no Mafia spotted at "The Godfather"'s bar
"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse"....says the Godfather (or Il Padrino in Italian). Fans of Marlon Brando and that iconic movie will remember that famous line (voted the second most memorable movie quote in cinema history). At this newly opened restaurant in the middle of Damansara Heights, Godfather fans will feel incredibly at home. There are posters of Brando in his famous movie persona, quotes from the movie and its sequels including one from The Sopranos in the menu but don't worry, there's no Mafia ongoings here (as far as we can see). Instead it is all about good Italian food here.
1. Brando would be proud here to call this part of his empire, 2. braised pork shank, which we would prefer with a teeny weeny little more fat, 3. well seasoned insalata e ruccola, 4. glass of house pinot grigio blush for the night
Dinner here was a toss up between Leonardo's on Jalan Bangkung and this place. Reading the reviews online, we settled on this place as the home made spinach ravioli sounded good. Parking was relatively easy at night, since space could be found around the street in front of the restaurant. I vaguely remember visiting a famous law firm starting with S in this building before and parking used to be horrendous there. This place combines a bar and restaurant tucked within. On a Friday night, it had a pretty decent crowd dining here.
the gorgeous home made ravioli ai spinaci drizzled with butter sauce and sage
Despite it being relatively full, service was very attentive (the nice waiter was informative and kept asking if everything was fine). The menu had salads, appetizers, homemade pasta, dried pasta, main dishes, pizzas and desserts. Not wanting to follow the Italian style of having a pasta for primi (first course) and a main course for seconds (secondi), we decided to share a nice crisp salad - the Insalata e Ruccola (RM18), a pasta and main meal from the daily specials. The simple rocket, button mushroom, cherry tomato and parmesan salad was well seasoned (every leaf seemed to be sprinkled with salt and pepper). I especially liked the reduced balsamic vinegar dressing drizzled over the leaves - so much better than the balsamic and olive oil dip they gave with the sliced bread and grissini (bread sticks).
red rules the sweet endings here, 1. pannacotta that failed to make the cut, 2. sfogliatine di mille for a crunchy finish
Missing out on their popular dish - the roast belly pork from the board specials, we settled for the braised pork shank (RM45). While the dish had a nice red wine flavour to it, we didn't care much for the meat that lacked enough fat to give it a melt in the mouth texture. Seems the chef used a very young pig for this meal for a healthier alternative but somehow, we preferred the sinful avenue instead since it would have tasted better. We fared so much better with the ravioli filled with spinach (RM32) and served with a butter sauce infused with sage leaves. Only 6 pieces to share between both of us (not a lot I know but enough since it is so blardy rich!) that we both loved and slowly savoured each bite. Yums to the last morsel of green coloured pasta! It definitely piqued my interest to return here to try their other home made pastas - the saffron pasta, the squid ink ones and etc. (My friend went back last night with another group of people and they also loved the food here, so I guess it wasn't just a one-night-fluke).
For desserts, rather than go for the traditional tiramisu or the chocolate fondant (which I thought is more French??), we went for the pannacotta (RM18). My friend who is a pannacotta expert deemed this not worthy since it had a little too much gelatine to qualify for the crown of greatness. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it with the strawberry sauce. Weirdly enough, we also went for another red dessert - the average tasting multi-layered filo pastry dotted with strawberries concoction known as the sfogliatine di mille (RM18).
Overall, a pleasant dining experience here with attentive service. Like I mentioned earlier, one would not mind returning here for another plate of homemade pasta. My only complaint about this place was the music was quite weird - a medley of 1980s songs played a little too loud for my liking as it felt just a decible lower than pub music. While I don't hate 1980s music, I found it a little weird to dine on Italian ravioli while listening to Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue belt out their tunes.
Il Padrino
Unit No. 50-G-1
Ground Floor
Wisma UOA Damansara
Damansara Heights
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 - 2093 8596
(Non Halal. To get here, from Sprint highway, when on Jalan Semantan, take a left turn at the Wisma UN building and you will see the restaurant on the right hand side.)
*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. This review is time sensitive; changes may occur to the place later on that can affect this opinion. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from this place for writing the review.
