Italiannies Christmas Menu 2014 @ Pavilion KL

Italianese. Italianeese. Italianesse. Italiannies. Chances are, you will never be able to spell it right the first time.

Italiannies

When I stepped into Italiannies that evening, I was welcomed by sights of rustic Italian charm.

Mahogany flooring and furnishings, dark leather seats, sepia-toned photographs and frames, chalkboard scribbles, exposed brick walls, dangling light bulbs, accentuated by the mellow sounds of easy listening music playing in the background. Not forgetting the blue Christmas tree right at the center of the room of course. Oddly, the ambiance reminded me a little of a speakeasy bar, cozy yet too not intimidating.

There's a theme for this year's Christmas at Italiannies - cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, mint and ginger. A harmonious combination of five distinct aromatic spices, forming the recipes of this year's specially crafted festive dishes.

The 3-course dinner menu is priced at Rm45.90++, available only for 3 days, on the 24th, 25th and 26th December 2014. You'd get to choose from:

Appetizer: Smoked salmon carpaccio or Pumpkin & tiger prawn soup
Mains: Chicken roulade or Pan seared Barramundi or Rolled ribeye steak or Softshell crab pasta
Dessert: Eggnog Creme Brulee

The a la carte menu is still available of course, all year round. I was there that evening to sample some of their signature dishes, including their Christmas goodies.

Complimentary Italian Breads.

Smoked Salmon Salad. Rm33.90.

Loaded with smoked salmon, mango and mandarin orange, cream cheese cubes, crisp greens, drizzled in orange vinaigrette dressing. This naturally sweet salad had orient flavors to it and was a great welcome dish all in all.

Spinach & Artichoke Formaggio. Rm34.90.

In the bowl - an addictive, creamy blend of mushrooms and melted fresh cheese, topped with sun dried tomatoes. The plating resembles a crown so to speak, meant for the royalties perhaps.

Spaghetti & Meatballs. Rm59.90.

This picture don't justify how gigantic the plate of spaghetti really is. This simple yet hearty homemade spaghetti marinara is one of Italiannies signature dishes, complimented by four massive meatballs. For me, this was great, but not spectacular.

For a portion meant to be shared between 3-4 persons, I've been told that a guy once ordered this dish and impressively gobbled it down all on his own. For the smaller eaters, there is the piccolo (Rm25.90) and regular (Rm39.90) portions.

We also had a chance to step into the kitchen and watched a pizza-making session.

Takeaways - It would typically take about 6 minutes to fire-up a pizza in its chambers, though this would vary according to temperature and technique. The distinct difference between a standard oven and a wood-fired oven, in which the Paradigm Mall outlet uses, is that the latter produces that nice hint of smokey and charry aroma and taste that we all like. I would definitely want to pay the Paradigm Mall outlet a visit now!

Probably elementary footnotes for some, but it was an educational one for me. The end product looked stunning.

Pizza Enorme. Rm55.90.

My eyes sparkled when I saw shrimp, mushroom and melted cheese. This 16" pizza comes in four varieties - pepperoni, turkey ham and pineapples, shrimp and mushroom and roasted garlic. It's obvious which I liked most.

Pan Seared Barramundi. (In Christmas menu only).

The first thing that caught my attention was that delicate-looking roasted pear! If this was sliced and placed ambiguously onto my plate, I would've thought that it was mashed potato - similar textures and tastes. However, after all the dishes that I had earlier, this was easily forgettable.

Eggnog Creme Brulee. Rm17.90.

Remember the five spices that I was telling you about earlier? Garnished and sprinkled with joy, this vanilla custard pudding embodies this year's Christmas theme. It was very well balanced in flavors and textures.

Tiramisu. Rm21.90.

I have had my fair share of tiramisu (translated as pick-me-up in Italian) in the past, but this was just - beautiful. The best tiramisu I've had to date and also the best seller here to note.

For Italiannies Full Menu Here.

Overall Rating: 8/10. I had a great meal here tonight. The two Christmas dishes that I sampled were nicely done, but nothing beats Italiannies' all time favorite. The dishes that stood out for me would have to be the Pizza Enorme as well as the tiramisu. What sweet ending.

Italiannies is located at:
Address: Lot 6.01.03, Level 6, Pavilion KL No. 168, Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur.
Phone: +603 - 2141 9620
Email: usersupport@italiannies.com.my
Openings Hours: 10am-10pm Daily

Other Italiannies outlets: Paradigm Mall, The Curve, The Gardens, Empire Shopping Gallery and Alamanda Shopping Center.