Trattoria Cucina Italiana – an Italian food affair
@missyblurkit invited us to sample some food at Trattoria Cucina Italiana, an Italian food establishment in the middle of KL city centre. I learned two things that day:
1) Italian food goes beyond pizzas and pastas; and
2) When @missyblurkit says, “let’s have some Italian food”, she really meant, “let’s have a feast with food enough to feed 10,000 starving soldiers.”
Trattoria Cucina Italiana is located at the ground floor of Rohas Perkasa, which is opposite the infamous Beach Club and Thai Club, at the junction of Jalan Perak and Jalan P. Ramlee. Its bright blue with yellow lettering signboard is quite visible from the main street. It has been remarked that their signboard didn’t seem in tune with their delightful offerings, but I suppose it’s their corporate identity. Free parking along the same road is available for patrons.
For (the many, many) starters, we were served bread with vinegar and olive oil which is one of my absolute favourite things to eat. Then the antipasti came..
Cheese platter and baked eggplant
Italian cheese platter with marmalade (RM37). I tried all of them except the blue cheese because I’m not a blue cheese kind of person. They all taste really fresh and wonderful, especially when combined with the fruit preserves. Baked eggplant pie stuffed with mozzarella and tomato (RM23), this was a winner with me as I love eggplants! Wish I didn’t have to share, heh.
Salads and cheese
Tuna salad (RM26), Caesar salad with chicken, beef bacon (RM26) and Mixed seafood salad (RM27). The salads were rather good and the portions quite large, very generous servings. I’d imagine having an order of salad for lunch and I’d be stuffed. All the greens were fresh and crunchy, no indication of yellow, frail, dying leaves in sight.
But enough of all that. I want to draw your attention to the photo on the 2nd row, on the right. It looks like a scoop of vanilla ice-cream served with tomato slices and salad, doesn’t it? Well that’s the Fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese (RM33) like how Italians eat it and it was yummy! The soft and moist, velvety cheese almost melts in your mouth, it’s slightly bland yet has a milky taste. Went well with the fresh tomatoes. I would only share this with someone I like very, very much.
Then came the home made pastas!
Pasta, pasta, pasta
Black ravioli stuffed with seafood with creamy salmon sauce (RM32), Spinach pappardelle pasta in creamy mushroom sauce (RM29), Spaghetti with mixed seafood in cherry tomato sauce (RM35) and Oven baked gnocchi with creamy Bolognese sauce and mozzarella cheese (RM34).
My favourites were the green pappardelle (very tasty) and the baked gnocchi. The latter is just so addictive, something about potatoes being an ingredient? Add in meaty Bolognese and cheese, it being a comfort food is a sure-fire crowd pleaser.
Cappalleti stuffed with cheese in cream and turkey ham sauce (RM31), Risotto with truffle scented porcini mushroom (RM38), Deep fried squid and prawns with fried vege (RM45) and Carnivora Pizza – tomato, mozzarella, beef salami, chicken sausage and turkey ham (RM68). The cappaletti was okay, I suppose at that point I just had too much creamy stuff. Me not a fan of creamy sauce. Not a fan of risotto either, but my fine dining companions loved it so I suppose it was good.
The seafood fritters was good, the seafood fresh and the batter light. Now for the pizza… it was GINORMOUS! They recommend it for 3 to 4 people, but that’s only if you do not plan on having much of anything else! Even though it was big, it was still crispy and nice. Don’t worry, Trattoria serve normal sized pizzas also, the big tray ones are just a lot more impressive.
Remember the part about feeding a legion of solders and not just 8 people? Then came the meats!
Red and White meats!
1-kg T-bone steak served with chips and side salad (RM128). That was my first time seeing an entire kilogramme of steak being served in a whole. I’d heard of places where you would get free steak if you could finish off a kilo of their steak within an hour or so. Not that Trattoria offers such a thing, but now I’ve seen with my own eyes how much steak is a kilo of steak. IT’S A LOT!
Grilled marinated lamb chops served with sauteed potato and grilled vege (RM71) and Sliced grilled beef sirloin with herbs served with rocket salad and chips (RM59). I enjoyed these two dishes, more so than the ginormous steak: perhaps because the latter was just too much for me. The meats were juicy, flavourful and succulent, I also enjoyed the sides of sauteed potato. For some reason they tasted really, really good.
Grilled seafood – prawns, squid, cod fish, seabass served with mixed vege (RM126), an introduction of Trattoria’s seafood offerings. Not bad I suppose but not something I’d order for myself next time. I feel that their strength is in pasta and red meat where main course is concerned.
Why dining with food bloggers is a pain in the…
Kim with KY, ShaolinTiger didn’t know where to start eating.
missyblurkit with Marcus, KY and Haze and ST and me and Horng.
