Jojo Italian Restaurant at the Tropicana

It was SP's birthday, so naturally he had the choice of restaurants. And he sure got taste, for he picked this classy and exclusive Italian place.

The Jojo Italian Restaurant is located in the Tropicana golf club in Petaling Jaya.

It is a nice sassy restaurant. I was a little awed when I stepped into the place. It was very elaborately adorned with tasteful furnitures, furnishings and ornaments, and very skilful arrangements of lightings. The atmosphere was one of cozy sophistication.

They have a terrace dining area - kind of semi-alfresco. But the view outside was not great - looking at the main clubhouse entrance and car park. I don't think I like dining in the midst of car noise and exhaust.

I prefer the main dining hall - quiet and comfortable, and totally conducive for a nice meal. 

They have some nice isolated tables for private functions. We were allocated one.

Dinner started with some appetisers. We shared some Bruschetta Con Pomodori. It was toasted bread with cherry tomato mixed in rock salt, fresh basil, garlic, parmigiano (parmesan) cheese and olive oil. The baguette was crustily fresh and tomato was delicious. It was a most pleasant starter. 

We also shared a Pizza Biana. It had eggplants, olive, tomato, plenty of salad rocket - seasoned with balsamic vinaigrette, olive oil and grated parmigiano cheese. Because of the vinaigrette, most of the family found it too sour. But I liked it. It was in fact a pretty good pizza. Their loss was my delightful gain. I had more than my fair share of the pizza.

After the starters, we had some soup. This was the seafood soup - a rich and spicy combination of fresh seafood with tomato. In it was squid, shrimps, clams and a good flavour of various spices.

The Crema Di Funghi was the mushroom soup. It was a combination fresh mushroom and herbs. As the name suggested, it was creamy, smooth and very delicious.

After the soups, our entrees started to arrive. The wait was efficiently minimal. My selection was this Spaghetti Con Frutti Di Mare. It was a pasta marinara with seafood - squid, shrimps, clamps and mussels - in a traditional tomato based sauce. It was not spectacular. In such a classy Italian place, I guess I made a rather mundane choice. But the seafood was fresh and the pasta texture was perfect. 

The birthday boy had the Salmon Alla Griglia. The fish was lightly grilled; served with a tomato and lemon sauce with some potato and salad.

This was the Spaghetti Pesto with Scallops. The pesto sauce is a combination of crushed basil leaves, pine nut, garlic, parmesan cheese and olive oil.

The T-bone Steak looked sad, but according to Crystal, it was very good. There were not much frills, just some potato below the steak, served with black pepper sauce. But the meat was tender and  the sauce complemented it nicely.

The Salmon Fettuccini had smoked salmon in a rich tomato sauce, sprinkled with some fresh basil leaves.

My wife's choice was this grilled cod in a saffron clam sauce. It was a good size fish served with some potato and salad. The cod was very fresh and absolutely delicious. 

As if the above were not enough, we also shared this large Jojo's (house) Pizza. It was a great pizza, with mushrooms, eggplant, olive, chicken and mozzarella cheese. I particularly liked the crust - crispy and yummy.

Dessert was SP's cake. It was a fruit and jelly cake - very appropriate after such a heavy meal. The waiters provided the plates and forks, and helped with the picture taking.

Jojo is great place - good food and fantastic ambiance. And it was not that horribly expensive. The starters and soups were about twenty-over bucks each, the entrees were thirty plus each and the large Jojo's Pizza was only RM38. The most expensive dish of the evening was the cod (understandably as it is a most expensive fish) at RM65. Certainly it is a place to return to.