This street is steaming up; opening next door to Bistro a Table at Section 17, Verona Trattoria is stirring up a taste of Italy to complement its neighbor's French sensibilities.
Expect the basics here _ simple pastas, pizzas & no-frills fare. If some of the food feels familiar, that could be because Chef Enzo Dente of SS2's Buonasera is Verona Trattoria's consultant chef. Prices are democratically affordable; nearly every dish here costs below RM30.
Potato gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce is a surefire stomach-stuffer; it seems slightly too stodgy, but that describes nearly every gnocchi in KL.
Risotto with beef bacon & pecorino cheese (that's what the menu says). Errmm, what cheese? Still, if you must have carbs, this is far more fun & flavorsome than porridge.
Spinach & cheese ravioli. Insidiously rich & creamy, ensuring that we'll never be able to fit into our mothballed, size-28 jeans anytime soon. Or even 30, at this rate.
Speaking of Bistro a Table, head there this month to sample mind-blowing desserts like this mangosteen pavlova. Ripe morsels of our favorite fruit, resting in a child's sweet fantasy of cotton-candy-sticky meringue accented by Chantilly cream & kaffir-infused candied cucumber.
Profiteroles with Gula Melaka, pandan cream & cracked pink peppercorn. If only the French had colonized Malacca _ instead of the Portuguese or the Dutch _ this might have been something we could have savored all our lives, instead of waiting for chef Isadora Chai to create it only now.
Verona Trattoria @ Section 17,
Jalan 17/54, Petaling Jaya.
Closed Tuesdays.
