Nerovivo

Had my Christmas dinner at Nerovivo this year since mum was back and she likes Italian...

As usual they serve the customary bread which in this case was really customary as it wasn't anything special...

Then we ordered the Antipasto casalingo di terra per due o quattro persone (2 persons) which consisted of Vitello tonnato, beef carpaccio, zucchini parmigiana, tomato caprese, smoked duck. Surprisingly although the platter looked a tad messy it was quite good... the beef carpaccio was fresh, the zucchini parmigiana was a tasty combination of flavours, the tomato caprese was pretty normal. I didnt quite care for the duck, it tasted okay but nothing great and the vitello tonnato was a tad too drenched with the sauce for such thin slices but it did taste quite good after you scrape some of the sauce off.



:) I like the fact that a small pot of chilli flakes were placed on our table... I like them with my pizza.



Next item we ordered was the Pizza Quattro Stagioni which was a quartet with tomato, mozzarella, turkey ham, beef pepperoni, mushrooms, artichoke. I am not an artichoke fan so I shall not comment on that since I didn't eat that quarter. The crust was not the standard thin crust that quite a number of places serve but it wasn't too thick as to taste too much of crust and not enough topping. The 3 other quarters were simple but tasted good.



We then ordered a special of the day which was a Tagliatelle with White Truffle Sauce which was essentially a simple brown truffle flavoured sauce served over handmade tagliatelle finished off with a few shavings of white truffle. The taste was pretty subtle and a tad too muted for me. Perhaps I have a preference for more bold flavours but this was just a moderate dish for me. I also prefer the taste of black truffles to white so maybe that's why I wasn't jumping with joy over this dish.

Our last main for the night was the Risotto ai porcini con scaloppa di fegato grasso e spuma al Reggiano which was Porcini mushroom risotto with seared foie gras and parmesan foam. It was also topped with some white truffle shavings. The risotto actually tasted quite good but its falling grace was that the it was a tad too al dente to our taste. It could use a couple minutes more on the stove and maybe a couple of ladle of broth to get it the right texture but it was still pretty good tasting.



For desserts I was the only one with some space left so I ordered a Martini ai quattro cioccolati which was described to be four different type of chocolate in martini glass. I personally only taste 2 and of the 2, one was really bad. The top layer was a chocolate mousse combined with a panna cotta which I felt had too much gelatin making to too chewy and just yuck. The based a chocolate cake/brownie which was a bit too dry. All in all the dessert was bad.

The meal definitely started on a good note but ended not so great and this was disappointing considering I was there a few weeks prior to christmas and I enjoyed my meal hence the decision to have our christmas dinner there... Dishes to try if you do go is would be the pappardelle with lamb ragout (only if you dont mind the taste of lamb as it is quite apparent) and the seafood pizza both of which were good the last time I tried.

Nerovivo

3a Jalan Ceylon,
50200 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-20703120

Favola

*Update*

Erm... just got a call from my fren BP, and the complimentary wine was not exactly complimentary... It was compliments from him... the restaurant botched up the order along with a cake which was suppose to appear. Apparently they decided to just use the cake my sis bought... Hmm... no wonder the service was so good... hahaha!! Now I got to re-think my re-visit.

Anyway, thank you BP!!! It was a really nice gesture eventhough it kinda got lost in transition... :)

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Yups... I turned 29 yesterday.... my last year in my twenties... I am officially aging...hahah!! Luckily there are still ppl who mistaken me for being younger than I really am... :)

This year my family decided to go to Favola in Le Meridien Hotel to celebrate my birthday... The place looks more like a Jester's court than an italian restaurant but oh well...

Upon taking our seats the waitress asked whether we would like to have wine as it was complimentary. We could not believe our ears and asked again... Complimentary? and she said yes! How odd, it rarely happens in Malaysia... but anyhow we decided to pass on it...

Now here begins the food... Of course we had the customary bread... bread was quite good...the dip was not as good as the spread in Prime but not too bad either.. :)

Then came the starters... We ordered Garlic and Thyme Roasted Portobello served with Spinach and Lombardi Tellegio Cheese... When it came it looked like oysters to me... doesnt it? and the taste was nowhere near a mushroom...the pile of spinach and cheese on it overpowered the mushroom totally... I was not a happy camper... Come on... I like my mushrooms, mushroomy!!

Luckily they redeemed themselves with the next appetizer. Fritto Mistro de Mare which was basically deepfried seafood with a spicy tomato dip... This was good..the sauce tasted really good and they had a combination of calamari, prawns, fish and scallops..Next my sis wanted the Zuppa de Pesce ala Marinara which was a seafood with saffrom soup... Urrrgghhh... I did not like it..it was waaaay too clamy tasting for me but my sis liked it so oh well.. to each its own... :)Then came our mains...First up was Bianco Pizza which was sauteed beef strips with wild mushroom and this was pretty good I must say... my mum liked this dish the most... It had good flavours...

We also ordered the Risotto ai Funghi Selvatici e Parmigianno which is risotto with wild mushroom and permesan cheese... This was quite good too.. texture of the risotto was spot on but they were a tad too heavy handed with the cheese in my opinion....

Last main of the nite was the Manzo e Patate Ravioli which was essentially braised beef and potato ravioli served with smoked black truffle butter sauce... I liked this dish... I thought the texture of the pasta was good and the filling was nice albeit the potato was a bit too crunchy for potatoes...

and lastly we ordered the famous Illy Coffee Tiramisu... this was the ultimate disappointment... It was really not good... It just made me miss the tiramisu in Neroteca... :( they really should not say it is their speciality when it doesnt taste all too great...

I need to tell you this story before I proceed... somewhere towards the end of the meal the waitress came up to us again and said... "would you like me to pack the wine to go? We can put it in a bag for you to take home" and we were like thinking .... Wow! they are really desperate to let us have the wine... It was virtually like forcing it down our throats... They must have never had anyone said no to a complimentary wine...hahahaha!! So we said yes... Just an additional bottle for us to bring for house warming parties then... :D

So back to my birthday celebration.. when the tiramisu came we were stuffed... we had actually decided not to cut the cake and just bring it home but lo behold while we were having our tiramisu the manager and a few of the staff came over with the cake and sang me a birthday song..that was really nice and unexpected... Top marks for service definitely!! :D Thoughout the nite they were pretty attentive but this was one step up from just be attentive.. They were proactive... :D For that itself, I might just come back and try the other things on the menu... Since the dinner had some hits and some misses..

Favola

Le Meridien Hotel

Kuala Lumpur