Verona Trattoria

The Verona Trattoria is a chic Italian restaurant owned and operated by a Mat Salleh-Malaysian couple in Section 17, PJ. We were there for a small family dinner. I didn't even know this place existed. I guess it opened its door not too long ago.

It is located on Jalan 17/54, in a small commercial area beside Taman Lee Yan Lian. I used to know this area very well. Had not been there for a while and the 2 small rows of shophouses have certainly changed a lot. There are a few other new makan places, one of which I think is Japanese. I have to go back there to cari makan (look for food) soon.

The inside of the restaurant, to me, was rather gaudy. I didn't like the red colour scheme. Not at all cool. The lightings were somehow inadequate - not dim but inappropriate. The art pieces on the wall were also somehow out of place. If they were all meant to make the place cosy, I think they had failed

But we were there for the food. I heard they serve some awesome Italian meals. The menu looked interesting. They had the full Italian works - pastas, risotto, pizzas, salad, soup and plenty of meats. And they were not terribly expensive.

For starters, we shared a caesar salad, with generous amount of bacon and a good french dressing. It was nice. The leaves were crisp and fresh.

The quatro pizza was very considerately done. It was 4 flavours in a single pizza. If you are the type to eat a whole pizza alone, this would be very nice to break the monotony. But we are the sharing type. So we don't get to sample all the 4 tastes. And by the way, the pizza was good. The crust was thin and and crispy. The toppings were generous and the flavour was just nice.

We shared one other pizza. I don't remember what it was called. It had the normal pepperoni, and vegetables toppings. Like the quatro, it was very good.

This spaghetti aglio olio was superb. It was definitely one of the best spaghetti I have tasted in Malaysia. The texture of the pasta was perfectly al dente. It was done absolutely right - not the least overcooked or soggy. The flavour was delicious. The herbs were just right.

This was saffron risotto with mushroom. I normally do not fancy risotto too much. My preference is that if I wanted to eat rice, I would opt for the Asian way. But this risotto wasn't too bad. Of course, the rice was soggy. But the flavour, probably because of the saffron, was quite Asian and delicious.

I didn't quite like this lamb shank. I thought the meat was rather soft and overdone. And the sauce was rather smothering with too much flavours. I couldn't get the actual flavour of the meat.

This roast pork belly was a lot better. The skin was delightfully crispy. The meat was tender. The sauce was light - complementing the meat rather than overpowering it. But the serving was small. There were 6 of us and we had to be contented with a small share.

We asked for garlic bread. And again, there wasn't quite enough to go round.

Desserts, like the other dishes, were shared. We had this chocolate cheese cake, which was okay but not great.

Neither was this pudding.

This tiramisu in a cup was the last of our dishes. By then, I had too much in my tummy to be interested. I gave it a skip...

... preferring this simple cup of coffee instead.

The Verona Trattoria is not a bad place at all for a reasonably priced good Italian meal. The dishes were quite authentic. I wondered where the mat salleh owner originated. He was rather scruffy, spoke without any non-English accent. I think he has everything in a good Italian restaurant. But he needed a good interior decorator.