Last month it was the Vietnamese cooking demo and Vietnamese promotion at Latest Recipe, Le Meridien. Now the very same hotel runs the Taste of Italy” culinary event featuring guest Chef Fabrizio from Westin Bejing Financial Street.
Together with a bunch of bloggers & members of media, we were treated to a cooking demonstration by the good chef, and here’s one of his recipe.
Now even I think I can properly cook a meal with lobster that will do the shell fish justice. Here’s the recipe.
glorious Maine lobster in frying pan with olive oil, herbs & cherry tomato
Ingredients:
For the pesto
here’s the spaghetti with lobster
The preparation method is pretty straight forward, and let me just copy verbatim from Chef Fabrizio’s text.
Roast garlic in large pan with olive oil. Add lobster, cherry tomato and cook with some water, add seasoning. Boil pasta in a large pot with salted water until the favorite cooking. Blend herbs with the olive oil for pesto. Take“` lobster out of the sauce, clean the tongs and half the tail. Arrange halved tail in a plate. Strain spaghetti and add sauce with herb pesto and butter. Arrange spaghetti beside the lobster, add lobster meat. Decorate with some herb leaves and serve.
fresh spring herb pesto, prepared with a blender
It’s pretty simple isn’t it?
Chef Fabrizio has a bit of flair and the lack of “seriousness” when it comes to preparation of his dishes. As he proudly said “I am not a pastry chef”, and cooking should involves a sense of flexibility and creativity. I like this style.
In fact, in a short span of 1 hour or so, the good chef prepared three dishes right in front of us, including the eggplant millefeuille recipe shared by Kim.
and we were served a very good buffet spread too, Chef Fabrizio & Chef Antoine
To get a taste of Chef Fabrizio’s creations, you can head to Favola at Le Meridien KL from June 4 to June 12, 2011. Ala carte goes for RM 25++ to RM 130++. Don’t miss out especially if you’re a fan of authentic Italian cuisine.
KY with Chef Fabrizio, Jon & Ciki, Cindy & Kim & Haze, Kim & Gareth
We were also fed an awesome spread of Italian dishes after the event (and after we sampled all three dishes prepared by Chef Fabrizio). There were cold cuts, clams, pizza, bruschetta, smoked salmon, salad, and more. It was a fantastic and certainly gastronomically satisfied session.
Address:
Favola
2 Jalan Stesen Sentral,
Kuala Lumpur 50470
GPS: 3.135631,101.686476
Tel: 03-2263 7888
From the outside the restaurant is a classy bungalow, much like those at the soon to be decommissioned Bangsar One. You can park your car on the street, or valet for only RM 2.
Levain Italian Restaurant at Imbi
The decoration inside the restaurant is done tastefully, with pretty window curtains, cute little chairs, tables, and bits of beautiful brickworks too. The place really looks like something plucked straight out of Lygon street in Melbourne. The ambiance is really good.
Seafood aglio olio
LeVain is a bit of a partially self-service restaurant. You order at the counter, get your drinks and a number for your food after payment. Some 10 minutes or so later, the friendly servers will have your food at the table. This also means that if you have a table more than a few orders, food can arrive seemingly at random intervals.
My suggestion is to order together, or don’t wait for everyone’s food to arrive before eating.
teriyaki beef sandwich, potato salad, tomato soup
The best thing about LeVain tho, is the value you get. Most dishes are priced below RM 10, with only a few (such as seafood pasta at RM 12.50) slightly over the red colored bill. They serve free water too, so you’re not always obligated to order drinks either.
more spaghetti, Mychelle, KY, Queen, Horng, Winnie, Terence
As for the food, well, they aren’t top notch but they do hold up pretty well compared to restaurants that typically charges at least 50% more. I liked my seafood spaghetti and took a bite of the terriyaki beef sandwich which tasted pretty nice too.
Serving size at LeVain is smaller than almost everywhere else outside Penang, but hey, eating a smaller main dish leaves room for dessert and maybe a starter too right?
LeVain is opened for lunch and dinner. My experience is strictly from one Friday lunch visit, so dinner might be completely different. Cheers!
Address:
Levain Boulangerie Patisserie
Jalan Delima,
55100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.14664, 101.72061
Tel: 03-2142 6611
Cafe Italia must be one of the most uncreative names for an Italian restaurant to assume, especially one that is tucked in a small lane connected to the little Italy of Melbourne, Lygon Street. Fortunately, it is also one that serves up very good authentic Italian cuisine in for pretty reasonable prices.
alfresco dining at Cafe Italia when weather permits
Incidentally, this is also one of Mell‘s housemates, Jun Wei’s favorite Italian restaurant in Melbourne. The eatery is located on a rather small 1-way University Street (between Melbourne University and Carlton Garden) and only has a small 3′x3′ sign on the outside. Pretty easy to miss especially since the place sorta look like a green house from the outside during cooler months.