Tagged with: Italian Food + Kuala Lumpur
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18 comments:
erm. i don't think this place is pork free if they have roast belly pork as their special and braised pork shank as well. unless you don't have to pay for these dishes-lah.
pity bout the panna cotta. i like them gelatinous though, but must be smooth enough.
Eng Choon - thxs for pointing that out. Changed already. The perils of writing late at nite when you're abt to go to sleep.
j2kfm - I like them smooth and just soft to the bite. This one was ok but not fantastic.
Why do I have a habit of reading food blogs in the morning. Makes me hungry only. Great find by the way.
I should start blogging back about KL food again. soon.
monkey - what is this abt tongues and etc! Naughty boy. LOL, I'm hungry too since I just woke up. Yes, pls blog abt KL food - nom nom nom.
The ravioli looks enticing...
*echoes qwazymonkey's sentiment*
Must stop reading food blogs in the morning...heheh
haha passed by the place this morning to go to the same block as ur famous "s" law firm to collect a cheque..
not open..but saw the famous phrase
wanted to bring my friend to this place sometime ago since she's a Godfather fan; looks pretty good..guess its time to pop over..
ravioli looks fantastic. EWW to jason donovan! puke:P
maybe the owner is a big fan of the 80s leh... but I agree that the choice of music is not compatible with the whole setting :)
Damansara Heights is one area which I have yet to explore
unkaleong - tummy now appeased with lunch from the canteen so now I can reply comments. LOL, always a bad idea to review food blogs in the morning.
Joe - ooooh, so nice they gave you a cheque??? Too bad it was not open yet or else you can spend all that monies here.
sc - she'll love the godfather quotes in the menu and pixs I reckon.
ciki - LOL, reminds me of neighbours that I used to be subjected to during olden days!
leo - dsara heights is nice, quieter place esp at nite. Daytime everything is so chaotic with the lack of carpark spaces here and offices.
I'm salivating all over my keyboard. The ravioli looks absolutely to die for. How well did the house Pinot Grigio pair with the creamy stuff? Decadent stuff served at that place. Thanks for info.
the Pinot grigio didn't go that well though, a little too sweet for my liking. Would have been better with a dryer wine I reckon but still the ravioli has me licking my lips esp after a horrible fried rice from the canteen.
luvv tht pic wth the filling of the ravioli "sticking out"..kinda like taunting me "eat mee eat meee...i'm all bursting with flavours.." ;p
Thanks for the tip. OK... Now that calls for at least two types of wine. Good excuse to get tipsy now!
Jason/Kylie Eh? Pity they don't have a website, will definitely complain about that to the management. Kinda hard imagine the mafioso dining with "I should be so lucky" playing in the background. They would have popped the restaurateur.
Have yet to encounter the ultimate O word dinner. Perfect dinner companion/food/wine/service/ambiance/music/poetry? combo. Always a mismatch somewhere. Ha ha ha...
nomad gourmand - yes, it's also tempting me to come back, come back! I wanted the squid ink pasta but my friend said not so fantastic, seems the rigatoni is better.
paranoid android - definitely needed more wine but nowadays when you have to drive, it's safer to stick to one glass. oooh, I also forgot to mention they offer grappa (my fav lighter fuel drink!) for RM22 per shot here. Yeah, choice of music was a little weird to say the least. I reckon perfect dinners don't exist, they're just mirages!
This place is confused. Firstly it has a deluded concept of "el-fresco" as even the diners inside the restaurant, who should have the luxury of air conditioning, are also forced to dine in the humid, polluted and stuffy Malaysian air.
The waiters and waitresses are well trained to be as annoying as possible. Yesterday, we had 4 different people ask us if we were okay, or if we would like more drinks in a span of 5 minutes. I felt like I was a patient in an emergency room.
Another time, there was a mutated fly in my beer and when I asked them to sort the problem out, my beer came back with the fly removed, but half my beer gone as well and the waiter's fingerprints on the inside of the pint glass as a kind souvenier. Obviously that fly was fished out with the waiter's fingers.
Pictures of Marlon Brando doesn't amplify the authenticity of your italian restaurant.
If you want good italian food, without an army of daft waiters and waitresses harrassing you, nero feco is 20 paces across the street.
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