Portofino @ Lucky Garden, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur

This F&B outlet surely had caught my attention when I passed by. 2 days later, I received an invitation by Chef Keli which I gladly accepted. Could be the "The Secret" presented itself. Hehe. 

Striking blue signage that enough to catch ones' attention  

The lower level of Portofino definitely drew some similarity to Porto Romano where I see frames of pictures made up of movie posters hung neatly all around the wall. 

Intimate seating environment 

As I stepped upstairs, the ambiance drew a more simple and classy setting with ample space, that is very well suited for company events, or parties. I was informed that on every Tuesdays and alternate Saturdays, there are group of salsa lovers that would dine and enjoy some salsa moves throughout the night.

Ample space upstairs 

The name of the restaurant was taken after this beautiful Italian fishing village and famous resort vacation spot famed for its picturesque harbour. 

Named after Portofine,, Liguria 

Portofino in Bangsar is jointly owned by 2 Italians, Chef Keli, Lucas, and owner of Porto Romano. As I shared my conversation with these two gentleman blessed with good Italian genes, I immediately gathered that they were both incredibly passionate about running this F&B outlet. Chef Keli had vast background in the culinary field ever since young, and during a trip to Malaysia, he was shared the idea of setting up a restaurant. When back to Italy, the idea was proposed to his dear friend, Lucas and before we know it, Portofino was made possible, and they have recently celebrated their 1st anniversary on 6 Oct 2015. 

Varieties of spaghetti were the main highlight for my lunch. Apart from the standard pastas, I've not seen one restaurant offering this many varieties - from ravioli, pappardelle, gnocchi, tortellini, tagliatelle. All their pasta are freshly made, and Chef Keli ensures that he uses the best supply available and am highly particular with each ingredient used. He also goes personally to the fresh market for some selection of fish and prawns. 

The highly recommended pasta was their Cannelloni ai Fruitti di Mare/Seafood Cannelloni. The fresh pasta are cut into long shape, to form a round shape. Within it, it is filled with cuts of fresh prawns, squid, mussels, fish and bechamel sauce. I love this fresh and reviving outlook of Cannelloni. Love the 3 round shape of pasta, served on top of very yummy gravy, accompanied by a neat portion of salad and decorative chocolate sauce. The gravy was cooked using fish stock, and to ensure quality of every sip of taste that goes into the mouth, the stock was cooked using prawn head, red snapper and its bone, together with tomato paste, celery, red onion, carrot, parsley, and cooked for 3 hours.

The pasta was baked with perfection, with slight crisp on top, and the creaminess of cheese on top. I love the generous portion of seafood used that tasted so delicious. That's not all, I found more generous cuts of prawns below the pasta, and with sweetness of the gravy, this tasted heavenly. 

Seafood Cannelloni. Price-RM36

Secondly, we were served the Tortellini Caserecci / Homemade Tortellini. It was the fresh tortellini stuffed with chicken meat and beef bacon, then cooked with cream, mushroom and turkey ham. The texture carried a slight thickness yet chewy and soft when eaten, and love the extremely creamy sauce. 

Homemade Tortellini. Price-RM38 

Each tortellini were filled with so much of chicken and beef bacon, and I could taste the freshness of the meat. 

All the goodness goo-ing out of the tortellini 

Thirdly, we had the Squid Ink Pasta. This was freshly made using black ink from squid. The tenderness of the pasta was apparent, and it was extremely fresh. The gravy has the fishy sweetness taste to it, and a hint of basil. Yumms.. 

Squid Ink Tagliatelle. Price-RM36

I thank Chef Keli to use cream quality that tasted so incredibly good that made this Gnocchi so luscious. This is made using mashed potato, flour, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese, and then cooked with imported cooking cream, blue cheese, and bacon. This indeed was my first time trying 'potato dumpling'. 

Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Cheese. Price-RM36

In the past, I have been recommended tiramisu which I was disappointed after I tasted it. I can't wait to taste what is this bowl of tiramisu made of. 

