedly. Salty, cheesy, creamy, buttery, aromatic and fluffy, I continuously raved about this dish to Chef Riccardo, hoping he may share his secret to this light ricotta gnocchi recipe with me.

Main course features two options with a robust Pork Tenderloin wrapped with Bacon or Pacific Se Bream.

The Pork Tenderloin was stuffed with terrine foie gras and wrapped with bacon before being baked. Dressed in marsala sauce and served with a luscious potato dauphinoise, the pork fillet dish is gorgeous. Tender and lean, the addition of bacon rendered a good note of flavors to the pork. The marsala wine sauce has great depth of flavors, adding more oomph to the meat. I could also see and taste rosemary and garlic in the dish. Dauphinoise potatoes completed the dish with its much welcomes creamy and cheesy flavors.

If you prefer fish or more delicate flavors, then Pacific Sea Bream with potato gratin, olives, fennel and basil accompanied by own broth will be just right for you. The white fish is light, sweet and flaky. A blanket of paper thin green and yellow zucchini slices protected the fish to retain its delicate texture. The fish is served in a basil emulsion with chargrilled fennel, basil and olives together with potato gratin.  The lots of herbs used in this dish are a great way to aromatize the dish without overpowering it. The dish is best eaten while its hot for maximum flavors.

Dessert was a gorgeous traditional Christmas sweet featuring Warm Panettone Gateau smothered in thick creamy anglaise sauce and chocolate. You get sweet soft gooey goodness at first bite. Soft fluffy and studded with bits of dried fruits, the gateau shouts Christmas in all ways. The dessert is quite heavy and rich so sharing it may actually be a great idea.

Coffee or Tea to end the meal.

My little one loves their pasta and he got a complimentary Carbonara Pasta that was so good, we ended up stealing this a little from him.

It is an amazing modern European festive set dinner menu that you won’t want to miss. Value for that price, it certainly takes one to another world of gastronomical dining experience right in the heart of the city for the festive holidays!

For New Year’s Eve Celebration, Chef Ferrarotti has designed an elegant 5-course dinner, priced at RM168++ with a glass of bubbly upon arrival. Start the dinner with a Tapas Platter of Shallots stuffed with venison, Octopus Bite as well as Iberico and Tomato. Second Course; Veal Muse in Catalan Style with Warm Crunchy Music Bread. Enjoy the third course of Risotto with Barolo Wine and Foie Gras, follow by Main Course of Cotechino Sausage with stewed lentil and lard or end with Chef’s fish choice that will give a taste of freshest seasonal seafood. To complete the holiday meal, enjoy the Warm Panettone Gateau. What’s more, sit back and relax and enjoy yourself with the Acoustic Jazz Performance exclusively arranged on these special days!

For reservations or enquiries, please call 03- 2181 2426 or email info@meditecawinetapas.com

MEDITECA

Lot 163, Fraser Place,

Jalan Perak,

50450 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: +603 2181 2426

Fax: +603 2161 1106

Facebook: facebook.com/mediteca.kl

Website: www.meditecawinetapas.com

GPS: 3.154271,101.709364

Business Hours: Monday to Saturday 11.30am till late

Score @ The Roof: Football Made Better with Free Flow of Beer!

Calling all Football Fans… Score Your Football Nights with Free Flow of Beer…

How about that! Life surely can’t get any better for football fanatics this month. Head over to the Score at The Roof to catch the Sunday Football game on a huge screen at the latest coolest sports bar in town. Located on sky level of First Avenue at The Roof, Score will have everyone’s game hats on catch the season’s games and the best part of this is that you get to enjoy free flow of beer!

Yep, you heard me right again, Free Flow of Beer! How it works… just wear Your Favorite Football Jersey to the Score and you’ll be up for free flow of beer. Bottoms up because the minute one team scores a goal, the free flow stops…

I was invited to the launch of The Roof a few weeks ago and let me tell you, it’s a truly awesome place to hang out. The Score is an exciting sports bar set with smart casual sport theme. Check out their huge screen set for the ultimate sport actions and their neon lite bar supplying all the manly juice for the sport actions. It is spacious and comes with lots of long benches and tables. Rough up the night with all the sport games, talks and beverages with snacks at the Score!

If you don’t have a a football jersey, fear not, simply catch Score’s opening promotion Happy Hour Promo where it’s free one pint when you buy one pint!

There’s plenty of fun competition going on too. While you are at Score, make sure you get your creative juices going by snapping a photo of their Christmas tree in your most creative way and putting it on Instagram. Who knows, you might just get lucky and win yourself a Carlsberg Beer Tower!!

Just be sure to hashtag ‘#scoretheroof’ and ‘#theroofmalaysia’ by the end of 23 Dec 2013. Winners will be announced by 24 Dec 2013.

Whatcha Waiting For? Let’s Score this December at The Roof!

SCORE, THE ROOF

1, First Avenue,

Bandar Utama,

47800 Petaling Jaya

Tel:  603 7729 1628

Website: www.theroof.com.my

Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheRoofMalaysia

La Cucina Mediterranean Kitchen, Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar: Dining in an Urbane Italian & Mediterranean Kitchen!

Staying True to the Hearts of an Italian and Mediterranean Kitchen!

Home is where the heart is… and nothing feels homier than the smell of delicious food wafting from the kitchen to make one feels at home! La Cucina Mediterranean Kitchen, one of the latest restaurants to hit town is located at the new Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar. Homing in the idea to make guests feel at home, La Cucina warmly invites guests to dine openly with an open kitchen right in the middle of the restaurant.

