The restaurant is elegant yet relaxed and features an open kitchen with a stone-fired oven, great for catching some kitchen action while waiting for your food to arrive. The service here is fantastic, and the staff are well-versed with the menu and are able to explain all the dishes to us well.
To start, we had a selection of homemade breads with Prego's signature tomato salsa dip, olives, pickled shallots, sun-dried tomatoes and gherkins. So good!
For our appetizers, we had the Insalata caprese (RM65) and Funghi gratinati (RM55). The former is a classic, well-executed with buffalo mozzarella cheese, tomato, confit garlic, anchovies as well as a basil and oregano pesto. A fresh, light start to our meal.
For something a little richer, the funghi gratinati comes with two portobello mushrooms stuffed with goat's cheese and breadcrumbs, gratinated to give a crunchy topping and served with a rucola salad.
We also had the Guazzetto ai frutti di mare (RM55), a specialty of Abruzzo; a rich tomato-based spicy seafood soup with mixed seafood such as mussel, bamboo clams, scallop, fish and prawns. The kids loved this!
The highlight of our meal was the Salt crusted seabass (RM95), a whole seabass covered in sea salt and baked in the oven for 30 minutes, carved tableside and served with a lemon butter sauce with steamed new potatoes and fennel. Incredibly moist, this was a fantastic way of tasting the natural sweetness of the fish.
All the the pastas are freshly made in-house and the Spaghetti carbonara (RM55) came highly recommended. The spaghetti was cooked to al dente along with streaky beef bacon and a rich sauce made the Italian way using egg yolk and pecorino cheese. Before serving, the chef torches the Castelmagno cheese wheel before tossing the pasta and topping it with a final shaving of cheese. A plate of creamy goodness!
Check out our YouTube video of Chef Massi in action here!
There are five types of pizza to choose from here at Prego Desaru. The pizza dough is proofed for 36 hours, hand tossed and topped with your desired topping before being baked in the stone-fired oven, resulting in a light, golden crust. We had the Signature Prego Pizza (RM85), which comes with large chunks of lobster in barbecue sauce, caramelised onions, black olive, tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.
For a sweet end to our meal, we shared the Tiramisu (RM35) and Zuccotto al Cioccolato (RM35). The tiramisu is made using homemade mascarpone cheese, espresso and brandy. There is also a non-alcoholic version (the one we had since the kids were eating too). The zuccotto is Prego's take on chocolate mud pie, with the texture of ice cream. Rich and luscious, chocolate lovers will dig this.
Click here for Prego's a la carte menu. Every Saturday, Prego also offers an authentic Italian dinner buffet spread from 6.00pm - 10.30pm at RM150 per person.
Click here for our review of The Westin Desaru Coast Resort.
Operating hours: 6pm to 10.30pm. Closed on Mondays.
Pork-free.
Location: Prego, Level 2, The Westin Desaru Coast Resort, Jalan Pantai 3, Desaru Coast, 81930 Bandar Penawar, Johor Darul Ta'zim.
Tel: 07-838 3333
Website: https://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-information/restaurant/jhbwi-the-westin-desaru-coast-resort/
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We have salt-baked fish here, have to use rock salt and crack open with a hammer. Some places use ordinary salt, not the right thing to do, can get very salty, not nice.
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