It was made using a long process, to ensure the authenticity of the tiramisu could be savored by its customers. First marsala being cooked, and then mixed with mascarpone, whipping cream, and combined with italian fingers soaked with almond liquor, kahlua and coffee, to derived with this bowl of tiramisu. The softness and the creaminess of the mascarporne was indeed melodious, and coupled with the apparent taste of alcohol, this was indeed a blissful bowl of tiramisu. 

Tiramisu. Price-RM16

The spoon of goodness

My meal ended pleasantly with a plate of dessert that brightened my mood instantly. This has to be one of the best well presented plate of dessert. This pannacotta tasted perfect - soft, and creaminess of the cream made me so delightful. The tinge of orange, and lemon zest gave the taste of this pannacotta an extra umph.  The fact that I'm so full and I can still feel how delicious this was, it must be divine. It indeed was one of the best dessert I ever tasted.

Tasted so good and so beautiful to see. Pannacota. Price-RM14

Flanked by the really tall chef, Chef Keli and Lucas 

I was indeed so pleased with the food quality, and more so of the passion that I felt that brimmed through Chef Keli as he explained to me on each and every dish served. The hospitality extended by both Chef Keli and Lucas were so warm. After this visit, I had the feeling of falling in love during my 1st date, and I can't wait to go for the next date, which I in fact had done so, the week after.  

Food - 9/10; Price - 9/10, Service - 9/10, Ambiance - 9/10 

Portofino
No 1 Persiaran Ara Kiri, 
Lucky Garden, Garden,
59100 Kuala Lumpur 
Tel : 03-2094 8490 

Business Hours : 
11am-11pm daily 

Pork-free (serves halal meat)

D'Italiane Kitchen @ Sunway Giza, PJ

Sunway Giza is so filled with F&B outlets, that the good ones may go unnoticed. Occupying the 1st floor within the mall, is D'Italiane Kitchen. Having to look for good western soup, we made the decision to give it a try. 

Clean interior was apparent as the interior used mainly white color. 

D'Italiane Kitchen

I liked the interior that is simple and elegant, one that suits formal, and casual meet up. 

Inside of the restaurant 

The norm is mushroom soup offered by most Western/Italian restaurants, but D'Italiane's range of soup is highly impressive. I'm pleased with how different their offering are, which include choices such as carrot with crabmeat soup, minestrone, tomato pumpkin, seafood chowder, and up to a total of 10 different types. Wow! I selected the soup of the day which was the broccoli soup. 

I love the presentation of the soup. It looked totally appetizing, the broccoli soup color looks just right, and drawn with some patterns using cream, and drizzled with some fresh herbs. Alongside with this, are freshly made bread. 

The broccoli soup has cuts of broccoli within, and the taste of soup was just nice. Portion was truly big too. In fact enough for me and my friend to share. Taste wise, it was creamy and tasty. Anytime I crave for soup, I'm sure to head to D'Italiane.

Broccoli Soup. Price-RM11

For my  main, I chose the Angel Hair with Scallop. The size of the US bay scallop was huge, and so was the portion of angel hair. The pasta was cooked with lots of herbs and garlic in olive oil. For a garlic lover, I appreciate any amount of garlic used.The scallop was grilled to perfection, and I can literally chew each shred of the scallops. I really liked this plate of spaghetti that tasted just so good, and I appreciate some greens used in this, which came with rocket salad and fried garlic slices. I somehow loved the bitterness that comes naturally with the salad. 

This has to be a favorite, as I looked to the table next to me, and both the gentleman had the same dish. 

Angel Hair with Scallops. Price-RM33

Similarly to its soup, D'Italianes Kitchen offers very comprehensive range of food, which includes good selection of appetizers, salad, main dishes, pasta, and drinks. 

D'Italiane Kitchen
Lot F10, 1st Floor, Block D, 
Sunway Giza, Jalan PJU 5/14, 
Kota Damansara, 
47810 Petaling Jaya 

Tel : 03-6148 1828

Allegro Cafe @ SS15, Subang Jaya

This is a much overdue post, a dinner meal I had before Christmas.

Spotted this interesting almost hidden spot cafe, on the upper floor, as I finished drink 1 night at Wing's Cafe..
Thus, arranged to have dinner there the following week.

As I stepped in, immediately fell in love with the ambiance. Nice, cosy, well decorated, and exudes a much romantic feeling, with much use of yellow lights all around, and most of all, the lighted Christmas tree.

