BarItalia @ Jalan Berangan, KL

After 4 months of renovation, BarItalia has finally reopened. Ok, I have to admit that I've only been to this place for drinks and I've not tried their menu all these while. So, my friend said to me one day "there's a new chef at BarItalia, wanna try?" and so I agreed. It was always interesting to try new establishments especially this one where it's one of the happening places to hang out at Changkat Bukit Bintang.

Well, I have to admit that I don't see much changes to the restaurant. But as explained to me by Paolo, the owner, he told me that he has moved the kitchen upstairs to the 1st floor and he later plans to make it an open kitchen once he gets things right in place.



There are 3 levels - ground level being a bar and also some tables for dining with a gelato chiller, 1st level - dining and also private functions and the 3rd level being a open rooftop chilling area which can only be booked for a private function. They have a band playing on every Friday too.



We started off with a red wine. When in Italian restaurant, drink an Italian wine! Paolo recommends the Le Volte 2008, a Super Tuscan but our pockets aren't deep enough to afford it! Lol.. Anyways, I've tried that bottle during the Tenuta Dell'Ornellaia dinner and it's a good one.

Paolo & the Cignale 2005

He then recommends that I try the Cignale Colli Della Toscana Centrale 2005. This bottle here is made of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grape varietals from the region of Tuscany. It has a complex aromas of licorice, blackberries and on the palate you can taste the firm chalky tanins with a good finish. At around RM380 a bottle, it's not cheap but it didn't disappoint either.



For starters, I had the Black Angus Carpaccio with wild rocket salad and shaved parmigiano with truffle oil (RM34). It was very nice to have the cheese to go with the beef carpaccio, a different dish from the usual rock melon and jamon serrano. I love the taste of the rocket salad that goes so well with the cheese!



Next up was one of my favourite dishes of all times where most restaurants do not carry. It is the Braised Wagyu beef cheeks with truffle mashed potato (RM68). The dish surely doesn't disappoint as both my friend and I love beef cheeks eversince I tried once in Singapore's Saint Julien. Beef cheeks are muscles on the cow’s face made very dense due to a lifetime of chewing. While they’re too tough for any quick dishes, the dense tissue becomes tender and incredibly flavourful when braised or slow cooked. Thus the cheeks are braised to a soft and tender texture where not much chewing is required! And not forget to mention that the mashed potatoes are of the correct texture - not too gooey and not too rough.



The next mains I had was the Linguine al pesto genovese and tiger prawns (RM34). This pasta don't come piping hot. It's being served cool. This pasta has basil, parsley and cheese flavours to it and it's quite an interesting combination as my usual pasta that I would order would be Spaghetti Aglio Olio.I guess it's good to be adventurous and explore other styles of cooking sometimes.



I seldom would order a dessert but this Gelato chiller with a variety of flavours is really bothering me. I couldn't help but to get a cup (RM7). And since I'm so used to chocolate, I ordered the pistachio gelato instead. What I liked about this is that it's not too light and it's not too creamy as well. If you asked me, I would love a creamy ice-cream. Just forget about the whole fattening issue. If you want to eat ice-cream, that should not be a concern!

I don't know about the old Bar Italia but the new one seemed to be a worthy 2nd visit. And the best of all, my friend came up with this crazy idea. He told Paolo that I am writing a food blog and anyone whom prints this post out will get a 10% discount off the total bill at BarItalia. Well, you can try and see if it works! If it doesn't, look for Paolo!

BarItalia
29 Jalan Berangan
50200 Kuala Lumpur.
(the street behind Changkat Bukit Bintang)
Tel: +603-2144-4499
website

Opening Hours
Kitchen: 12 noon to 12 am
Bar: 9 am to 3 am