Restaurant: Avanti Italian American Ristorante, Bandar Sunway, Selangor

The pasta was soft, tender and very fresh. The taste of the minced rabbit meat blended through the pasta, so refined. The sauce from the braised venison enfused the dish further, a very exciting flavour and taste.

Restaurant: Izzi, Bukit Bintang

I like the cozy interior design, like boo_licious said, even the toilet is nice decorated.

Kind of busy lately due to some working and family issues. No time to blog and no time to read other people’s blog, so sorry about that.

I want to do this post quick. Today is my colleague Cindy’s birthday, 5 of us go to Izzi Pizza for a good lunch. The restaurant is located at the junction of Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan Sultan Ismail, it’s easy to spot it when you take KL Monorail. Izzi Pizza is a chain store from Indonesia, this is the first store they venture to Malaysia F&B industry. There is an interview with Izzi Pizza in the Nov~Dec 06 flavours magazine, they also talk about their plan to open few more branch in Malaysia in near future.

“Marinara Pizza – Shrimps, mussels, garlic, chilli, mozarella cheese and tomato, the waitress suggested to add extra cheese but we don’t, otherwise the girls will feel even more guilty after the meal.”

“Ju Hu Char is a nyonya appetizer, stir fried radish, carrot, shitake with ginger sauce, serve with crispy vermicelli, wrap it with lettuce to eat. Some of my colleague do not eat beef, hence no beef in our order.”

“So call Spicy BBQ Chicken is not spicy at all, smoked chicken, onions, coriander leaves and BBQ sauce.”

“Pollo Tropicale are pizza with smoked chicken, mushroom, red bell pepper, pineapple, dried chilli, mozarella cheese and tomato. I must say all the 3 pizza are delicious, thin crust and right combination of ingredients.”

“Spaghetti Carbonara – I must say sorry to my friend who don’t eat beef. The ham is actually smoked beef and I wasn’t aware when ordering. I’m guilty to make them eat that. I usually don’t take spaghetti with white cream sauce because I afraid it’s too creamy, however this spaghetti is just right, the sauce is light enough and yet with nice milky cream taste.”

“Chocolate Dome – Since it’s a birthday meal, so I request for a birthday candle when serving. The waiter and waitress sing her a birthday song! It was a surprise to my colleague. Chocolate Dome is chocolate mousse with a praline crunch base. 2 more dessert I ordered: Chocolate Caramel & Sweet Pleasure ”

Thanks Mei Yen for the information, we enjoy this meal with 60% discount for citibank card holder. Maybank card holder can get 50% discount.

Izzi Pizza, absolutely love it.

Restaurant: Avanti Italian American Ristorante, Bandar Sunway, Selangor

Up Close & Personal With Chef Shan

This time I get to meet up and get close with Chef Shanmuganathan or in short Chef Shan, a passionate man with his cooking especially Italian dishes. One of his unique and distinctive skills is to infuse traditional Italian fovourites with contemporary tastes, resulting in time-honoured recipes bearing novel flavours and modern presentation. I was told that his work was like magic in creating delicious dishes especially the skills he inherited and using only freshest and best quality ingredients enhance his creation even further.

Chef Shan looked at me, smiled and told me this, “It’s all about freshness with a strong sense of harmony in taste, aroma and style.”

Chef Shan had a few achievement in his culinary journey, he had won the Culinaire Malaysia(Federal of Hotels Association) 2005 for Hot Cooking and also the Culinaire Penang(Asia Region) 1995 for Plated Dishes.

Chef Shan performs his cooking creation at Avanti Italian-American Ristorante and for this month he had created a special and seductive menu, the Gourmania (A Trilogy of Flavours) for Avanti during this Malaysia International Gourmet Festival 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . got to say I was very lucky enough to fork myself into Chef Shan’s creation which was very well interpretated and a very togetherness of fine techniques, in creating a novel balance of flavour, visual inspiration and a very pleasurable lunch.

Chef Shan believes by working through every steps in culinary is the best way of being a succesful chef and no short cuts will achieve such a rewarding and satisfying career in life.

When asked about the most adored food, in his reply was “Defintely pasta, . . . such a versatile ingredient and creates a lot of delicious meals, something I adore most, simple yet taste awesome.” When comes to kitchen tools, Chef Shan can’t do without his sets of kitchen knives!

I found out a secret of Chef Shan, he is known for his Maltagliati pasta with rabbit ragout in light beer jus. He churned out flat cut fresh pasta and topped it with rabbit mince meat and braised with light Belgium Beer, sounds awesome delicious to me and I defintely drive myself to taste it one day when he is not busy.

Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa celebrates Gourmania, a trilogy of flavours embodied by exquisite cuisine, exceptional beverages and the finest dance music for the 21st century. Taking centre stage from saturday,1 November to Sunday, 30 November 2008, Gourmania sees three distinct establishments at the Hotel – Avanti Italian-Amrican Ristorante, West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant and Ministry of Sound – EUPHORIA at Sunway Lagoon Resort – converging for a truly irresistible and all embracing gastronomical affair.

				Avanti Italian-American Ristorante, located on the lobby level of Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel, encapsulates a vibrant setting witha welcoming ambience for a pleasuranble, entertaining and homely dining experience.

It was an exciting journey of taste created by Chef Shan, delicious lunch created with fresh interesting ingredients, truely Chef Shan . . . . tasted by Sunny Yaw