And finally, the desserts! By this time we were all almost bursting. But you can never really say no to desserts, can you? Actually I did because I really couldn’t take it anymore, hahah. No longer the bottomless pit that I was 
Dolci!
Tiramisu (RM26), Creme brulee (RM22), Affogato (RM17) – vanilla ice cream with espressso and Warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream (RM26). All pretty good, you could tell by the way they were attacked. How were they attacked? Below is a series of actions of how a Warm apple cake with custard, chocolate cream and vanilla ice cream (RM24) didn’t make it.
The right way to polish off a dessert
There you go.
To top a most hearty and excessive meal, the brilliant chef threw in a lime sherbet and chocolate liquor. Quality chocolate melted down, added with vodka (I think) becomes a palatable after-meal drink. Or as the chef said, breakfast drink for the Italians! You know, like how you’d mix Milo with alcohol. Hey, sounds like someone I know…!
Yum factor: 400%!
That was a pretty long post, wasn’t it? Well it took me 3 months to come out with this blog post as I finally got over the feeling of being overwhelmed, heh. Trattoria Cucina Italiana’s menu is rather extensive: 18 pasta dishes, 15 red and white meat dishes, 20 pizza selection… you get the idea. If you don’t have an idea of what you’d like to have, you could spend ages just studying their menu. They have a good list of cocktails and shooters, beer and all sorts of wine (red, white, sparkling, dessert).
At first glance, their prices seems to be on the higher side. But having dined there, I understand why. Every ingredient is fresh, made to order (hence a longer serving time), and the portions quite large. You really get every sen of what you pay for.
Do give it a try, and say hi to @missblurkit when you see her there!
Trattoria Cucina Italiana, KL
Wisma Rohas Perkasa, No. 8 Jalan Perak,
50450 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +603 2163 2368
GPS: 3.15485, 101.708711
Website: www.trattoriaasia.com
BFM Sept ‘10 tweetup @ Kitchen Creatures, Centrepoint
I am a huge fan of BFM 89.9, the business radio station. Even though it’s mainly about finance and economy and grown up stuff that I don’t really care about, they appropriate a large chunk of airtime for stuff that I find interesting, enlightening and educational. Just the other day, they interviewed Julian Hyde who is the GM of Reef Check Malaysia. I learned bits about coral bleaching and the state of Malaysian corals, which I would never have known if I didn’t catch the interview.
I also felt 10x smarter after that. So everyone wins!
Justin of Priority Comms, DaddyLian, Malek Ali, Freda and Vernon, Harinder, Ben and Niki!
Enough rambling. As I was saying, I’m a huge @BFMradio fan. A couple of weeks ago, they announced via Twitter that they’d be having a tweet up where BFM radio personalities would be present. I did the necessary and scored myself an invite, yay!
It was held yesterday at Kitchen Creatures @ Centrepoint, Bandar Utama. There were familiar faces and I met @vernieman for the 1st time after following him on Twitter for so long.
David Chew and Freda Liu were present, as well as Malek Ali, the dude who got the whole BFM radio thing rolling. I was rather pumped up to meet him, as I thought he did a brilliant job since listening to his interview last year during BFM’s 1st birthday do. In fact the entire BFM crew was pleasant and most attentive to ideas, suggestions and feedback.
David Chew taking us through the presentation
Some highlights:
- New BFM website to be launched soon! Most likely after the Raya celebrations.
- Cleaner, sleeker look and feel with better navigational functions to the new site.
- “What song are you playing now ar?” will not have to be asked again.
- David Chew is very funny.
- Watch the show live via UStream, and selected VOD will be available.
- Apparently Freda was caught singing on very same said Ustream channel without her awareness.
- Podcasts available on iTunes
- Better mobile pack thingy, I wasn’t paying attention then but it will be further improved. Something about mobi and Iphone optimised.
- Everyone @ BFM pays attention to @BFMradio, has Tweetdeck.
- Streaming via website is now cross-platform, not confined to just Windows Media Player, YAY!
- From Friday onwards, listeners can call in to the studio! Just like the good ol’ days! +603-7710 9000
That’s about all that I can remember for now. The most important bit I remember was that, BFM will celebrate their 2nd birthday this coming Friday. A very special day is planned, with famous radio personalities of yesteryears invited to take over the BFM mics! You’re looking at the likes of Patrick Teoh, Faridah Merican and Yasmin Yusoff presenting BFM shows, how awesome is that?? It’s going to be a riot, I tell you.
Friday, 03 September 2010, BFM radio, FM 89.9, 7am onwards. Miss it and kick yourself where it really hurts because it’s going to be awesome! Happy birthday, BFM! 
Road Douchebaggery, i.e., intentionally not filling up your petrol tank
See the photo above? The bar on the left is Gladys‘ petrol indicator. When it shows that there are two bars left to go, that is my cue to fill ‘er up.