Cosy ambiance, and lots of use of yellow lights

Romantic setting

I had the Spaghetti Carbonara. It was a tasty carbonara dish, but always face the problem of too rich of the creamy sauce for one to finish it all.

Spaghetti Carbonara. Price-RM24

X1 had the Chicken Paparazzi... Good choice of dish, and the pan fried chicken breast was so flavorful (well fried that it has a thin crisp layer on top and edges of the chicken), and topped with lots of wild mushroom and cream sauce. I will surely order this, to have on my own, during my next visit. :)

Chicken Paparazzi. Price-RM26

A look inside, from where I was seated.

Allegro Cafe
1st Floor, Trattoria Italiana,
11A, Jalan SS15/4,
47500 Subang Jaya.
Tel : 03-5631 5682

The Dining Room @ CHR, Cameron Highlands

Its a bless, to be confined within CHR, as there were just so many spots to relax ourselves. This

The Dining Room, bearing a casual atmosphere for breakfast, turned into such romantic ambiance comes night. Love the lighting that enhances the romantic-ness within, and Dining Room surely sets them apart from any other dining place available at Cameron Highlands.

How do you like the very cosy and romantic ambiance?

Can't wait to do the ordering

We get to order a 3-course meal, with the YTL package, and thus, all were ordered for sharing. Got to try all 6 items. Yay!

We ordered the 'Salad of Tasmanian Crab' which is a cold dish, whereby the crab meat was prepared with lemongrass gazpacho and wrapped around by smoked salmon. Being a crab and smoked salmon lover, I totally loved this.

Salad of Tasmanian Crab. Price-RM45

Our soup was the Thai Butternut Squash. It came piping hot, this soup was seasoned with tom yam spices and scented with Kaffir lime. Has a very refreshing taste to it.

Thai Butternut Squash. Price-RM30

While waiting for the mains to come, Shereen and I were yacking away, with the friendly staff at CHR. Credit has to be given to the absolute graceful, professional yet charming, Encik Zul, Saran, a chatty and cute staff, and Janice, a trainee whom was absolutely sweet. It is the hospitality of the staffs that has indeed alleviated our experience.

Love this corner opposite our table, just by the window

Our mains came in such a well presented manner.. The 1st was the Roast Cod fish, served on a mild tasting wasabi mashed potato, fresh tomato and watercress. The fish was chunky and extremely fresh.

Roast Cod. Price-RM90

We also had the Spaghetti Oglio Olio, served with fresh prawn, crushed garlic and extra-virgin olive oil. A very simple dish that can taste so great.

We were stuff to the max by the time we were half way through the mains.. :(

Spaghetti Oglio Olio. Price-RM60

For dessert, we had the warm baked lava cake...Love this moist tasting chocolate cake, with lots of chocolate sauce, both outside, and inside... ^^ Accompanied by vanilla ice-cream, topped with caramelized sugar, a treat for the sweet tooth in us.

Warm baked lava cake. Price-RM30

We needed some kinda fruit to end the dinner, and a trip to Camerons will not be complete without indulging in strawberries. These huge size strawberries were supplied by Raju's Farm, and were sweet as it is, but its sweetness were enhanced by a dip into the cream, white chocolate and chocolate sauce provided.

Fresh strawberries from Raju's Farm. Price-RM30

Kudos to the chef for the wonderful meal prepared, and once again, thanks to all the staff that made our stay, and dining experiences such memorable one.

The Dining Room
Cameron Highlands Resort

By the Golf Course,

39000 Tanah Rata,

Cameron Highlands, Pahang

Silver Spoon Trattoria @ Bandar Manjalara

To-date, Silver Spoon has been a much talk-talked about restaurant, and has been featured by many bloggers. Chef Ken having first known to serve affordable Italian food years back at Menjalara, Kepong, is now back as chef at Silver Spoon. Must be a relief for his fans that misses his cooking.

Silver Spoon carried its own charm, with its classy interior, which uses wooden deco and chandeliers. Overall, gave us a real warm feeling when we stepped in.