Next to La Cucina, The Lounge has the perfect ambience to greet guests with retro and modern cocktails prior to dinner. Our groupie had a lovely time relaxing to the many creations of giggle juice such as Cosmopolitan, Cucumber Martini, Pullman Connection, Mojito and more that evening. A must-order is the delicious Pullman Connection, fresh and addictive while the Cucumber Martini didn’t fall far too behind. What makes The Lounge even better is the individual Arabian inspired marquee perfect for lounging.

As we head over to dinner, we really can’t help but to admire the bright colors of the restaurant. Orange hues are splashed with bright colors all over through the dining booths and furniture. The open kitchen takes center stage as everyone is able to view the kitchen action from every angle of the dining room. There is even a side kitchen with minimal cabinets and a pizza oven covered in light pastel orange tiles.

I was told that there is a long communal table at the restaurants of all Pullman Hotels all over the world. The communal long table symbolizes the warmth of large groups of family and friends dining together through the ‘heart of the home’. Here it is a modern design of simple contemporary long table with high chairs.

Dinner started with a must-have at every Italian or Mediterranean home, fresh warm bread to be eaten with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, butter and olive tapenade. There is even Grissini for a great crunch. La Cucina has its own Marsala Wine and guests may order their meals to be added with the Marsala Wine as an option.

As we catch some kitchen action, our stomach grumbled continuously upon the heavenly smells of pasta and more wafting through the air. We even took a closer look while Sous Chef Aidiyusman Mohammad Yushoff whipped up our meal. Armed with a list of impressive career experience from all over the world, Chef Aidi finally returned home to joined the Culinary Team at Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar as sous chef in charge of La Cucina. He masterminded La Cucina from his experience in Vincenza, Italy to make it his own.

Pasta reigns supreme together with Pizza. At the first bite of Penne Fruitti Di Mare, I immediately recognize the familiar authentic taste of fresh tomato sauce laced with seafood on al dente penne. Simplicity at its best, the pasta was delicious in flavors. Chunks of octopus, prawns, mussels and more makes a great compliment with the light tomato sauce. Linguine Prawns has strands of pasta tossed in lemon butter sauce with sage, roasted spiced walnuts and shaved pecorino. Light, lemony and buttery, this is a dish that won’t leave one heavy. It also lets the ingredients shine beautifully in the flavors.

Smoked Duck Spaghetti was my favorite pasta that night. Salty smoked duck, herbs and chili makes the dish extremely tasty and scrumptious. There is a lovely kick of chili heat, making the pasta utterly irresistible coupled with the smoky duck breast. Let’ not forget the authentic al dente pasta. The dish warrants at least an eight out of ten in my books.

From the main course menu, we had Red Mullet Fillet which was lightly pan seared to achieved a crisp skin and soft flesh. What brought the fish up to another level was the beautiful saffron infused seafood bisque served on the side. It had creamy and citrusy flavors, making the fish vibrant in taste.

Braised Australian Grain-fed Beef Cheek had us all praising how tender and warm the cheeks were. We cut it using our forks to reveal soft creamy parmesan polenta beneath while a side of olive tapenade together with some vegetables accompanied it. It’s hearty and filling. I was especially in love with the creamy cheesy polenta.

Pizzas are a must at La Cucina. Hand tossed and medium thin based, take your pick from the eleven choices available or simply go La Vostra and make your own creation. For the first time in a long line of pizzas, I was glad to see that the pizza menu stayed true to simple and minimal ingredients. There is no localized ones like Hawaiian of some sort here. Don’t get me wrong but it’s great to see pizzas going the more holistic Italian approach. We savored Sliced Turkey and Vegetarian. Our Sliced Turkey had lots of turkey meat with tangy sun-dried tomatoes, olives and spicy capsicum compote while the Vegetarian featured fresh tomato sauce with assorted vegetable and mushroom toppings with shaved pecorino. My favorite was the Sliced Turkey with the punchy sun-dried tomatoes. It is just a burst of comforting flavors in every bite.

La Cucina has its own chillers filled to the brim with Salads, Appetizers and Desserts to tempt you at the front. Of course we could never say no to desserts and that evening, we ended our meal with a long list of desserts. As the dessert menu changes on daily, make sure to check out some of their signatures like Crème Brulee, Apple Pie, Cinnamon Cheese Cake, Mix Berries Crumble, Crostada, Cardamon Chocolate Crème Brulee, Tiramisu, Carrot Cake and more.

My favorite was the Chocolate Cake that was so feathery light and yet hits one with an overdose of chocolate sensation.  The Orange Cheesecake was also lovely, creamy, rich, cheesy and scented with a good dose of orange peels. Raspberry Lemon Cake, Carrot Cake and Mixed Fruit Pavlova were also much raved by the gang. We also savored Chocolate Tiramisu, Baklava and Olive Oil Cake before finishing with coffee and tea.

Indeed it was like dining at home, an elegant and modern home. La Cucina is perfect for families and friends as well as business occasions. It has all the comings of an elegant and yet comforting dining experience bundled at one restaurant. The menu is rich and authentic, staying true to its roots of Italian and Mediterranean inspired themed.

LA CUCINA MEDITERRANEAN KITCHEN

Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar

Lobby Level

No. 1, Jalan Pantai Jaya Tower 3

59200 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 603 2298 1888

Website: www.pullmankualalumpur.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Pullman-Kuala-Lumpur-Bangsar/291548480871993