d’Italiane Kitchen @ Sunway Giza

When restaurants are particular about diners taking pictures of the food, I would normally assume two things.

1) The food is so good that they want to prevent people from copying the ideas.

2) The restaurant owner is just uptight.

At d’Italiane Kitchen, it’s the latter. While they claimed to serve “excellent contemporary Italian fine dining fare with a revolutionary twist”, I found some of the dishes a revolutionary disaster. rif’s Smoked Duck Aglio Olio was one of the better tasting dishes that night. Tossed with slivers of duck breast, mushroom slices and olive oil, it tasted pretty decent with a few cracks of black pepper on top. I liked that the chef was pretty generous with the duck slices and mushroom. His mum had the Fettuccine Alfredo Salmon, which was so creamy, even I found it cloying. I like it when chefs are generous with the ingredients, but this was WAY too generous in terms of cream. Jumbo Lamb Shank was a disappointment. The brown sauce was too bland to mask the gaminess of the lamb. While the lamb was falling off the bone, the meat was surprisingly dry. I suspect the lamb shank was precooked, and reheated again when orders are placed. Mash potatoes and vegetables were hardly worth mentioning. I didn’t try the Merluzzo with Creamy Lemon Dill Sauce, but the person who ordered it said it was decent. Portion looked quite small though. Salmone Gamberi was much tastier than my lamb shank. The salmon was stuffed with prawns and eggplant, and served on a bed of creamed spinach and boiled potatoes at the side. I quite liked the lemon cream sauce – lightly creamy with a hint of lemon and herbs. Poultry Platter was the worst dish that night. Everything was either dry, stringy or bland. The breaded chicken was too dry to swallow, and no amount of brown sauce could save this dish. I didn’t order desserts because I’ve had enough disappointment with the mains.

I don’t have the receipt with me, but the bill came up to about RM350 for 8 of us. Service was a hit and miss – my waiter was nice, but the waitress who gave us the menu was uninterested and agitated. I don’t think I would go back anytime soon. Ambiance: 6.5/10
Price: 5/10
Food: 4/10 (pork-free)
Verdict: Depending on what you order, you’d either like it, or hate it.

Lot F.10, Sunway Giza,
Sunway Damansara,
Kota Damansara,
47810 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan.
03-6148 1828