I was there a while back, which was the day Silver Spoon was featured in Sin Chew daily. Therefore, it was in fact a full- house for Silver Spoon and they were a little short-handed the other day.

Interior of Silver Spoon

The starter ordered my other 2 dear friends while waited for us was the Calamari Salad. I didn't manage to capture it in picture, but the last piece of Calamari I took, which was a shared portion, tasted really good. Tasty, and chewy.

The prawn avocado salad was filled with grilled prawns (tasted real yummy), avocado, red onion, tomato, lettuce and red cabbage. Served a little chilled, topped with cocktail dressing, this was a real fresh bowl of salad.

Prawn Avocado Salad. Price-RM26

The vongole fettucine cooked with lots of fresh clams, chilli, parsley, and olive oil tasted alright. It has a strong garlicky taste too. A simple plate of spaghetti.

Spaghetti Vongole. Price-RM23

This chicken dish was rather special. Crumbed chicken topped with turkey ham, eggplant, baked with cheese. The chicken good, but just felt it was a little dry. The sides came with potato wedges and salad.

Chicken Parmigiana. Price-RM29

One of my personal favorite was this Garlic Prawn pizza. Its a thin crust pizza, made with marinated tiger prawns, sundried tomatoes, garlic, roasted capsicum, feta cheese, and topped with fresh herbs, and wedge of lemon. The overall ingredients complimented one another, a little of the natural prawn sweetness, cheesiness from feta, slight sourish taste from sundried tomatoes, just loved this.

Garlic Prawn Pizza. Price-RM27

The must have was of course the pick-me-up famous dessert - Tiramisu. Popular Italian dessert made of coffee and Kahlua soaked ladyfinger biscuits, layered with mascarpone mousse, and topped with cocoa powder. Its real creamy, and the mascarpone gave it a slightly rough texture. If only it carried a stronger Kahlua taste, it would've been my perfect dessert.

Tiramisu. Price-RM16

It was great catching up again, with the ex-colleagues.. Wish Candice had a wonderful birthday.

The 5 of us

Silver Spoon Trattoria (above AmBank),
1st Floor, Wisma Manjalara,
Bandar Manjalara,
52200, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-6277 0445

Porto Romano @ Mont Kiara

Passed by this particular Porto Romano outlet at Mont Kiara many times while heading to Solaris. And since we are to look for place to eat around this neighbourhood, suggested this Italian Mediterranean restaurant to Cass. After this dinner, I was recommending this place to few other friends, and found that this restaurant seemed to be missed, probably over-shined by its neighbour, Wendy's.

The traffic was rather smooth, and we managed to be on time, at 7pm for dinner. Having 2 floors seating, I opted to sit upstairs. Though the lower floor seemed pleasing to me, the upper floor was even better. Cosy, romantic ambiance and spacious enough. The business was really good as the restaurant got filled up in next hour or so, and saw quite a fair share of Korean and Japanese (as Mont Kiara is one of THE area for expats).

Inside the restaurant

We first had the salad, and this insalata porto romano salad was filled with fresh seafood, mix of squids, clams, mussels, and prawns marinated in herbs, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. The seafood was so fresh that you basically only need very mild sauce to go with it... and after adding on a wedge of lemon and salt, the taste got even better.

Insalata Porto Romano Salad. Price-RM20

Why have only 1 when we can have choice of 4 different types of pizza in 1 pizza? We went for the Four Seasons Pizza, where it allow us to choose 4 different variety of pizza, as long as original price of the pizza is less than the price of Four Seasons Pizza @ RM32. Choices of pizza we had was the mushroom, cheese, mediterranean, hawaiian. This is quite a good idea - at least each of us got to taste 1 slice of the 4 different variety, and I thought this was quite worth the price. The pizza size is huge, and by the end, we had a tough time finishing all. We were really satisfied with this order, as it tasted really good. Love the thin crust - each bite tasted good, and we were pleased with the generous portion of ingredients used. My favourite was the mushroom, and the mediterranean (where it used lots of mushroom and turkey ham, plus mozarella cheese).

Pizza Quattro Stagioni - Four Seasons Pizza. Price-RM32

We end our dinner by trying the Creama Catalana, a spanish dessert similar to creme brulee (meant burnt creme in French). We love this rich custord base topped with contrasting layer of hard caramel. The custard was cold, and with warm caramel. Don't mind having this again.