Why so kan cheong, some would ask. Simple. I refuse to be the douchebag with an empty petrol tank stuck in the middle of the road holding up Klang Valley traffic. I also do not wish to be the lab rat for the saying, if looks could kill…
Now see, I’m not being mean. Sometimes people are busy, they forget and that’s fine (actually not really because you’re supposed to be responsible for your car, which means if you don’t feed it then it wouldn’t move, right??). Sometimes they have no money to fill up their tanks and that’s fine (because sometimes people are poor but they really need to use their vehicles so they take their chances).
No, I have no problems with all that. What I do have a problem with is, a certain percentage of people who do not fill up their tanks just because they can. I do not know what kind of attitude this is, so I am just going to lump it in tidapathy.
You see, these people seem to be under the impression that their very existence exerts the aura which is then automagically transformed into energy = fuel that would save their hides whenever their hides need saving. “Oh don’t worry about it, empty tank can still go at least 25km, you’re unnecessarily fretting!” “Oh don’t worry lah, can still go on, we’ll reach before the petrol runs out”.
I’ve come across these people many times.
That doesn’t make you impressive.
That makes you a douchebag.
I hate you.
You’re fortunate to live in a country where petrol stations are in abundance. You know that Klang Valley traffic situation is perpetually fucked up. If so much as a stray cat gets hit and smashed into a bloody pulp in the middle of the road, it translates to slow traffic for at least half an hour. Add rain, minor (”you scratched my bumper, you bastard”) and major (”you took out my entire bumper, you bastard”) accidents and douchebags slowing down to stare at the accidents to the equation, well let’s just say that I’m very glad I live near to where I work. Shame about the rest of you.
I used to fill up when the indicator has only one bar left. Then my Dad tells me that I should not have left it to a single bar, because I’m driving around in Klang Valley and I’d never know when I’d be caught in a traffic jam, which would make Gladys use up more petrol.
My Dad is right.
You’re not.
Go fill up your petrol tank now.
Of Lulu, medicine and smitten chaps
About 2 weeks ago, I fell quite ill with what I thought was a case of gastritis. The pain was constant and almost unbelievable, it brought tears to my eyes. Secretly of course, because I don’t weep in front of people. I’d tell you later though, but you actually seeing tears rolling down my cheeks? Nah not a chance.
To cut a long and unnecessary story short, my GP thought it was gastritis and wind. As I whined on Twitter about the pain, Lulu expressed her concerns about my health. I’d known Lulu from Bootcamp, she’s a GP, she’s married to a MD, she’s one of the loveliest people to be with because she’s just so sincere and delightful.
After a few days of text messages, Lulu urged me to consult a Gastroenterologist for a scope. I did and he diagnosed me with food poisoning (?!? a whole week of pain ?!?) and prescribed me Fasigyn, which Google tells me is to treat the Helicobacter Pylori bacteria. It was what Lulu suspected also besides gallstones. Unfortunately SDMC ran out of the antibiotics and I had to get it elsewhere.
Turns out, it was a rather difficult antibiotics to obtain. Not available at pharmacies. Lulu helped me to look around and finally got it for me.
Turns out, Tinidazole (sold under a few names, Fasigyn being one of them) is also used to treat STDs. And Lulu’s husband is a gynecologist, hence his clinic carries the drug!
Lol?
Anyway the antibiotics worked and I’m feeling super. I am much grateful to Lulu for holding my hand (so to speak) throughout the pain and healing, giving me so much information and helping me with the search for my medication. Now thanks to Lulu, I have a tummy free of H. Pylori, YAY!
So there you go, that’s how sweet Lulu is. In person she is gregarious and charming, her eyes are bright and warm. She’s always smiling (except during Bootcamp sessions) so lucky for her that her teeth are bright and clean, heh.
I suppose somehow her awesomeness just radiates out of her being and can be detected by others. One time she was driving down the Sprint highway towards Bangsar when a car behind her kept honking and flashing his headlights at her. She thought, what the hell lah let him go lah since he seems to be in such a hurry. He didn’t stop for a bit and she was beginning to get anxious and annoyed, when he swerve his car to overtake hers. As he drove past, Lulu glanced at him: a smitten Chinese chap with a white piece of A4 paper and the words, “PHONE NUMBER?” on it, while giving her the universal ‘call me’ sign.
Heheh, so sweet kan?
Ryan and his punishment
So Ryan was punished for something he did the other day. It was something he did that he was told over the years not to do, so he quite deserved it. My sister aka his mother took out the rotan and gave him a few licks on his buttocks.
The next morning he went to his parents and said, “Papa mama, next time when I grow up and I die because you beat me. Then when you have your own children again, make sure you don’t beat them okay. If not they die. Just punish them like this also can (Ryan demonstrates by kneeling down facing the wall), like that also can (Ryan demonstrates another kneeling position). Don’t beat them if not they die okay.”