Delucca. Jalan Nagasari, KL. Italian Food. Gelato Masquarading as Tartufo.

(no pork served)

This is a tough post. I have always tried to be objective and fair, and I don't recall having panned any restaurant in my blog before. Within the square kilometer of Raja Chulan, right in the heart of KL, the city I call my home for the last 2 years probably has the highest density of Italian Restaurants in Malaysia. From Italian run Trattorias and Enotecas to Italian Pizzerias and Italian-American fast food chains.

Delucca is fairly new, having being opened for only 8 months along a quiet burrow off Jalan Nagasari at the ground floor of One Residency. The interior is simple and chic, and a simple stage for live band performances on weekends. The elevated open kitchen occupies the left side as you enter the restaurant. The menu had been revised and trimmed down, I was told by the waiting staff. "Would you like to try something special you never tried before?", he asked. My interest was piqued. "What's the special dish you would like to recommend?", I asked in return. "Squid ink pasta!". Tagliatelle al nero is hardly exotic. OK. The waiter was from Myanmar. The dish might be exotic and rare in Dawei (Tavoy), but within this square km from Delucca, there is probably an over supply of it.


I started off with the Prawn soufflé, or Souffle di Gamberoni which was a delightful savoury souffle. Although it was not as light as biting into a piece of cloud, it came topped with some carrot cream and some ?pureed zucchini and infused with thyme. The dish was slighly sourish but the flavour of prawns was not lost in the creamy concoction. Lovely start.


Next was the veal, Scallopina al limone e fughi for mains. Naysayers have predicted that earth would run out space for rearing farm animals and cultivating crops pretty soon. If it were possible to rear veal hydroponically one day, I would imagine it to taste like this. The meat was bland and the creamy and sourish lemon sauce overwhelmed the meat. I was not sure if I was eating chicken, pork or veal.


My main grouse and biggest disappointment. The Tartufo. Tartufo (or tartufi in plural) means truffles in Italian. Tartufo as a dessert item however looks like truffles (the shrooms). Usually made of of two different ice creams, it has a heart either of fudge, or fruits and the irregularly shaped lump of gelato is often covered with with chocolate and dusted with pastry crumbles, chocolate powder or cinnamon.

The most famous tartufo in Italy is arguably tartufo di Pizzio. Those who have been to the beautiful and picturesque seaside town of Pizzio Calambra, south Italy, would have tasted it from Bar Gelateria Belvedere, or other numerous Gelaterias in the town. This Southern Italian version is made with chocolate gelato covering a heart of liquer chocolate fudge, and the gelato is in turn covered by Hazelnut gelato and encased in a layer of chocolate powder. Google Image the words tartufo+gelato and see what you come up with and compare it with the picture above. I can bet you that will be definitely not be what I was peddled that night. Chocolate Gelato, with chocolate syrup, some cream on top, with a quartered strawberry and some crumble on top. Nothing in the centre of the chocolate gelato. Nothing covering the gelato. Nada. Expecting a delectable dessert that required more skill from the Chef and getting served with chocolate ice cream was a major, major disappointment.

Here is a website containing the recipe for gelato tartufo nero, in Italian, with pictures. I rest my case. For more recipes for Tartufo in Italian, Google: Ricette + Tartufo + Gelato.

Sean and Cumi and Ciki was there and seemed to have a better experience than I did. Please click on the bold blue fonts to access the links.

Delucca,

One Residency, Jalan Nagasari.
Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: +6.03.21.44.65.32