Five Essences of Italian Cuisine

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Italian cuisine has long made its name in the culinary world with its myriad of ingredients used and the abundance of taste in their dishes. A major part of Italian food involves cheese, tomatoes, bell peppers and olive oil. My love for Italian food goes way back to my schooling days, where pizza was considered as a treat to the family. It was then that I started to fall for the crispy crust and the irresistible melting cheese on top. Oh yes, I was in love! Throughout the years, I have had a reasonable amount of exposure towards the localized Italian cuisine, and here are what I would deem the Five Essences of Italian Cuisine:

#1: Cheese, cheese, cheese

It is with no question that cheese is an important element in the Italian way of cooking. Cheese is such a big part of Italian food that any dishes without cheese is almost not Italian. Well, almost. Capricciosa, a new and trendy Italian restaurant in town seems to embrace this concept really well as they are especially generous with cheese in their dishes.

Italian Vegetable and Meat Soup (RM7.90) – creamy and savoury, very good!

There was even a pizza with the name Quattro Formaggi, to signify the 4 types of cheese used, as well as to proclaim the importance of cheese in Italian cuisine.

Quattro Formaggi (RM17.90)

Another dish with a cheesy feature inside was the Rice Croquette, which was a deep-fried ball of risotto stuffed with mozzarella cheese and meat sauce. The deep-fried texture gave the outer layer a nice and crispy touch, while the nicely cooked risotto inside was moist from the glorious cheese and meat sauce. I know I should be watching out my carb intake for now but I couldn’t stop myself from spooning this tasty combination into my mouth.

Rice Croquette, Sicilian Style (RM12.90)

As if we’re not spoiled yet, the Eggplant Gratin had fresh eggplant baked with tomato cream sauce topped with parmesan cheese. This was sinfully cheesy and very rich. Definitely a dish to be shared if one does not want to get cheese-overdosed.

Eggplant Gratin (RM15.90)

Sinfully cheesy

#2: Pizzas

Pizzas will never be out of the picture from the Italian cuisine. My definition of a good pizza would be extremely thin and crispy crust, with generous toppings of turkey/chicken/beef ham and plenty of melting cheese so gooey that it’d be hard to separate the cheesy strands at the edges. What about yours? Capricciosa‘s version with beef bacon, beef pepperoni, mushrooms and bell peppers on top was fairly good though I would prefer much thinner crust.

Capricciosa Pizza (RM16.90)

Gooey cheese for you?

#3: Pastas

Apart from pizzas, pastas in Italy are almost synonymous to rice in Malaysia, a common food to be found on dinner tables. There are so many ways to make pastas taste delicious, but to me, less is more. Toss some al-dente pasta with olive oil and sauteed garlic and I’m good! Aglio Olio is my middle name. For Capricciosa, their simplest pasta was the Tomato Sauce with Garlic and Pepper, served only with sauteed garlic and pepper with homemade tomato sauce. I am no fan of sour food so I approached this dish with caution. But after a slurp of the perfectly cooked pasta, I was hooked! For starters, the aromatic taste of sauteed garlic was pretty evident, and the tomato sauce was not overly sour. This dish ended up to be my favourite pasta dish of the night.

Tomato Sauce with Garlic and Peppers (RM14.90)

The spaghetti with Whole Clams in Delicate Broth was too delicate for me it almost tasted bland in comparison with the tomato-based pasta. Perhaps a good choice for someone not looking for something strong in taste.

Whole Clams in Delicate Broth (RM14.90)

When the next plate of charcoal black spaghetti was brought to the table, my eyes literally popped wide open. It’s true, it was my first time having the Calamari and Onions in Squid Ink Sauce spaghetti, squid ink being an ingredient I’ve heard so much about. I have never dared to try squid ink pasta for I don’t trust myself in being able to finish a whole plate of black spaghetti that stains your teeth! I took a bite from this and found the taste of the squid ink too strong for me to handle. If you’re adventurous, do give this  a try!

Calamari and Onions in Squid Ink Sauce (RM16.90)

Want a bite?

What differentiates Capricciosa from the rest of the Italian restaurants is that they also make fresh pastas, daily! At the moment, they had fresh Fettucine and Pappardelle, made fresh from the open area in front of the restaurant. As much as I love anything fresh, I found the homemade pasta to be a tad too thick and hard for my liking, but some might beg to differ for they love the chewy texture that comes with thick pasta.

Amatriciana Fettucine with Eggplant and Bacon (RM24.90)

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