Dining Out @ Leonardo's, Jalan Bangkung, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur

my favourite peppers

I like how some outlets just come to their own given some time. Take for instance, Leonardo's along the quiet suburbs of Bangsar - not a very new place as they opened their doors since 2009 but the food is so freakingly good that you just want to revisit it again and again. It's a far cry from those new places that open, serve mediocre food and have teething problems in terms of service and etc. Believe me, I sometimes wade through a lot of places (newbies I call them) that just don't make the cut (or satisfy the tummy) or warrant even a bad mention here.

simple but lovely Ranjit's pasta, black pig shoulder loin steak

I'm enthusiatic about Leonardo's purely because it has not dissapointed me yet even after two visits and I hope it won't let me down for future visits. Judging from the positive blog reviews that pepper the whole Google search, I guess I'm not the only person shouting my approval.


share this pork knuckle platter

My absolute favourite dish here - a must-have whenever we dine here are the amazingly good Spanish piquillo peppers (RM25) stuffed with black truffle fragranced pork mince served with salsa verde dressing and lashings of creamy sauce. It's drizzled with a reduced balsamic vinegar that seems to bring all the flavours together. Gorgeous stuff that I never tire of eating!!

super crispy pizza, chorizo sausage with rosti

Great for sharing with lots of equally minded gastronomes is the Leo's Pork Knuckle Platter (RM75) - a hefty portion of crispy skinned pork knuckle cut to pieces with a crunchy crackling, a bacon stuffing, red saukerkraut and garlic herbed potatoes. It is served with a mushroom sauce that didn't seem to match the pork knuckle's flavours. However, the thickish apple sauce served on the side was a heavenly match with the chunky tender pork bits. They even give you the bone that one of my friends found simply yummy - right down to the last bite.

fried hokkien noodles

In a recent dinner, it was a smorgasboard of porky delights - grilled portobello mushrooms topped with bacon (the real stuff okay!), cheese and tomato (RM22), bacon, potato and apple rosti with grilled chorizo sausage (RM38), fried hokkien noodles (RM25), iberico pineapple pork ribs (RM45), with Ranjit's pasta (RM30) and the big breakfast pizza topped with bacon, egg, mushroom and tomatoes. While the grilled mushrooms, rosti, ribs and fried noodles didn't have the wow factor, it was still very satisfying. I loved the clean yet tasty flavour combination of the bacon bits, chilli padi, garlic and mushroom in the Ranjit's pasta - named after solicitor Ranjit Singh, one of the owners of Leonardo's whom I had the pleasure of working with before long long ago in a case. Pizza here is made by a magic number denoted by the great Leonardo Da Vinci who gave the world the Mona Lisa, great inventions including crispy thin pizzas!


desserts galore: bread and butter pudding, apple with fillo pastry, brownie and mousse with vodka strawberries

On an earlier visit, I had sampled their Spanish black pig shoulder loin steak (RM55) served with a picon blue risotto and mustard sauce. While the meat was pinkish and fork-tender, I felt it had a strong porky smell when eaten without its sauce. Once you liberally coat it with the mustard sauce, it is fine. We also tried Chef Vic's Wedge Salad - crisp cabbage served with even crunchier bacon, smoked pimento and picon blue dressing - a refreshing start to a heavy meal even though the blue cheese dressing was a little sparse (we asked for more and it was fine after that).



Even with the tummies filled with porky delights, we had room for desserts - didn't someone I know once mention we have a seperate compartment for those sweet treats? Let me see, we had the dark chocolate and walnut brownie with a scoop of Haagen Daz ice cream, banana bread and butter pudding with a warm rum sauce and ice cream and baked apple with fillo pastry and cinnamon creme. I liked the light baked apple, loved the moreish tasting banana bread and butter pudding but was not much of a fan for the brownie even though it was chocolate. Another item we tried before is the dark and white chocolate mousse served with vodka macerated strawberries (RM22) - a concoction that seemed to lack much oomph even though the alcohol drenched strawberries was a nice touch.

Overall, it was a very satisfying meal coupled with excellent service. Will I be back? Definitely so I reckon, for another round of my favourite piquillo peppers, another porky flavour hit and maybe some Kentucky fried frog - an interesting dish they have on the menu that I have been curious to try or some good old tummy warming bak kut teh.

Leonardo's
61-1 and 61-2
Jalan Bangkung
Bukit Bandaraya
Bangsar
Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2096 2226

(Non Halal. Open for dinner only. For more pictures, see my Flickr set.)

*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: Bangsar