Italian Delights @ Favola, Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur

To make full use of our Starwood Privilege card, our next destination in Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur was their Italian restaurant, Favola. We decided to bring Baby C with us for dinner that evening after checking with the hotel that the restaurant is kids-friendly.

"Favola means fable in Italian and the experience begins as the diner walks through the open galleries into a rustic Italian setting reminiscent of the renaissance era. "

Buonasera....

We were greeted warmly at the entrance and led to our table facing the semi open kitchen. I love the decor of the restaurant, classy, and sumptous with beautiful ceilings, mosaic flooring and magnificent chandeliers while still retaining a cosy feel. This would be a great place for both romantic dinners or get togethers with family and friends.

Beautiful mural paintings on the wall

Table for 2

The wall of Venetian masks was beautiful and impressive. We were reminded of the many beautiful sights we encountered during our strolls in Venice in summer 2005.

Dinner menu in the form of a scroll

Other than the restaurant interior, we were also impressed by the service. The waiting staff were efficient and friendly at the same time, making our daughter (and us) feel at ease in the restaurant. We were also equally impressed by the appetizers and main courses that we had that evening. While waiting for our food to arrive, we were served 3 types of bread with 3 dips. Though lovely, the breads served at Prime definitely trumps these.

Freshly baked bread served with 3 dips

Table decor

Since this was our first visit to Favola, to make life simple for ourselves, we decided to order the Chef's antipasti (RM50), a sampler plate of five cold antipasti selected by the chef. We were presented with this mouthwatering assortment of bruschetta, seafood salad, insalata caprese, bresaola and octopus. The portions were quite big, perfect for sharing.

The seafood salad was laden with prawns, squid, mussels, and clams and is slightly spicy from the garlic, chilli-olive oil, lemon juice and parsley seasoning. Another spicy selection was the octopus seasoned with simple garlic, chilli flakes, sea salt and olive oil. Insalata caprese is one of our favorite Italian appetizers, simple but effective; layers of buffalo mozzarella with tomato and basil. The bruschetta was topped with 2 different types of ingredients, tomato salsa and porcini ragout. The bresaola, or shaved dried beef was topped with rocket and laid on a layer cold potato. Overall, we enjoyed this platter and will come back during lunch for their antipasti buffet.

Chef's antipasti

Other than foie gras, another item which I cannot resist if I spot it on a menu is scallops. The seared jumbo sea scallop (RM55) was our favorite of the evening. Succulent, sweet and bouncy, this dish exceeded all our expectations. Even Baby C gave it her stamp of approval, and telling us to tell the chef that she likes it very much and "uncle did a job good cooking this". It certainly made us chuckle when she said that. The scallops were definitely jumbo and was topped with some truffle shavings, which made it all the better. It was served with canellini bean ragout which was flavoursome and hearty.

5 jumbo scallops, Baby C alone had 2... awesome!

The lasagna al forno (RM50) was really good as well. One of Favola's signature dish, the braised wagyu beef cheek (a mixture of beef mince and chunks) was layered between fresh pasta, cheese crust and truffle oil. This is the truly the most decadent lasagna I've eaten.

Decadent lasagna al forno

Since we were unsure how large the portions were, we ordered the previous 3 items to start. By the time we finished the lasagna, we were still hankering for more... we decided to order the Risotto con Cappesante (RM50) which again features scallops since we enjoyed the last scallop dish a lot. The sea scallops were only slightly smaller in size and have been lightly seared to perfection. The risotto was excellent; slightly spicy and not cloyingly rich... Hubby who is not usually a fan of risottos enjoyed this tremendously.

Pan fried sea scallops on leeks, lemon zest, chilli and basil risotto

For desserts, Baby C had the Haagen Daz strawberry ice-cream (RM8 per scoop). Happy smiles from our little one.

The desserts fell short of expectations. I wanted to like the Panna Cotta (RM25) but it was not silky enough to appreciate. However, I did like the presentation of this dish very much, the almond custard cream enclosed within the sugar veil.. very pretty indeed. The Illy Coffee inspired tiramisu (RM30) was a letdown too, seeing it was one of their signature dishes and all I could taste was the mascarpone cheese foam and nothing else.... there was hardly any sponge fingers unless their version does not have any.

Almond custard cream, minestrone of fruit, sugar veil and orange wafer

Illy coffee inspired Tiramisu

The meal was very enjoyable, with excellent food and top notch service. We left the restaurant with smiles, just like the sunny man in the picture below.

For a full set of photos, please visit my Facebook page here.

Opening times: Sunday to Friday: 12.00pm to 2.30pm (Lunch); Monday to Sunday: 6.30pm to 11.00pm (Dinner)

Service: Excellent.

Price: After the 50% discount with the Starwood card, the bill came to RM155.45 for 2 adults 1 child.

Location: Favola, Level 8, Le Méridien Kuala Lumpur, 2 Jalan Stesen Sentral, 50470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Directly opposite KL Sentral station and next to KL Hilton)

Tel: 03- 2263 7434

Parking: RM8 for the first 2 hours, RM5 for every subsequent hour.

GPS Coordinates: 3.135685, 101.686524

Website: http://www.lemeridiendining.com.my