Eat Drink KL: Say Cheese @ Delucca

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Say Cheese @ Delucca

Delucca has seen its ups and downs through the years, but it's cultivated a faithful following to help keep it afloat. This stylishly cozy, irrepressibly inviting Italian restaurant recently reinvented its menu, promising new recipes worth savoring on a Friday night with friends.

We tried to work a cheese theme into this visit, kicking off with a fascinatingly constructed salad, comprising thick slices of Parmesan cheese layered with Belgian endives and fennel, slicked up with what seemed like balsamic vinegar for a tart pungency.

 Burratina Pugliese cheese has become a firm favorite in KL over the past eight months, surfacing repeatedly in restaurants from Trattoria Il Porcellino (where we first had it in September) to Bistro a Table, Acme at The Troika to Estate at The Intermark. Delucca places divine dollops of this soft cheese on crostini, pleasurably partnered with brown butter and asparagus.

Ricotta cheese with corzetti pasta and aubergines in tomato sauce, a creamy-tangy treat. Fans of freshly made pasta, take note: Delucca began offering everything from tagliatelle to maltagliati for takeaway purchases starting May 7, besides incorporating these into its a la carte menu.

Pizza lovers might want to check out Delucca for its new wood-fire grill and use of Caputo flour to create pizzas that seem simultaneously crispy and fluffy. Keeping our meat-free streak here intact, this one is topped with mascarpone cheese and asparagus.

A complimentary pizza (thanks!), richly topped with buffalo mozzarella, tomato and basil.

Cheese platter, comprising scarmoza, gorgonzola, pecorino and parmesan, with toast and candied fruit mostarda. Proving there's no such thing as too much cheese if it's all good cheese, we managed to finish everything on this board.

Thanks to its mascarpone content, we managed to try this tiramisu while still ensuring all our food featured cheese. As good as a non-alcoholic version gets, but a boozy one would be better.

No cheesy beverages (now there's a thought!), but there's fruity juices.

Caipirinha and Tequila Sunrise cocktails.

Earlier entries on Delucca: March 5, 2009 and August 2, 2009.

Wait, we're not finished! A wise man once said, "without the cow, there can be no cheese." Contemplating these profound words, we traveled to Acme Bar and Coffee to have a cow (or at least part of it) to complement all this cheese.

Acme has added a RM69++ posh burger to its menu, bristling with sliced tenderloin, rib-eye and Wagyu cheeks. It's a brilliant beef burger, built with real meat to assuage masculine appetites.

Beef bourguignon, braised with red wine, makes for a hearty, robust-tasting supper.

A full-flavored French recipe like beef bourguignon warrants a flirty French Martini (Hendrick's, framboise, fresh muddled pineapple).

Blood and Sand cocktail (whiskey, martini bianco, cherry brandy, orange).
Earlier entries on Acme: Dec. 2, 2011, Dec. 5, Dec. 7, Dec. 15, Dec. 18 and Feb. 11.

Delucca @ One Residency,
Jalan Nagasari, Off Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2144-6545