Crema Catalana. Price-RM12

We chatted and laughing the night away - and without realizing we were seated at this very cosy and romantic corner for a good 4 hours +. We were so engrossed in our conversation, that we didn't realize we were the last table left. ^-^

Good place for candle-lit dinner

Me and Cass, paused for a picture to be taken

Overall, the dinner was reasonably priced, yet with high quality and good tasting food served. Will definitely have more dinners here in days to come.

Porto Romano
28 Jalan Kiara,
Banyan, Mont Kiara,
50480 KL
Tel : 03-6207 8171

Delucca @ One Residency, KL

The yearly Christmas gathering is an occasion, we, the ex-Starcommers look forward to. Apart from to catch up, we look forward to trying out new or interesting restaurants, with the right Christmas 'feel' to suit the occasion. We decided on having it at Delucca for our 2009 Christmas gathering.

I first got in touch with Sen to propose us a list of food combining starter, soup, main course and dessert at the price of RM60++ per pax. He with the chef came out with a proposed list of food, which we approved right away.

Just to set the records straight, we had a really wonderful tasting dinner. However, I don't seem to do very well in taking low lighting pictures, and somehow the pictures did not turn out as desired. *^*

We were first served bread, to be dipped onto vinegar, and olives.

From top : Bread, Soup : Hot & Spicy Tomato Soup, Dessert : Trio Classic

It was then followed by a generous portions of starter (each plate to be shared by 4), which all of us were really pleased with. The starter includes, a plate of assorted bruschetta (variety of toppings), fried calamari served with special sauce, mixed seasonal vegetables and green leaves, and the classic italian aubergine dish called the "Parmigiana". Love the cheesiness, slight sourness, and sweetness of the aubergine.

From L to R : The starters : Bruschetta, Calamari, Mixed Vege

Starter : Aubergine dish called "Parmigiana"

As for the soup, most found it overly sour tasting, but a few of us think it was alright.

Prior to our dinner, we were given a choice of 3 items as our main course which includes :
- home made crepes pasta baked with mixed vegetables bechamel and tomato sauce
- chicken supreme cooked in butter & sage and served with mushroom and broccoli sauce
- deep fried Norwegian salmon steam served with lemon & dill sauce and fries

The most popular choice was the chicken dish, which was what I opted for. The place of chicken with extra touch of 'love shape' does made us a little extra excited as well. It was grilled chicken breast meat, which tasted a little dry, but glad the sauce made-up for it.

Chicken Supreme in butter & sage with mushroom and broccoli sauce

The 2nd popular choice was the norwegian salmon steak. It has a real savory aroma, and was fried till real crispy, yet the salmon meat was still delicate.

Deep fried Norwegian salmon steak

Following the big portion of starters, and also the main course, some of us can't even finish the main dish. So conclusion, value for money.. ^<>^

The dinner ended with a good spread of 'mini' dessert - trio classic italian sweets of tiramisu, rum baba and chocolate mousse.

Overall it was a good dinner. We also had a cake to celebrate the Nov and Dec babies birthday.

Round the long table, singing birthday song

The 4 birthday babies - Beng Geok, Fred, Casyn and Karen. Must be something funny that they all burst into laughter.

And the most important of all, picture time... As it was a big group of us, had to figure out where's the right spot.

Kawan-kawan, mari kita beratur untuk tangkap gambar *<>*

Smile everyone, and show the 'peace' sign please

To ensure all our heads are covered, we requested for the staff to stand on chair to capture our next group photo.

Clarice laughing too hard, that her head was hidden. Haha.

And to end the night, gift exchange time..

Presents.... who doesn't love presents???

Look forward to more gatherings. Merry Christmas everyone.. (though it has way passed the dinner, and Christmas day).. ^<>^

One Residency
(behind Hotel Istana, opposite No Black Tie)
Office Tower (Tower C)
No 1 Jalan Mesui, off Jalan Nagasari

Business Hours :
11am-3pm, 5pm-12mn (Mon-Thu, whilst Fri-Sat till 2am)
5pm-12mn (Sun)