Together with Zehan (who also needs a bf, a good Muslim boy perhaps?), the four of us went there in the middle of April during my last trip to Melbourne.
spaghetti frutti di mare (seafood), fish special (barramundi)
The restaurant has three different area, conventional dining, private rooms, and court yard (which, as mentioned, converts to green house like area when it’s colder). Interior is tastefully decorated with a bar, wine racks, and plenty of plants. Very comfortable and yet not overly done.
The menu is not any different from most Italian restaurants, offering pasta, beef, lamb, fish, pizza, and of course, a variety of appetizers, desserts, and wine.
lamb chop, rigatoni ragu (pasta with eggplant)
I ordered the lamb special ($27.90)- a generous piece of char grilled lamb chop marinated with lemon and wine served on pea mash. The meat was tender, juicy, and the taste of the lemon and red wine marinate was just right. I was so glad I ordered it. The pea mash was interesting and I actually liked it better than mashed potato by quite a bit.
Mell had the pesce del giorno (fish special $28.90)) – a piece of barramundi (I think) fillet served with fire roasted peppers, brocolini, and lime saffron sauce. The seafood was fresh and sauce went well with the whole combination, no complains at all there.
Jun Wei, KY, Mell, Zehan
Zehan and Jun Wei had the rigatoni ragu (spaghetti with eggplant, $17.90) and spaghetti frutti di mar (seafood spaghetti $22.90) with both of them expressing approval for their dishes in terms of taste as well as presentation.
Comparing to the more student friendly (budget wise) places such as Cafe Notturno, Cafe Italia is 30-50% pricier, but if you look into the place, service, as well as food quality and taste factor, then it is a very worth while place to visit.
At the end, our bill came to just a bit less than $100 for the four of us (we only ordered water). Dollar to dollar, an excellent value don’t you think? Now I think I might need to go back there again for the next Melbourne trip.
Address:
Cafe Italia
56/66 University St,
Carlton Victoria 3053,
Australia
GPS: -37.799366,144.967926
Tel: +613 9347 0638
Website: cafeitalia.com.au
The first time I went to d’italiane kitchen at Jaya 33 was actually more than half a year ago when I was still working in my previous company at PJ. I’ve since visited this place quite a few times but somehow haven’t gotten around to post about it.
Well, there is no better time than now.
The last time I visited this classy Italian restaurant at Jaya 33 was on the 11th January, a date that is rather significant for it was the first time Mellissa and I went out (I had used the excuse of needing her help in doing the U Mobile advertorial, and fortunately she was a very willing victim)
Mell studying the menu
d’italiane kitchen is located on the ground floor of Jaya 33, right next to Bruno’s, and a few shops away from the Nagomi Shabu Shabu. The restaurant has a pretty nice alfresco dining area over looking Jalan Semangat as well tastefully decorated indoor seatings.
Angel hair with Scallops, my favorite!
Angel hair with scallops has always been one of my favorite pasta dishes, if you recall, I’ve even cooked it before. I tend to order them whenever the chances arise, and did so on this particular occasion.
The dish come with four pieces of very good size scallops that is slightly cooked, just like the way scallops are meant to be served. The angel hair pasta has the right flavor and proper garnish, not something over the top but fresh and complimentary to the overall taste.
Spicy Crab Meat Linguine
The spicy crab meat linguine was equally tasty. Pine nuts and cherry tomatoes mixed with decent amount of spicy crab meat, a slightly unorthodox taste in pasta but a pretty good one. Mellissa gave it at thumb up.
Other than the two dishes here, I’ve also had their Agli Scampi (prawn pasta that is cooked similar to the angel hair scallop) and one of their chocolate cakes. The food quality held up pretty well over the few visits.
faster snap this picture so that I can have my scallop!
I find prices at this outfit pretty reasonable, pastas are priced from RM 18.90 (bolognaise, alio olio) to RM 25.90 (scallop, salmon), desserts from RM 12.90.
The menu is pretty big, you have some ten starters and half a dozen soups and salad to choose from as well. Give it a try!
Adress:
Jaya 33,
No. 3, Jalan Semangat,
Seksyen 13,
46200 PJ, Selangor
GPS: 3.110274, 101.637139
Tel: 03-7986 2330
